: (Harald Kloser/Thomas Wanker) Audiences go to
disaster flicks to see chaos and disorder. They want to see landmarks
destroyed, machines blow up, and thousand of people annihilated. To that
end, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a single feature film
in the disaster genre seems like a good idea. When that money is put
into lengthy exhibitions of devastation, the masses are generally
satisfied. But when is director and producer Roland Emmerich going to
realize that trying insert a wide range of character stories in the
middle of these kinds of films only serves to bore? James Cameron's
worked because it was centered upon only two people in
the midst of a spectacular disaster. Emmerich films like
don't justify
their running times because they attempt to morally justify the scenes
of mass destruction and death by artificially inserting a large set of
emotional character stories, often ridiculously including the American
president. The fact that Emmerich has chosen the likes of Matthew
Broderick and John Cusack to lead these films only makes them more
excruciatingly insufferable. In the case of
, the plot not
only allows Emmerich to revisit his environmental agenda while indulging
in the graphic depiction of Los Angeles' improbable end, but it also
gave him plenty of latitude in playing upon the fears of stupid people
who think that the conclusion of the Mayan calendar in December of 2012
really does imply doomsday and judgment. The Chinese have loved the
film; for once, they're the good-guys in an American blockbuster, and a
cynical sort could claim that Emmerich made the conscious choice to
define them as a key member of the world's salvation in the story to
ensure $50 million or more in earnings from the box office of that
nation. On the whole, however,
is a tested formula
presentation, likely to justify its $260 million budget (but hopefully
not by much). Another tell-tale sign that the screenplay for your
160-minute project is inept is the fact that your composer for the film,
a person with no formal writing credits outside of this collaboration,
is both one of two co-writers and a producer for you. Emmerich decided
to include Harald Kloser in more of his production elements after the
composer impressed him with some story suggestions for
Sure, there was a writer's strike when this film was
commencing production. But that likely had no impact on Kloser's
involvement, an unfortunate circumstance given how limp the story and
the score are. It makes one wonder if a person who stretches himself too
thin in such a manner can't perform any of his roles on a film with any
sense of direction or quality. Kloser's career has been littered with
B-rate films and a plethora of television documentaries. His music is
the kind of generic background noise, sometimes pleasant, in the
ambience of bio-pics seen on cable television channels. It's truly
unfortunate but perhaps not terribly surprising that the majority of his
film scores have conveyed the same restraint in terms of depth and
complexity in their recordings. Kloser's scores, both in and outside of
the Emmerich collaboration, are average. Nothing more, nothing less.
They are workmanlike, sufficient in their volume and accurate in their
assessment of the basic emotional needs of every scene. If you've heard
The Day After Tomorrow and
10,000 BC, then there will be
nothing new in
2012. At least the man is consistent. It's
constantly disappointing to hear a composer with all the right
ingredients and a decent intuitive sense underwhelm when his ideas are
performed. Everything in
2012 is process. None of it is art. The
nuances of the musical language are absent from this music, despite its
majesty and ruckus at times. Direct counterpoint is rare and secondary
lines within the ensemble are basic. The electronic accents are bland.
The employment of specialty instruments and vocals is commendable, but
they make no difference if you decide to mix them so badly into the
final version of the music that nobody can really hear them. The vocals
and woodwinds in "Nampan Plateau," for instance, needed to be placed
much closer to the forefront of the soundscape to have any impact. In a
film that suggests that the peoples of the world need to work together
to survive this unfathomable disaster, the lack of emphasis on the
worldly instrumentation is inexcusable. The absence of truly compelling
themes is deceptive in
2012, because Kloser actually does provide
ideas representing wonderment, defiance, and love. These themes,
however, are so poorly orchestrated and lackadaisically conveyed by the
seemingly restrained Los Angeles performing group that they won't even
register for many listeners. They do offer a blanket of harmony that is
functionally pretty during human bonding moments and, more importantly,
convey a fundamental sense of awe for the more fantastic vistas. Without
strong enunciation, however, even at the climax, they fail to garner
attention.
As with
10,000 BC, Kloser collaborated with
fellow Austrian composer Thomas Wanker for
2012 (though Wanker is
going by "Wander" for this credit, which is odd, given the negative
connotations of both names in English). The two have worked together on
several assignments, usually television related, over the course of the
2000's, and nothing in
2012 indicates tell-tale signs of
disparate styles at battle within the score. Unfortunately, Wanker's
music is apparently not any more memorable in its structures than
Kloser's. The only truly interesting parts of
2012 are those in
which they either sell out completely in the fantasy element, such as
the magnificent choral-enhanced crescendos of wonder in "Open the
Gates!" and "2012 The End of the World," or those in which they work
their hardest to imitate the sounds of other popular, contemporary
composers. The most obvious of the references, not surprisingly, points
to David Arnold, who so memorably scored
Independence Day and
Godzilla before the original Emmerich/Devlin/Arnold team split
apart at the end of the 1990's. The second half of
2012 clearly
attempts to stir up action tones familiar to Arnold's style (even
extending to his more recent James Bond material). Once again, though,
Kloser and Wanker fail to achieve the same robust spirit. Their
composition contains too little depth in activity, too little creativity
in orchestration, and too little enthusiasm in even the most
melodramatic portions. This music on paper obviously didn't inspire the
musicians the way Arnold's did for Emmerich. Also aped in a few places,
intriguingly, is Howard Shore's Gollum-related material from
The Lord
of the Rings, especially evident in the creepy bass string movements
of "Ashes in D.C." Listeners already familiar with
The Day After
Tomorrow will hear a reprise of significant chunks of that score's
non-descript moments as well, though the increase in the magnificence
factor in
2012, summarized by "The End is Only the Beginning,"
gives the latter score the upper hand in terms of its album
presentation. Overall, this music is still dull given the genre's
expectations and potential. It makes rather mediocre disaster scores
from great composers (like Alan Silvestri's
Volcano) seem like
triumphs of character. At least it's superior Tyler Bates' take on the
same idea. The two rock songs and inconveniently placed jazz piece in
the middle of the album presentation for
2012 add nothing to the
score but sudden shocks of transition. For containing no offensive cues
and basically sufficing in its purpose, this score barely achieves a
third star.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Harald Kloser reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.56
(in 9 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.54
(in 3,748 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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