Pemberton handles his expanding thematic base for
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with a mixture of character
and concept-based themes. He uses one identity for all of the Spider-Man
variants, though Miles also receives his own extension of that material.
The three-note simplicity of the Spider-Man theme is just begging for
"Spi-der-Man!" lyrics in silly 1980's form, and once you start hearing
"Spi-der-Man!" in your head during its performances here, you'll find it
difficult to stop. (One has to wonder if such lyrics will come to
fruition at the culmination of the concept.) Miles is given a five-note
secondary phrase in rhythmic formation that is fully explored in "My
Name is... Miles Morales" and "Back Where it All Started," but it's the
three-note motif that dominates the work and showcases Pemberton's knack
for squeezing copious juice from it. This idea is all over the score,
initially emerging out of the canon event theme in "Across the
Spider-Verse (Intro)" and developing further into an affable character
theme in "To My Son" with bird-chirping effects from the record
scratches. Although the three notes are supplied at synchronization
points throughout the action, the idea really flourishes during a
victorious moment with symphony and synthetics in "Welcome to Nueva York
(Earth-928)," a really fine cue of tonal attraction for the center of
the multiverse. The brass treatments of the motif at the outset of
"Peter and Mayday Parker" are appropriately noble, as is the burst of
magnificence in the middle of "The Go Home Machine." The idea enjoys a
rousing rock rendition at the end of "Across the Spider-Verse (Start a
Band)" to set up the next film. For the Spider-Man variants from the
other universes, "Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara)" receives
understandably nasty and manipulated tones, inheriting the humorously
awful elephant noises from the villain the prior movie. This
interpretation is reduced to stewing with whip-cracking sounds in "2099
Lab." Meanwhile, "Spider-Man India (Pavitr Prabhakar)" is ethnically
hysterical, if not even a little insensitive in a way that induces
giggles, while "Spider-Punk (Hobie Brown)" receives a logical punk rock
alternative and "The Go-Home Machine" provides old-school synths for
Spider-Byte (Margo Kess). Pemberton's choice to afford each of these
characters with highly divergent stylized offshoots of the main
Spider-Man theme is among the score's more intelligent choices, though
it does make for a highly disjointed experience when appreciated apart
from the film.
Receiving her own, better developed variation on the
Spider-Man material in
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is
Gwen Stacey as Spider-Woman. Her warmer but still defiant take on the
idea is the most different from the others, offering attitude in
"Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)" and "Vulture Meets Culture" and guiding
"Guggenheim Assemble" to a cool merging with the Spider-Man theme's
action mode. The tone of her material isn't as impactful when outside of
her native universe, which is a bit disappointing given her allegiance
to Miles and her spearheading of his rescue later in the picture.
Affecting the Spider-Man theme the most is Pemberton's identity for the
canon event concept, an idea of destiny and revelation that plays an
important role in this score. An ascending, four-chord minor key theme
of gravity under melodramatic progressions, this motif is sometimes used
as a lead-in to the Spider-Man theme. It applies cyclical suspense to
"Across the Spider-Verse (Intro)" under wailing synths and shifts to
become a grungy identity midway through as it yields to Spider-Man's
theme. After some muted, fragmented treatment in "Rio and Miles," the
canon event theme asserts itself as a monumental force overlapping with
the three-note Spider-Man theme in "Canon Event." It becomes
dramatically distorted as a four-note action tool in "Nueva York Train
Chase," thought keen ears will discern that the usage here goes beyond
the Hans Zimmer-like characteristics of the performance in this cue; in
actually, portions of Zimmer's cue "Gap" from
Dark Phoenix seem
to be interpolated by Pemberton explicitly, adding some of his quirky
production techniques to the otherwise morbidly muscular Zimmer idea.
(Don't be surprised if "Nueva York Train Chase" receives outsized
amounts of praise; such is the appeal of Zimmer's music during this
time, even in residual doses.) The canon event theme is more formally
applied as an introduction to the Spider-Man theme at the height of
"Falling Apart." This theme is perhaps a bit underplayed in much of the
score, as it is tasked with handling the most serious repercussions of
Miles' circumstances but doesn't throw its weight evenly throughout the
second half of the score as the character realizes that his world is
potentially upside down. The pair of "The Anomaly" and "Five Months"
could have used more obvious additional development of this theme;
Pemberton's alternatives are adequate, but they leave the score with a
somewhat diminished core.
One of the more fragmented aspects of Pemberton's score
remains his villains' identities, their music in
Spider-Man: Across
the Spider-Verse compartmentalized by the fact that they only appear
in certain segments of the narrative. Chronologically, the theme for
Vulture from Spider-Woman's realm is the first, its manner outlandish
but arguably funny. Built from Italian operatic male singing that is
highly distinct, the character's actual melody isn't defined well enough
to matter. His phrasing, joined by chimes in "Vulture Meets Culture,"
does sonic battle with Spider-Woman's material, and their conflict in
"Guggenheim Assemble" is one of the score's most likable moments even if
the composer's digital manipulation there is obnoxious at times. More
important is the theme for The Spot, whose slurred trio of notes fall
and ascend in almost theremin-like tones. This idea interjects with
bravado at the end of "Back Where it All Began" and persists in lesser
forms in "Spot Holes 1," "Creation of the Spot," "Spot Holes 2," and
"Indian Teamwork," but it has an appreciable impact on the second half
of "The Anomaly." At the end of the picture, the Prowler theme returns
from first score with its truly hideous, manipulated elephant noises and
emulation of bass tones from Ludwig Göransson's
Black
Panther. Heard in the middle of "Five Months" and "Across the
Spider-Verse (Start a Band)," expect this idea to persist in the next
film as well. The elephant noises, which continue to sound like some
nightmarish adaptation of the Imperial "red alert" sounds from the
Star Wars franchise, remain one of the most atrocious musical
devices in any franchise, and Pemberton continues to embrace it and the
recording scratching and other effects of contemporary sleekness. Some
listeners may give up on this score early, for the manipulation can
indeed induce headaches. But by the middle, and especially the depth of
character between "To My Son" and "Rio and Miles," you have to
appreciate the more thoughtful and emotionally careful direction
Pemberton is choosing. The regular score-only album for
Spider-Man:
Across the Spider-Verse is a daunting 107 minutes in length, and an
expanded edition shortly thereafter added another seven minutes of
low-key, appealing drama. Either album will definitely need culling, and
some listeners will be turned off regardless. But the composer has made
important strides to find a smart stylistic balance between drama and
attitude in this work, and the themes, while really simplistic, serve
their purpose. The sudden insertion of a Zimmer theme at an important
juncture is a bit disappointing, but it will aid in the appeal for some.
Pemberton's maturation continues to impress.
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