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Valkyrie: (John Ottman) Undoubtedly the most
daunting obstacle standing in the path to success for director Bryan
Singer's
Valkyrie is the knowledge of the vast majority of
audiences of how a story about any assassination attempt against Adolf
Hitler will resolve. Despite this challenge, Singer created a partially
fictional depiction (though faithfully accurate on the major details) of
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg's participation in a plot by several Nazi
officers in early 1943 and beyond to overthrow Hitler, contain the S.S.,
and save Germany from its inevitable annihilation. By many critical
accounts, Singer was successful in not only generating enough tension to
secure audience interest, but also in shielding its lead actor, Tom
Cruise, from his own reputation.
Valkyrie comes at a time when
World War II dramas are curiously common in mainstream cinema, and this
film, like its contemporary counterparts, has once again hit the mark in
its impressively realistic production values. The music for such films
also presents composers with generally the same problems, usually
forcing them to balance melodramatic considerations with a need for
stylistic restraint. Along again for the journey with Singer for this
venture is John Ottman, who serves as both composer and editor. When the
assignment was announced, two thoughts about Ottman's career immediately
crossed the mind. First, he had long speculated in the 1990's, a time
when his career was largely defined by horror and thriller flicks, about
the opportunity someday to write grand, lush (and romantic) orchestral
material, and
Valkyrie was a possible chance for him to explore
that avenue. Second, his collectors know that one his more memorable
themes (and arguably most powerful, despite its somewhat derivative
nature) is the waltz he wrote for the opening of
Apt Pupil, which
used his usual orchestral and choral textures of that era in his career
to characterize the menace of Nazi mentality. How would Ottman address
those potential methodologies for
Valkyrie? In terms of the
melodrama, we do hear some distinctly sorrowful and attractive material,
though its duration is frightfully brief. As for the spirit of
Apt
Pupil, Ottman treads in a different direction, choosing to restrain
the tone of his score from any such outbursts of malicious intent.
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While the score for
Valkyrie offers a few
highlights that may perhaps make the generous album worth the investment
for those Ottman collectors, the confinement of these bright points to
just ten to fifteen minutes in length is surprising. Ottman made a
handful of stylistic choices in his foundations for the score that are
dubious in their application to the subject matter. The most blatant of
these choices is the substantial use of electronic accompaniment to a
partial orchestra in an effort to emphasize the textural landscape of
the work in its conversational and other less active scenes. Also of
note is the sparse employment of motifs in a score with such scope of
sacrifice. Finally, and likely the fatal blow for many listeners, the
composer opted to withhold his dramatic tones except for just a couple
of scenes (gravitating towards the end of the film). The keen sense of
instrumental creativity heard from Ottman throughout the years has
disintegrated into meandering underscore that barely registers in volume
for extended sequences and therefore does little to engage the listener
when heard on album. The vast majority of
Valkyrie, and the
entirety of its middle sequences, are handled with an extremely
conservative touch by Ottman. His string ostinato for the planning
scenes makes a positive impact in "Operation Valkyrie," faintly
recalling the same technique used by James Newton Howard in his score
for the concurrent
Defiance. A theme for Hitler himself is
underwhelming in its rendering. The score's striking highlight is a
theme that pays tribute to the event in "They'll Remember You," with
four minutes of elegant choral and string work underneath a solemn
female soprano voice. This cue, aided by far lesser incarnations in
"Seconds Lost" and "I'm Sorry," is precisely the kind of melodramatic
material that Ottman fans have been hoping to hear from the composer,
and it is indeed another page turned in his collective works. Along with
the similar but restrained "Long Live Sacred Germany," Ottman finally
does take advantage of the opportunity to write gripping and stirring
music of weighty, romantic heart. Otherwise, however, the score is
unremarkable, a considerable disappointment given the compelling script.
A strong 30-minute album could have represented
Valkyrie much
better; at twice that length, you'll find yourself returning to only the
superior opening and closing tracks.
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| Bias Check: | For John Ottman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.22 (in 32 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.03
(in 17,523 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes Ottman's usual style of notation about the score and film.
