Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,116
Written 6/2/21
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Buy it... if you are curious to behold the "music" Tom Holkenborg
produces when he tries to be "modern," "unworldly," "emotional," and
"haunting," his efforts resulting in humorously terrible aural muck.
Avoid it... if you do not equate sound design with music at the
conceptual level, though there may be some useful torture material to be
gleaned from this score.
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| Holkenborg |
Army of the Dead: (Tom Holkenborg) So let's get
this straight. The American military accidentally loses a captured
zombie on a Nevada highway and it infects much of Las Vegas with a new
breed of zombie able to rape women and thus produce zombie children.
That's the backdrop of Zack Snyder's minimally intelligent 2021 action
thriller, Army of the Dead. In that environment, a group of
mercenaries is hired to retrieve hundreds of millions of dollars in cash
from a casino vault. This awkward cast ensemble of amiable but
expendable paramilitary fools discovers a surprising order of zombies
that includes some that can be bargained with and have the itch to
procreate. Needless to say, Snyder's story, which he directed, shot, and
produced as well, is a mindless excuse to watch people chasing around
with zombies, wielding severed heads, and mostly losing, as damn near
the entire cast is killed or infected by the end of their Vegas
excursion. The obligatory nuclear bomb solution is foiled by the equally
obligatory escaped zombie at the end. Along with a limited release in
theatres, Army of the Dead was mostly aimed at Netflix
subscribers, with whom it did swift business. As expected, Snyder turned
to electronica sound designer-masquerading-as-composer Tom "Junkie XL"
Holkenborg for the original score for the film, though the mix in the
movie is peppered with a variety of song placements. Only one of them, a
cover of "Viva Las Vegas," is included with Holkenborg's score on the
film's soundtrack album. For his part, Holkenborg took Snyder's
permission to write an unconventional electronic score to heart,
stating, "It was such a fun project as we got to rip up the rule book."
That rule book included all fundamental tenets of functional film music,
leaving this score as a prime example of how to produce insufferably
bland and obnoxious noise that serves as an additional sound effect
layer in the picture. While those in Hans Zimmer's universe often refer
to these sound design scores (and heavily market them) as revolutionary,
the reality is that there exists little actual character in this aural
muck with which to match to the definition of "music." Harmony is rare,
rhythm is inconsistent, tonality is absent, structure is haphazard, and
any semblance of smart synchronization or development with the narrative
of the picture is abandoned. You can browse through Holkenborg's
descriptions of how awesome it is to invent such wretched "music," and
how creative he was in his methods of concocting and combining the
elements making up its volume. Don't fall for the hype.
At the end of the day,
Army of the Dead is an
insufferable belching of incoherent sound effects tuned to pitch and
rhythms at times so that the man can impress the filmmaker, earn his
pay, and thrill listeners that don't know the difference between
brilliant experimentation and incompetent flailing. Imagine the
personality Basil Poledouris could have brought to a movie like this. Or
even Marco Beltrami, whose
Love and Monsters has far more spirit.
But, as Holkenborg continued, "The instruction from [Snyder] was make it
modern, make it unworldly, make it as emotional as you can with soft,
dark, underlining haunting elements. We really looked into a way to
counterplay what you see musically on screen; it's not like scary equals
scary, action equals action, etc... but stay in the vein of haunting and
emotional." First of all, that statement doesn't make any sense. There
are lots of buzz words in there but not much meaning. Second, there's
nothing emotional or haunting about this "music." A variety of
industrial, metallic grinding sounds, distorted vocals, and angry
percussion occupy the soundscape, with vague keyboarded ambience
attempting to assert itself in the more palatable portions. Manipulation
is extreme in the work, punctuated by the "loud, cut-off crescendo"
effect at the end of "Scott and Kate Part 3" and "Battle Hallway Part
2." Those looking for Zimmer-inspired bravado will find some struggling
anthemic emulation in "Not Here," and hopeless romantics will cling
unsuccessfully to the slow, three-note progressions of the theme in the
"Scott and Kate" cues. Another recurring idea is a slapping percussion
action rhythm in the "Battle Hallway" cues. Some of the sound effects in
this music are so terrible that they need singled out, foremost the
seeming recording of a Harley Davidson motorcycle in a tunnel during
"Battle Hallway Part 1," one of the most unpleasant noises to ever grace
a film score. Whatever samples open the first 40 seconds of "Zeus and
Athena Part 2" deserve a medal for torture capability. The false vocal
atmosphere in the first half of "Zeus and Athena Part 1" is limp despite
the attempt at the "haunting" label. Junkie XL fans will, however,
appreciate the psychotic dance interlude in "Swimming Pool." Altogether,
Army of the Dead is a depressingly inept attempt at atmospheric
creativity, failing to create a mood of thrill, suspense, or
exhilaration and at times so cringe-worthy in its ridiculous noises that
it's hilariously awful. Perhaps some easy listening can result from the
opening "Scott and Kate" cues, unless they lull you to a disturbed
sleep. After showing signs of maturing as a composer in previous years,
Holkenborg opened 2021 with three really poor outings, a massively
disappointing and dismal regression.
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Bias Check:
For Tom Holkenborg reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.16
(in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.49
(in 6,144 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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