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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you prefer your super-hero scores to be dynamically orchestral with strong choral and thematic integrity. Avoid it... if the X-Men or the musical representation of the science-fiction and adventure genres together do not interest you. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
John Ottman is known for his creativity in orchestral instrumentation and theme, turning otherwise average horror and intrigue films into noteworthy events. For the X-Men franchise, unlike other well known film series, he had little to expand upon from Kamen's original. While Kamen's work sufficed, it did not offer any truly defining sound for the X-Men, choosing instead to bypass a dominant theme and accompany the visuals with a consistently strong action bass. Ottman, leaving no stone unturned, did take Kamen's work to heart, and he uses the same general avenue of orchestral action thinking for X2: X-Men United. As usual, though, Ottman takes the music a step further, introducing a decent, though not particularly overwhelming theme for our favorite mutant group. It's not the kind of in-your-face superhero theme that you hear in Batman or Spider-Man films, but a reasonably charged major key climb for moments of victory in the film. The suite at the beginning of the album for X2 features a lengthy performance of this theme, and Ottman inserts it appropriately throughout the score for consistency. The most interesting difference between Kamen and Ottman's work is that Ottman extends the action music include a sense of awe and science-fiction. He does this primarily through the heavy use of an upper range adult choir. There are no deep, bass voice chants, but the adult voices still add an edge of mystery that the mutant tale requires. After all, there is strange science at work here. Don't expect vast sequences of harmonious choral use, though the finale of the "Goodbye" cue begins to achieve that status. In a handful of early cues, there are moments when Ottman's choral use mirrors that of Danny Elfman's in his Nightbreed opening. A refreshing aspect of Ottman's work is his choice to stay true to orchestral instrumentation in his creativity rather than giving in to the urge to score this film as many probably would have done: with electric guitars. As it stands, it is a true science fiction score with an elegant touch at points. Ottman uses many shifts from the minor to major keys for softer character development cues, such as "Finding Faith" and "We're Here to Stay." In these regards, you can't help but notice how much Ottman's work often sounds like the early David Arnold, especially when combining his deep brass and pounding timpani with an adult choir. In his use of string melodies in the opening suite, Ottman takes a page from James Horner's Rocketeer love theme days. If there is a complaint to be had against Ottman's X2, it is a slightly sterile edge to the recording. He does employ a diverse array of percussive effects, but never in such a way as to distinguish this score as one of the truly fantastic ventures of the genre (as he did, for instance, with Incognito or Goodbye Lover). A piano performance of a secondary theme in the suite track hints that Ottman was headed in the right direction to diversify the score, and perhaps a somewhat over-dampened recording hindered the orchestral sections (and the strings in particular) from expressing the vibrant power that the score probably possessed before mixing. At any rate, the X2 score is a definite improvement over Kamen's original, and Ottman fans will be pleased with the effort. Finally, a distinguished title theme is introduced into the series, and the liberal choral addition roots the score and film into their proper genre. X-Men fanatics should especially feast on this one. ****
The packaging includes little extra information about the score or film, except for a list of musicians for the project. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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