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Review of Ant-Man and the Wasp (Christophe Beck)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you appreciated Christophe Beck's snazzy caper style of Ant-Man but desire a more traditional, symphonic superhero atmosphere built on top of the same skittish rhythmic formations.

Avoid it... if your attraction to Beck's work for this franchise was in precisely the outward humor that has been supplanted by weightier dramatic fantasy for the sequel, despite a butt-kicking identity developed for the Wasp.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: (Christophe Beck/Various) Set at about the same time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the depressing events of Avengers: Infinity War, 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp is a refreshingly optimistic and fun deviation from the darkness of its sibling films. While notably addressing the larger universe's events in a mid-credits scene, the sequel to 2015's Ant-Man is largely a standalone entry of wholesome superhero humor and action. Whereas the prior film established the character of Scott Lang as Ant-Man and followed his exciting heists with caper-like enthusiasm, this sequel explores Hope van Dyne and her evolution into the Wasp using a far more traditional fantasy plotline. The titular duo apply their size-altering technologies in an effort to rescue van Dyne's mother, the original Wasp, and help cure the quasi-villain, Ava Starr, who torments the protagonists' plans as her alter-ego, Ghost. The de-aging of actors Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer for flashbacks is a particularly noteworthy point of interest. Rather than the funk and chasing on display in Ant-Man, you receive a more traditional fantasy formula for Ant-Man and the Wasp, one reliant upon alternate universes and character confrontations. This shift in emphasis towards the melodramatic, while retaining just enough humor from the prior entry, yielded identically lucrative returns for the studio. The refocusing had a significant impact upon the music for the film as well, the increasingly serious score in Ant-Man and the Wasp reducing the presence of songs and jazzy underscore in favor of a much more prominent orchestral role in the soundscape. This development will disappoint the many fans of Christophe Beck's music for Ant-Man, the composer's mainstream breakthrough (despite prior successes in the Frozen and Percy Jackson franchises), but the equation will please those looking to hear more influences from Alan Silvestri and/or Brian Tyler in his music. Considered as a whole, this change in demeanor from Beck is a mixed bag, with some fantastic new highlights and some disappointing omissions as related to faithfulness to the prior score.

Off the bat, listeners to the full slate of Marvel soundtracks will notice that Beck continues to chart his own course stylistically and in his lack of even token nods to anything else happening in the Avengers musical world. There remain hints of Silvestri's ball-busting rhythmic progressions and instrumentation at times, but otherwise this score retains only Beck's base personality from Ant-Man. The application of skittish, off-kilter meters and wild swings in rhythmic and instrumental direction continue to emulate the movements of insects. Few moments of outright action in the score exist without some kind of frenzied counterpoint activity (see "Windshield Wipeout" as a solid example), the role of emphasizing that unpredictability shifting wildly between sections of the orchestra, particularly in the woodwinds and the electronics. The synthetic element still exists in a healthy dose in Ant-Man and the Wasp, especially in "I Shrink, Therefore I Am," "San Francisco Giant," "Hot Wheels," and "Anthropodie." But the orchestra dominates this score even during the moments of high pizzazz for both organic and synthetic, highlighted by the main theme for the film. Some of the themes for Ant-Man and the Wasp were actually previewed in Ant-Man, and while the theme for the Wasp is the major new identity for this film, its underlying rhythmic formations owe quite a bit to the Ant-Man theme. Interestingly, the Ant-Man theme frequently descends and the Wasp theme typically ascends despite shared rhythmic movement. A solid suite arrangement of the Wasp theme occupies the entirety of "It Ain't Over Till the Wasp Lady Stings" and is developed into more dramatic territory in "A Little Nudge." Her action statements burst into the open during "Wings & Blasters" and "Misdirection," with a notable climax for the idea punctuating "Reduce Yourself." Often, you receive the rhythmic bass to her theme without the actual melody, as in much of "Anthropodie." Meanwhile, the theme for Ant-Man from the prior movie is all but abandoned here for no good reason. It recaptures some of its original glory in "World's Greatest Grandma" but don't expect Beck to allow the idea any meaningful reprises or further development in the action cues. Likewise, Ava Starr is afforded only ambient dissonance for her painful villain, previewed in "Ghost in the Machine," fully developed in "Utmost Ghost," and dying out in "Quit Screwing Around."

The most obvious new addition to Beck's Ant-Man universe for the sequel is the ample supply of contemplative and sensitive dramatic material that typically revolves around the Wasp's rising progressions. A summary of the franchise's weighty music is heard immediately in "Prologue," and the backstory moments for the supporting characters allow for Beck to provide each with some tonally lovely passages. Subtle hints of Ghost atmosphere succeed truly sad variations on the Wasp theme in "Ava's Story." The theme for Janet van Dyne, previewed in the "San Francisco, 1987" cue in Ant-Man, is extended fully in latter half of "Cautious as a Hurricane" against the Wasp's theme. More frequent references to this idea at the end of this score would have been welcomed, though the sharing of the Wasp theme by both female leads makes some sense. Meanwhile, Hank Pym was afforded a theme in Ant-Man during the "Become the Hero" cue, and it's reprised here in "Tracker Swarm." Again, additional development of this idea would have been a nice choice by Beck for this score. Beck saves his choral infusion for the conclusion of the film, restraining the voices to mainly a tasteful secondary position in the mix of "Ghost = Toast." If you're looking for outward humor, be sure to check out "San Francisco Giant," which makes the best of pitch-defying, synthetic sound effects to clearly make fun of the story's size warps. The recording of the score as a whole is well spaced, the brass and snare occupying the forefront as necessary for the Silvestri-like moments. A greater presence of electric guitar and other synthetic elements underneath the otherwise straight orchestral action would have been preferred here. Such is the larger dilemma with this score; it's a solid work with enough connections to Ant-Man to suffice, but it certainly won't check all the boxes for every listener. The newly developed Wasp theme is really outstanding in parts and attempts to hold this score by itself in all its various guises. But the lack of greater presence for the three existing themes from the prior score is a truly astonishing misstep, especially since they are recognized in token ways. This music will gain better traction with the Brian Tyler aficionados out there, but the opposite was precisely true of Ant-Man (in this franchise, that is; Tyler is certainly capable of great caper music). The album for Ant-Man and the Wasp was initially a digital-only product, with the high-resolution download option easily recommended given the dynamic instrumental depth of the work. Beck earns four stars again in the franchise, but this time for surprisingly different reasons.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 55:55

• 1. It Ain't Over Till the Wasp Lady Stings (2:34) • 2. Prologue (3:42) • 3. Ghost in the Machine (1:15) • 4. World's Greatest Grandma (1:34) • 5. A Little Nudge (3:49) • 6. Feds (2:47) • 7. Ava's Story (4:36) • 8. Wings & Blasters (1:55) • 9. Utmost Ghost (2:28) • 10. Tracker Swarm (1:27) • 11. Cautious as a Hurricane (2:47) • 12. Misdirection (2:38) • 13. Quantum Leap (2:53)

• 14. I Shrink, Therefore I Am (1:57) • 15. Partners (1:52) • 16. Windshield Wipeout (1:37) • 17. Hot Wheels (1:38) • 18. Revivification (2:50) • 19. A Flock of Seagulls (1:07) • 20. San Francisco Giant (0:45) • 21. Ghost = Toast (2:54) • 22. Reduce Yourself (1:41) • 23. Quit Screwing Around (0:46) • 24. Anthropodie (4:16) • 25. Baba Yaga Lullaby* (0:25)

NOTES & QUOTES:

Outside of cover art, no official packaging exists for the download-only album.

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