Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you have ever wondered what it would sound like to watch the Hulk chased to music you'd otherwise hear in either documentaries about ancient religions or elephant hunts in Africa. Avoid it... if you are hoping to hear focused and dynamic themes in Hulk that reach back to Elfman's glory days in the superhero genre. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Hulk: (Danny Elfman) Spawned from the original Marvel comic and a cultish 1970's television show, the first film adaptation of the character in 2003 was a task presented to Taiwanese-born Ang Lee, the acclaimed director behind Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sense and Sensibility. The feeling of the studio was that Lee would use his strongly rooted sense of drama to keep Hulk as character-driven as possible, without allowing the film to digress into a CGI spectacle. Ironically, the studio eventually claimed that there wasn't enough action, not to mention eventual fan uproar about a rather fake-looking CGI hulk, and Lee pulled his hair out in frustration over the project. While the finished version of Hulk wasn't a monumental fiscal disaster, attracting some positive reviews from critics, fans of the concept abandoned it with disdain. So thoroughly disregarded was this film that when the concept was resurrected in 2008 as The Incredible Hulk, that production ensued as though the Lee version had never existed. It was a cinematic disaster story of the highest order, extending so far as the title of the film itself (some versions of press materials and posters called the film The Hulk while others went simply with Hulk). Arguably the most interesting casualty of Universal's last minute search for an answer was composer Mychael Danna. Contrary to many reports at the time, Danna, who had been one of Lee's regular collaborators and good friend on many projects, did indeed record a score for Hulk. It was by no means your typical superhero music, either. Encouraged by Lee to explore an compellingly worldly avenue for the title character (an instruction that must have seemed like a piece of cake for a man who writes such music in his sleep), Danna completed a work that contained a significant Arabic personality, though his Middle-Eastern vocals and employment of the Armenian duduk sometimes yielded to massive orchestral outbursts and even ripping electric guitar cues of contemporary appeal. Perhaps it's understandable why the studio was horrified by this music, but why then did they hire Lee to direct this project? Lee was obviously fond of the score, but after disastrous test screenings, the studio was ready for a big name replacement in the film's music department. Thus, by the time Danny Elfman walked onto the project, the film was in various stages of discontent, disarray, and a significant reworking of CGI effects at Industrial Light & Magic. Elfman accepted the assignment only because of his respect for Lee, for he was generally extremely cautious about when and how he stepped in on any replacement assignment. His relationship with Lee was reportedly quite awkward. The director insisted that much of the character of Danna's work be retained and instructed Elfman to write material that did not sound like any of the composer's other superhero scores. The two argued about the retention of one of Danna's electric guitar cues, a sound that Elfman rejected as belonging in a "Wrestlemania commercial." Upon hearing preliminary music from Elfman that reminded the director of Batman, Lee urged the composer to reinvent himself. "When I'd play something new for Ang," Elfman stated at the time, "he always wanted to know where the music came from. And I'd tell him, it doesn't matter if it came from China or Bulgaria. It's what you do with it that matters. If it works, no one will care where it came from." Eventually, Lee and Elfman overcame their initial differences ("The first week was pure hell," Elfman continued), and ultimately the composer admitted, "It was hard because it takes time to reinvent yourself, and we didn't have much time." The time factor and Lee's insistence that Elfman maintain the Arabic sound of Danna's work is what caused the final score for Hulk to be a bizarre misadventure. Perhaps this is the kind of music that would result if a film score composer somehow got zapped by a Gammasphere machine. There will always be speculation about whether or not Hulk would have fared better with fans had Elfman been allowed to write something he was truly comfortable with. He had, after all, proven his knack for larger than life scores in the genre. But his works of the early 2000's (outside of Spider-Man) were somewhat problematic in regards to this sound, with his music often suffering from watered-down themes and a wandering focus. These inherent difficulties are evident in Hulk as well, though it's easy to understand why and forgive Elfman for doing the best he could in these circumstances. He simply didn't have the time to write a coherent score that accommodated Lee's unconventional expectations. Off the bat, listeners should be aware that Elfman's music is nothing like Craig Armstrong's score for the 2008 cinematic revision of the concept. Armstrong eventually captured the melodrama and anger of the original story through his competent blend of contemporary instrumentation and orchestral depth, utilizing even a piece of the famous "The Lonely Man" theme on piano (written by Joe Harnell for the television show). Elfman's score, by comparison, is exposed as the mess many considered it to be in 2003. In Elfman's version, there exists no overpowering theme for scientist Bruce Banner and his angry alter ego. A descending six-note phrase for him is obtuse and sounds like a holdover from some of the background layers in the Spider-Man theme and portions of the Planet of the Apes remake. This technique of pronounced descent is Elfman's method of addressing the tragic aspect of the character while also giving audiences that sinking feeling that the monster is coming to get them. But Elfman's enunciation of the theme, from "Main Titles" to "End Credits," is muddled; in an attempt to add broad depth to the idea, it becomes lost in its own weighty tone. Along the same lines, there is no particularly gripping theme for Banner's (ex)girlfriend Betty Ross and the passion that he feels towards her. A few muffled cues of conversational material are so blinded by the Middle-Eastern tones that they lose any personal touch they may have had (as in the otherwise beautiful "The Truth Revealed"). Variants on these ideas are slim, though Elfman does create a lightly cascading, tingling woodwind motif that represents the science behind Banner's dilemma; this motif grows with intensity as he turns green, of course. If you're looking for style, this aspect of the score is dominated by the artificial ethnicity. The vocals of female singer Natacha Atlas, known by film music collectors since her contributions to Stargate, are definitely Middle Eastern in the natural inflection in her voice. Mirroring the vocals is a strangely mixed series of performances by a duduk during the more reflective moments of emotional contemplation. When you think of the Hulk, an Armenian flute is not exactly the first instrument to come to mind, and its employment is simply too out of place to ignore even if you can accept the accompanying vocals by Atlas. Because we are talking about an Ang Lee film, your mind can twist up in a knot if you attempt to analyze the resulting music with any great detail. There are still moments of basic, pounding, orchestral blasts, without theme or a respite from its powerful percussion. Snippets of Elfman's previous styles can occasionally be heard. The large orchestral sequences often resort to cliches in their progressions, simple rhythms, and droning bass that washes out all of the mid-level instruments of the playing group. The only exhilarating action cue is the opening of "Hulk's Freedom," which presents the one really notable version of the monster's theme. But unless Banner is at his angriest, lifting up vehicles and tossing them around San Francisco, the score is ethnically off-center. Even some of those action scenes are recorded with percussive elements that make you think that the military is on an elephant hunt in Africa! The San Francisco Bay Area is indeed an ethnic melting pot, and most audiences probably wouldn't recognize Armenian music even if they were in Armenia. And yet, if you've heard enough Mychael Danna scores like the just previous Ararat, which is not something that Bruce Banner should bring back memories of, then the vocals and duduk will be an awkward surprise at the least and fatal for some. Thus, in the end, without a truly strong theme and anchored by several Middle-Eastern passages, The Hulk just doesn't work. The entire recording is mixed into a very dry, dull sound, with the duduk often too slight to have an emotive impact, and the lack of a dynamic soundscape contributes to the fact that the score fails to get the heart pounding. A very healthy hour of music is available on the album release, and much of the middle section of the score drags considerably with pleasant, though misplaced underscore. The song at the end is grossly mismatched with the score (unless Elfman had chosen the more obvious electric guitar route, which he did not), and is written and performed by an eclectic collection of men from Guns N' Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, and Suicidal Tendencies, a group that had not yet officially chosen a final, working name. The song is a regrettable heavy metal finale to a largely flat and uninspiring score. Overall, Elfman's work is an admirable failure, especially in context, though you can't fault him for the result of this nightmarish experience. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 63:50
All artwork and sound clips from Hulk are Copyright © 2003, Decca/Universal. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/8/03, updated 3/8/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2003-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. Yeah, what's up with Bruce Banner's convenient ultra-stretch pants/shorts/boxers? Logic dictates that those things would snap right off. Naked monster alert! |
