Aside from all of the various facets of the primary
thematic identity, the female lead receives her own pretty little theme
in "Evolet" (enticing woodwinds here function well) and "You Came For
Me," the latter cue morphing the idea into the protagonist's theme.
Finally, the third aspect of the score is the brutal tone for the
civilized Egyptians, which very successfully merges the two previously
mentioned elements of instrumentation into some ballsy enslavement
music. Utilizing percussion slammed with ferocity, this idea is
overlayed with mournful chants and angry, yelled vocals, often screaming
in surprisingly palatable harmony with the joining orchestral ensemble.
An actual theme for this portion exists at 0:40 into "Mountain of the
Gods" and the icing on the cake is the use of massive ancient horn
sounds to represent the mammoths (or mannaks, as they're called here)
carrying the heavy loads. The distant horn effect is a blend of an
animal's death cry and the whistle you hear on large, industrial
assembly lines, easily the single most impressive aspect of Kloser,
Wanker, and Schobel's efforts for
10,000 BC. It literally gives
you the feeling that an immense undertaking of prehistoric proportions
is in process, and its mix is also very expertly applied in harmony with
the ensemble. A highlight of the score comes in the middle of "Speech,"
when a bold performance of the main theme with impressive brass
counterpoint is overtaken by the evil civilization theme, complete with
several of these blowing horn effects (overlapping once to great effect)
and more angry vocalizations over raw percussion and low brass. This
theme disintegrates appropriately in "Free the Mannaks," with one last
wail of the horn in a panic at about 1:00 into that cue. While few, the
statements of the enslavement material steal the show in
10,000
BC, if only because they're among the score's most original aspects.
The best of the other thematic ideas in the score are summarized in
"10,000 BC/End Credits," which opens with the only truly upbeat
integration of the orchestra and regional vocals. The remainder of the
work contains a few notable action cues but is otherwise somewhat
anonymous. Praised for its striking tone must be the chaotic ensemble
performances of "Terror Birds," though most listeners will find "Mark of
the Hunter" and "Not a God" to be more accessible in their percussive
rhythms (despite being derivative). On the whole,
10,000 BC is an
easy score to program into a consistently satisfying twenty minute
listening experience, with a coherent narrative flow that exceeds the
quality of that of any of these composers' other major works.
If this review was to conclude here,
10,000 BC
would easily be a four star score. It overachieves in general and
greatly enhances several individual scenes. A slight brass error at 2:05
into "10,000 BC/End Credits" is the only performance quibble. When you
step back, the music fits the personality of the film perfectly and is
understandably a crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately, some of the ideas from
the score already fit quite comfortably into Hans Zimmer's
King
Arthur. It's highly likely that the stylish 2004 Zimmer score was
used as a temp track in
10,000 BC, but it is remarkable just how
lazy Kloser and his associates were when adapting these filmmaker wishes
into their own product. The memorably rowdy villain material, along with
Evolet's theme and the seldom employed "A" phrase of the primary theme
may be instrumentally generic and thus seem derivative, but at least
they are technically original. There have been some claims that Evolet's
theme also distinctly references ideas in
King Arthur, but these
are difficult to clearly identify. The same can't be said for the
primary melody and the rhythmic phrase underneath it. Had only one of
these two been so similar to
King Arthur, perhaps a pass could
have been granted. But the fact that both ideas take so thoroughly from
the previous score brings the word "plagiarism" into the equation. The
main theme here is clearly derived from that heard in the breathy vocals
of "Hold the Ice" and "All of Them!" in
King Arthur, the main
melody also represented in that score's song adaptation at the start of
its album, "Tell Me Now." Zimmer expresses the idea twice in his
trademark synthetically-aided sound of immense depth in "All of Them!"
The underlying rhythm in
10,000 BC's main theme stems from a less
often utilized idea in
King Arthur that nonetheless is very
obviously heard in the middle portions of "All of Them!" A detailed
examination will show that there are indeed structural differences
between both ideas in the two themes, usually in the form of phrases
rearranged in various orders (Zimmer doesn't really present them in a
consistent order each time, in part because he references the theme less
frequently in
King Arthur than Kloser and Wanker do in
10,000
BC, another irony in this puzzle), but even these alterations can't
mask the several identical phrases contained within.
So the question is this: Does the use of this arguably
less organized Zimmer material from
King Arthur in
10,000
BC merit equal shame when compared to Tyler Bates' famous plagiarism
of Elliot Goldenthal's
Titus in
300? Some will say yes,
though the studios involved have never made the same fuss about
10,000 BC. Indeed, film score collectors and Zimmer enthusiasts
in particular often dismiss
10,000 BC completely (and sometimes
with disdain and contempt) because of this probable temp track
similarity. But it's difficult to declare outright plagiarism in this
case because what Kloser and Wanker did with the theme causes it to
sound so different in terms of orchestration that its entire demeanor
has been changed. Zimmer's use of the ideas is relegated to the cliche
of new age-like female vocals and his usual bass-heavy pounding of
deliberately overwhelming, masculine power. Kloser and Wanker's version
of those ideas are vastly better developed orchestrally, using vibrant
instrumentation and counterpoint in ways that make Zimmer's theme come
alive with organic, emotional appeal. Not a single one of the trademarks
of Zimmer's writing carry over into the later score. They also take far
more time to develop the themes in a wide range of situational variants
in
10,000 BC than Zimmer did in
King Arthur, further
enhancing its comparative personality. For some, as mentioned before,
identical progressions are too much to overcome (and they will prove
distracting when watching the film), but when you carefully compare the
personality and orchestration of the two, they are sufficiently
disparate to avoid the harshest of plagiarism declarations. It is
ironic, especially given the strength of
King Arthur, that better
enunciated versions of the same theme in
10,000 BC by the usually
taciturn-styled Kloser and Wanker are preferable, but that will
certainly be the case for some. Whether you declare plagiarism or simply
write off this issue because this film was so wretched, it's hard not to
label
10,000 BC as a guilty pleasure of the highest order. As
such, what the heart deems as four-star material is what the brain
protests as being worthy of two (if even that), and a disgruntled three
stars seems like the only logical compromise.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
