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| Lockington |
Atlas: (Andrew Lockington) Conceived of prior to
the hype of artificial intelligence but released on Netflix after the
concept had already lost some of its futuristic appeal, 2024's
Atlas was largely shrugged off by audiences despite tackling
ongoing issues of prejudice against AI. Director Brad Peyton, having
largely shifted from mainstream cinematic blockbusters to television,
tackled the story of a government analyst in 2043 (so soon?) whose
mother was responsible for the design of an AI that turned against
humanity and was forced off the planet. Played compellingly by Jennifer
Lopez, this reluctant investigator, Atlas, assists in the pursuit of the
renegade AI and its mechanized forces to a neighboring star system,
where battle ensues. Earth's human rangers use mechas with AI links to
their brains to fight, and Atlas inevitably finds herself in one of
these suits despite her significant misgivings about AI in general. Of
course, she ultimately saves the mission and brings justice on behalf of
her betrayed mother and all of humanity. The developing bond between
Atlas and her mecha's AI, Smith, is largely the heart of the story, and
the two inevitably must fight the villain AI mastermind, Harlan, in
metal-to-metal combat. While
Atlas wasn't received well despite
its intriguing concept, the project did allow the continuing
collaboration between the director and composer Andrew Lockington to
shift back towards a broader adventure and fantasy mode that had eluded
the two for many years. Lockington's career, after bursting into the
mainstream in 2008 and supplying engaging scores for well-known films
throughout the early 2010's, was then largely relegated to television
assignments as a reflection of Peyton's career. While
Atlas never
hit the big screens, the film still represented an opportunity for
Lockington to unleash his inherent blend of instrumental and vocal
creativity with a large orchestral ensemble, a welcome return to a sound
that crafted his career classic and top 2012 score overall,
Journey
2: The Mysterious Island.
When Lockington is in full adventure mode, few composers
can compete with the unique voice of his orchestral and synthetic
prowess. While his orchestrator and conductor has shifted from Nicholas
Dodd to Matt Dunkley, that voice remains more or less intact in
Atlas. Some of the Dodd flourishes in orchestration are absent,
naturally, especially in upper brass, but the overall style is largely
the same. Lockington tends to approach his scores from a nearly
over-intellectual approach of preparation, one that sometimes manifests
in the creativity you hear in the end product but also one that at times
fails to truly reveal itself in the finished product once everything is
mixed together. His work researching sounds for
Atlas took him to
Japan because of that culture's historical fascination with the merging
of technology and humanity. With his trusty, omnipresent black baseball
cap atop his head, he recorded at temples in that country to capture the
chanting of monks who had never been recorded before, then seeking out
unique sounds around the countryside, including those of the bullet
train. Later, he travelled to London to record woodwinds and percussion
in abandoned London subway tunnels. He also sought out English singing
sensation Malakai Bayoh for boy vocals to represent the mecha concept
counterintuitively. These unique recordings can all be pinpointed in the
finished score, but their impact doesn't sound quite as unique as one
might hope. They definitely help, however, and the orchestral presence
is as dynamic as ever for the composer. Always of interest with
Lockington is his layering of synthetics into his science-fiction
efforts, as he sometimes has a tendency, like David Arnold, to allow
these infusions to interfere with the ambient tone of the whole. He
intentionally kept
Atlas organic at its core because he and
Peyton sought to emphasize the humanity element over the technological
one. But the inherent nature of spaceships, mecha fighting, and the
other highly metallic elements of the picture compelled Lockington to
supply quite a bit of post-production synthetic enhancements. The synth
tones affect some of the action adversely, especially "Alpine Chase,"
and low brass is particularly excellent when allowed to flourish in the
bass without the enhancements, as in the middle of "Flatline," but,
generally, the electronic side is fairly well sculpted and
contained.
One of the other trademark aspects of a Lockington score
like
Atlas is his insistence that his thematic identities earn
their place in the narrative, developing appropriately with story
concepts until enjoying payoffs at the end of the picture. The themes in
the score won't really hit you until the monumental end credits
arrangement, forcing you to go back and evaluate how those ideas evolved
to reach that ultimate payoff. Detractors of the composer have long
complained that he writes well but never manages to convey memorable
themes, and that issue may continue for some here. Lockington admits
that this score in particular could take to five listens to really sink
in, and he's right; an initial listen will likely cause a film music
collector to appreciate the proficient, and even above average handling
of the action and drama in a general sense, but the themes may not click
prior to repeated listens. The techniques and attitude, especially with
the voices, may cause casual listeners to compare the score to Hans
Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro's
The Creator from the year before, but
Lockington has far more thematic integrity at work under the surface
here. There are four major themes and one minor one that weave
throughout the film, though two of the four primary identities may blend
together in purpose for listeners. Lockington provides the Simon AI with
a distinct melody and then, from that core, generates a Simon and Atlas
friendship theme that gains cohesion and emotional strength as the film
progresses. Lockington uses the first three notes of the Simon theme as
a diagetic chime to represent the AI technologically, though the primary
phrase of the theme is five mostly ascending notes in total. This idea
repeats as a fleeting debut on echoing woodwinds (from those subway
tunnels, likely) at the outset of "Checkmate," but the theme formally
and tenderly opens "Possibilities" on piano. Lockington employs an
optimistic, rising version of this identity at 1:39 into "Why Can't We
Sync," and that inspirational phrasing returns in the first 30 seconds
of "Flatline." The theme opens "Only One of Us Will Make It" on solo
piano over atmospheric haze and returns to the hopeful rising version
from "Why Can't We Sync" before the ranger theme near the stirring end
of that cue. It recurs at 1:19 into "Smith 2.0" in anticipatory form on
strings and harp and opens "Atlas Main Titles" in by far its most
muscular incarnation on brass, expanding on its secondary sequence at
0:28.
The Simon and Atlas friendship theme in
Atlas is
clearly its loveliest, developing out of the Simon theme as an auxiliary
line before becoming its own identity. Its eight-note phrases are more
romantic than the simple Simon motif, heard first on pretty piano over a
string and synth wash at 0:40 into "Possibilities." A variant on the
secondary sequence is beautiful at 1:51 into "Why Can't We Sync" for
ensemble and boy solo. It extends out of the Simon theme on piano at
0:53 and 1:31 into "Only One of Us Will Make It" for its catharsis,
repeating several times with increasing intensity from the ensemble. A
perfect statement on piano at 2:06 into "Smith 2.0" replaces the need
for dialogue. As Atlas asks her "new" AI what its name is at the very
end of the movie, no verbal response is necessary because we know it's
Simon; Lockington simply plays the friendship theme and the movie ends.
It's a masterful touch to bring the score full-circle. The composer
provides the military's human rangers with its own theme, one initially
badly haunted by ghostly tones due to the group's failure but also one
that eventually embraces its more determined series of mostly descending
four-note phrases as Atlas herself becomes an unwillingly good ranger.
You'll hear the solo boy voice representing the mecha suits for these
characters, and that performer conveys the ranger theme over the tumult
at 0:37 into "Atlas Prologue." The idea's secondary lines enjoy
significant development of false hope at 4:45 into "Checkmate." Its
primary phrasing noodles around at the start of "Let Me Show You
Something" in suspense, consolidating at 0:40 on low strings. Deep
strings offer the ranger theme at 0:27 into "Briefing," extending into a
great mix of the monks' performances thereafter as a reference to not
only the group's nearly religious dedication but their impending fate.
Those progressions from "Briefing" continue with the monks chanting in
"Ranger Gravesite" as their fate is realized, and the theme formalizes
itself at 1:37 with sadness and conflicting string lines in the
background. The ranger theme opens "Why Can't We Sync" softly against
layers of dissonance and is seriously grim at 0:20 into "Better Version
of You." But its rendition at 2:59 into "Only One of Us Will Make It" is
where this idea flourishes, ending the cue with the theme's maturation
as Atlas indeed achieves ranger perseverance. Lockington reprises this
brass mode for the theme at 0:49 into "Atlas Main Titles," elevating its
secondary phrasing on choir with powerful counterpoint at 1:29.
The most prevalent theme in
Atlas has multiple
roles, representing both AI in general and the villain that harnesses
it. Capturing the wonder and danger of the concept, this AI theme is
eventually engrossed in the Harlan villain, but the usage ranges in
emotional appeal wildly. A rising six-note phrase with a longer
response, this theme was the basis of Lockington's first cue written,
applied to the solo boy voice in "Birth of the Species." In the
narrative, though, this idea is everywhere, introduced with an
optimistic sheen on strings at 1:15 into "Atlas Prologue" before being
twisted a bit on menacing brass at 1:45 and more formally developed in
its full phrasing at 2:26. Its ascending phrasing has some influence on
the action in "Casca Capture," and it exists on compelling brass and
strings at 0:19 into "Checkmate" against early hints of the Simon theme.
The AI identity overtakes the ranger theme in the latter half of "Let Me
Show You Something," and a variant interrupts the mysticism on
threatening brass at 2:07 into "Briefing." It barely guides some of the
progressions in the action of the grating "Alpine Chase" and increases
intensity at 0:34 into "Why Can't We Sync," haunting the later portions
of the cue. The AI theme drops a shadow at 2:37 into "The Swamp" and
turns into a driving movement thereafter. As mentioned before, it
conveys its wonderment side on solo voice over choir at 0:21 into "Birth
of a Species," earning more gravity at 2:07 on low strings and brass.
The theme barely guides the rising structures in the action of
"Upgrades" and "Trust," increasing its focus in the second half of the
latter cue. Brass flirts with fragments of the idea in "Patterns" before
you receive a whimsical rendition at 1:03 into "Better Version of You"
and a resolute moment at 0:14 into "Smith 2.0." Lockington allows it a
massive reference at 2:14 into "Atlas Main Titles" to end the suite of
themes. The composer tends to litter singular thematic ideas throughout
the rest of the score, but one of note that does repeat is the Planty
theme, a spin-off from the Simon theme for the flower that he and Atlas
discover and name. This idea opens "Planty" nicely on piano, strings,
and synths, reinforcing the tenderness of the bond between the two. It
vaguely informs the beauty in the first half of "The Swamp," but the
vital tie-in to the "Planty" cue comes in "Smith 2.0." Lockington opts
not to reprise the theme as the flower is reintroduced to the story (at
the very start of "Smith 2.0") but instead at 0:57 into the cue, when
Atlas touches her new mecha and is clearly thinking about her past
adventure with Simon. The boy solo is particularly poignant at this
moment.
These themes in
Atlas are intelligently
developed from start to finish, but perhaps too much so for a film of
this caliber. Casual listeners should be able to make the connection in
the final scene to the pretty piano theme for the two leads from
earlier, but the score may otherwise fly over the heads of most people.
There is no "main" theme of the score, per se, nothing that listeners
will walk away from it humming. The closing "Atlas Main Titles" cue for
the end credits is both magnificent and frustrating all at once,
conveying three of the score's themes in outstanding, fully orchestral
muscularity, but doing do in a fashion with children's choir and clear
enunciation that you just don't hear in almost all of the rest of the
score. In some ways, "Atlas Main Titles" is itself the payoff for the
entire effort, and few moments outside of the last portions of "Only One
of Us Will Make It" will be able to compete with its attractive ensemble
expression. You hear secondary lines to the Simon and Ranger themes that
are only hinted earlier in the score, both of these highly impressive
sections utilizing the choir. The sequence at 1:30, for instance, is a
consolidated rendition of the secondary ranger lines from "Checkmate"
that the score otherwise provided no indication would drive one of the
end credits' most compelling passages. None of those observations should
diminish the appeal of "Atlas Main Titles," as it stands as Lockington's
single most impressive composition since the legendary end title
sequence of
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and competes
favorably as a top score cue in all of cinema for 2024. That kind of
extroverted symphonic and choral music is, in short, exactly what
Lockington enthusiasts had been waiting to hear for years. The trick to
appreciating
Atlas on album is to supplement that mesmerizing end
credits piece with key selections from the preceding score, starting
with the monk performances for the ranger material, the piano interludes
for character development, and the four cues from "Flatline" to "Smith
2.0" that provide the culmination for the three protagonist themes. From
this material, a truly outstanding 20-minute suite can be assembled. For
the entire 63-minute listening experience, you may be best served
omitting a trio of challenging action cues, "Casca Capture," "Planet
Fall," and "Alpine Chase," if you prefer to avoid the most intrusive
synthetic and post-production manipulation. Regardless,
Atlas is
a very welcome return to Lockington's wheelhouse with large ensembles
and creative vocals, his trademark sound in this arena much missed in
the years prior to this impressive return to bravado.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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