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| Balfe |
Black Adam: (Lorne Balfe) While filmmakers
considered including the character of Black Adam as a foil in 2019's
Shazam!, the franchise couldn't fathom featuring Dwayne Johnson
as that character for just a supporting role. Thus, after a pandemic
delay,
Black Adam receives his own film in the DC Extended
Universe, allowing for a bloated origins story that explains not only
his existence but that of a number of other, ancillary heroes that
belong to the Justice Society of America, which is not to be confused
with the Justice League, the Magical Congress of the United States of
America, or the Make America Great Again campaign. Initially, four
heroes of the Justice Society, one of whom looks suspiciously like an
aging British secret agent, are sent to contain the resurrection of
Black Adam from his 4,600-year nap, his backstory containing eerie
similarities in ethos to that of the Scorpion King but without the
impressive hair products. Since the film is a spin-off of the
Shazam! concept, Adam is depicted receiving familiar powers but
is an anti-hero due to the execution of his son by the evil king of a
fictitious Middle Eastern kingdom of the past. Eventually, when the evil
crown of that ruler and its associated demons from the "legions of Hell"
decide to rid the modern kingdom of Burger Kings and other unsavory
abominations, Black Adam begrudgingly allies himself with the Justice
Society heroes to repel such unpleasantries. The film is meant to set up
sequels with the character eventually squaring off against Shazam,
Superman, and, one can always hope, the Scorpion King. Rather than
Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra returning to their
Jungle
Cruise collaborator, James Newton Howard, to provide the score for
Black Adam, they turned to
Black Widow composer Lorne
Balfe, who was a safer choice to provide the knock-off Hans Zimmer
muscularity expected by studio executives and trained audiences. Balfe
had impressed with the breadth of his stylistic evolution over the
late-2010's, and
Black Widow stands among the better genre
entries of its age.
By the time Balfe joined
Black Adam, Collet-Serra
had already selected the song placements for the film, forcing the
composer to work around them and build bridges leading into them.
Interestingly, Balfe does not explicitly credit any ghostwriters for the
project, but the lengthy list of arrangers suggests that Balfe tasked
these assistants with adapting his initial suites of material into
portions of the score without asking them to write anything
substantively new. The highly repetitive nature and lack of satisfying
variation in the presentation of the base style and themes may reveal
such an arrangement. What you don't hear is anything from Benjamin
Wallfisch's superior score for
Shazam! despite the conceptual and
supporting character overlaps. The outside musical reference that caused
an immediate stir was prompted by the appearance of Superman in a
credits scene; the filmmakers labored at length over whether to
reference the character's theme by Zimmer or that by John Williams for
the scene, and the iconic status of the latter won that debate. (Balfe
has seemed uncomfortable discussing the decision in depth, as it is
something of a repudiation of the vocal and often antagonistic Zimmer
minority that has long tried to diminish the merit of Williams' themes.)
Despite this Williams-aided cameo, however, Balfe's score is informed
greatly by the Zimmer superhero mould, blasting, thrashing, and droning
his way to deep, manly heroism with heavy bass emphasis, electronic
manipulation, and rock-inspired thematic elements. The composer opted
for a massive orchestral ensemble highlighted by an unusually large
brass section. Sadly, each instrumental layer often plays in unison,
which could have been accomplished with overdubbing. If all the horns
play the same line together rather than forming chords or obvious
conflicting or complimentary lines of action, then what's the point? The
resulting sound is large but boneheaded, lacking much of the potential
that such an ensemble can bring. Percussionists and other soloists from
around the world representing different cultures were assembled for the
score, giving it a somewhat meandering and unfocused ethnic feel, though
standard rock drum kits are never far behind.
The application of vocal effects in
Black Adam is
where Balfe supplies some interesting ideas, though the result is not
always palatable. There is a general sense of similarity in the vocal
strategy between this score and Andrew Lockington's
Rampage,
perhaps a Johnson-related coincidence but also illuminating the concept
of discordant, lighter vocal usage against brutal symphonic and
electronic tones. (Lockington would have been amore inspired choice for
this score, honestly.) Some of the chanted Latin lyrics tell the
backstory of the main character in
Black Adam, and the most
ethnic vocal portions, as in middle of "It Was Him," are highlights. On
the other hand, vocals are sometimes whispered or altered in ways to
supply them like sound effects, and these layers are typically
distracting rather than constructive. The defining characteristic of the
score is Balfe's synthetic post-production, however, and this area is
where the work utterly fails for no good reason. There is intentional
electronic distortion throughout the music, hip hop mannerisms twisted
badly, and none of these techniques was really necessary for a story for
which the ethnic elements were a better match. There seems to be more
impactful distortion of organic sounds here than in Balfe's
Terminator Genisys, which is a surprise. Badly dated techniques
like the sudden drop-out that concludes "Through the Wall" and the
backwards crescendo the opens "23 lbs of Eternium" are tired and no
longer impress anyone. Animalistic alarm noises, as in "Just Say
Shazam," are highly annoying, and grating electronic slurring inhibits
several orchestral passages. The fantasy portions of the score without
this distortion, like "Lake Baikal," yield the most compelling cues. It
sounds like Balfe's intent was to create an overarching tone that
blended Zimmer's brooding bass template with the coolness of Ludwig
Göransson's
Black Panther, the awe of Wallfisch's
Shazam!, and the pop-culture heroism of Bill Conti's
Rocky. The combination doesn't entirely work, for the
Göransson coolness is too manipulated, the orchestral command is
nowhere near Wallfisch's, and anything in the genre raising memories of
Rocky is, well, misguided. That leaves the Zimmer influences to
prevail, which they do.
If scores like
Black Adam thrive on bass-dwelling
force and sections of instruments playing in unison, then you also have
to mention the incessant pounding on key, whether in the thematic
constructs or the underlying rhythms. Balfe divides the score between
two major sets of themes, one for Adam and the other for the combined
Justice Society, but the rendering of the halves is too similar
instrumentally and in tone to make many meaningful distinctions. These
characters are all just ballsy, cool superheroes and scores like
Black Adam do far too little to round out their musical
personalities. It's in your face almost all the time, the volumes high
even in softer passages, and exhaustion sets in after just twenty
minutes of it. This isn't to say that Balfe doesn't attempt some
intelligence in his ethnic elements or the intentional placement of the
theme sets against each other before eventually bringing them into
simultaneous harmony. But the individual battles between themes in the
cues around "Just Say Shazam" are decent but not distinct, the
applications most often alternating rather than extensively overlapping,
which is not particularly clever. Balfe overcomplicates the thematic
situation by providing a theme for Adam that is actually five distinct
ideas combined into one identity, with an auxiliary theme for the
character's relationship with his doomed son. The composer and his
arrangers supply each of the five parts of the Adam theme in various
purposes throughout the narrative, and each is repeated many times. But
because of their quantity, none really excels as the main motific
representation of the characters. Less cloudy are the two parts that
make up the Justice Society theme, for which Balfe opted not to
distinguish each character with any musical voice aside from Pierce
Brosnan's Doctor Fate, who receives some half-hearted individualism in
the score. Even here, the main theme for the Justice Society somewhat
defeats the purpose of its heroic secondary theme, for the primary motif
itself becomes bloated with overbearing, bass-pounding greatness by the
end, too. Though Balfe intends these themes to span a broader range from
traditional nostalgia to contemporary zeal, all of these ideas end up
sounding like they're overcooked meat floating in the same boiling soup
of blazing hot indigestion.
Generally, Balfe conceived of the Black Adam theme as an
extension of an American high school marching band because of Johnson's
football past. His description of this material as a "menacing, dark
force" and "dark and bombastic" extended not out of the Black Adam
persona but rather Balfe's impression of Johnson as "The Rock." This
decision doesn't make sense in the confines of this picture, and not
much personality from a marching band is exuded from the percussion
applied. The composer also states that the Adam material builds slowly
and only provides a finished presentation at the end of the score, which
would be a smart move if it was actually obvious this technique was
happening in the movie; instead, the theme's parts all pound away early
and late, taking a hiatus to allow the Justice Society themes to
dominate the middle. When not defined by overwrought brass and
electronic bass enhancement, the theme uses awkwardly whispering vocal
effects and manipulated African singing, sometimes laced with metallic
scraping noises, and while this effort is admirable in concept, the
execution is more annoying than anything else. Structurally, the five
parts of the theme include the opening rhythm, its oft accompanying bass
riff of coolness, a main bad-ass theme, a choral interlude of historical
epicness, and a heroic ascent for the character's better inclinations.
The five parts never really become comfortable with each other in the
score proper, which is probably what Balfe was alluding to in his
interviews about only providing the theme in full in the suite. The main
bad-ass fanfare is introduced at 0:56, 1:42, and 2:49 into "Black Adam
Theme" and consists of pairs of 5-note phrases. It's more ethnically
focused at 0:56 into "Teth-Adam," which is largely just a copy of the
suite, thus returning multiple times. This cue's poor combination of
modern percussive grooviness and vague Middle-Eastern tones, especially
in the vocals, is a disappointment. It's reduced to a solo string at
2:43 into "Kahndaq," fuller at 4:21, and ominous at the end, but the
choppy, manipulated vocals over this theme's later statements are
insufferable. The idea continues to dominate early cues, brutal on brass
at 0:40 into "The Awakening" under obnoxious synthetic effects and
repeating endlessly through ridiculously masculine variations of force.
For a theme that Balfe claims was not to be defined early, it certainly
explodes prematurely.
After the initial cues of
Black Adam, the bad-ass
fanfare for the titular character becomes increasingly unbalanced. It's
somewhat muted at 1:43 into "Our Only Hope," filled with oppressive hate
at 1:04 into "Change Your Name," and shifts back to powerful,
overbearing tones at 0:24 into "Is It the Champion?" over the bass riff.
The theme is barely enunciated late in "Your Enemies" over an awful,
manipulated riff and vocal effects, joining the battle at 3:20 into
"Just Say Shazam" over the riff once more. It's hinted at 0:24 into
"Ancient Palace," again with the riff underneath, returning late, and
stutters near the end of "Release Him." The idea interjects into the
action around 1:44 into "Fly Bikes," bursts electronically with terrible
distorted effects at 1:10 into "Through the Wall" (before stomping
later), struggles against the rhythm and choral interlude in "It Was
Him," and then takes a break until the outset of "Prison Break" on
growling brass and a striking moment over the choral motif in the middle
of "Slave Champion." Intriguingly, this main identity for Adam is
largely absent from the concluding cues, that void filled by the other
parts of the theme. Integral to this theme is Balfe's tandem of
underlying rhythm and bass riff for the character, the latter often
complimenting the main theme harmonically. The rhythm opens "Black Adam
Theme" on cellos, a simple octave-hopping idea with occasional
anticipatory notes, and it is joined by the powerful bass riff at 0:34
that continues throughout. The bass riff is the arguably coolest part of
the score and could have been the main theme itself. The rhythm opens
"Teth-Adam" with annoying choral layering and percussive slapping, while
the bass riff again joins the suite's clone at 0:34. It opens "Kahndaq"
with a little more subtlety, the bass riff again aiding briefly, and
informs the dull thumping at 0:23 into "The Awakening." The rhythm
develops at 0:25 into "Shaza-Superman" out of ethnic vocal wailing with
rock-like attitude (the bass riff at 0:49 is subtle and dissolves as the
cue meanders into nothingness), is reduced to a single octave decline at
the start of "Our Only Hope" and later in the cue, opens "Change Your
Name" with significant distortion (adding a slow bass riff), and becomes
a bit tribal and distorted at the outset of "Is It the Champion?" The
rhythm is barely recognizable in the electronic mayhem at the outset of
"Your Enemies," though the riff joins the ruckus for one
statement.
Balfe and his team manipulate the rhythm and bass riff
more extensively later in the
Black Adam score, relying upon it
as a blunt instrument of pounding force at times. The rhythm opens "Not
Interested" and mingles with the choral interlude motif, the bass riff
barely intact in the treble at 1:05 in an intriguing shift, and it is
full of wrath at the start of "Just Say Shazam" on guitars, slammed
drums; the battle with the Society theme here leads to a defiant riff
statement at 1:39. The rhythm is distorted badly at 1:10 into "Ancient
Palace" (returning to form at 2:20) while the bass riff alone at 0:52
into "Fly Bikes" is pushed outside of its normal boundaries, mingling
fairly well with the Justice Society material. Blasting at 0:17 into
"Through the Wall" with a
Terminator-like riff is the rhythm once
again, peppered throughout this cue. The rhythm and thematic fragments
struggle after about a minute of "It Was Him" and under tentative
thematic phrasing late in "It Was Him." It explodes early in "The
Doctor's Destiny" and joins the Society theme nicely at 0:20 into "Slave
Champion," while the riff offers some sleek tone to the middle of
"Legions of Hell" and absolutely takes over at the start of "The Man in
Black." The rhythm thumps in an awkward mix at the start of "Adam's
Journey" and subtly closes the cue with little satisfaction. The other
two parts of the Black Adam theme are more standalone applications, the
choral interlude representing the epic historical element with repeating
descending phrases of less-manipulated singing. It's featured at 1:19
into "Black Adam Theme," where it continues as a counterpoint line to
the main theme, and is reprised at the same time point in "Teth-Adam,"
where it receives a different mix. The choral interlude is faintly
present under the Justice Society's heroic identity in "Introducing the
JSA," is presented at 0:24 into "Not Interested" over the rhythm for an
interesting pairing, and opens "Release Him" without much variation.
Balfe's team takes it in different directions from there, urgent and
lower in pitch at 2:02 into "It Was Him" (and returning at 4:54),
opening "Wet Rocks" in more troubled layers of dissonance, and sped up
throughout "Not a Hero," the vocals oddly mixed in the soundscape but
strings carrying the motif for a nice change in the latter half. It
proceeds with a dose of agony at 0:51 into "Slave Champion" over the
main theme, opens "Legions of Hell" with more badly manipulated or muted
choral layers, and mingles with the riff violently early in "The Man in
Black" before obviously dissolving.
The final portion of the Black Adam theme is that
representing the character's potential as a protagonist and thus
accompanies his more heroic acts. This portion of the theme is its
typical culmination, its two-note phrases of ultra-cool chord shifts at
2:04 into "Black Adam Theme" devolving into an unlistenable motif of
manipulated nasal sounds at 2:26. The ascending portion up front is
teased at 2:04 in "Teth-Adam" as a three-note alternate to this heroic
mode, but it flourishes at 2:18 into "The Awakening" in overblown
fantasy with noble trumpets, the nasal choral part at 2:47 adding a
short crescendo of irritation. It returns at 1:22 into "Ancient Palace"
with slapping contemporary percussion, the modern elements ruining the
choral majesty of the moment and the motif building to its usual
obnoxious choral climax. The idea is referenced slightly late in "23 lbs
of Eternium," slows in tempo at 0:34 into "Prison Break" with the rock
percussion (the nasal choral climax in this performance is still highly
annoying in its vocal distortion), and takes a greater role at 0:56 and
1:55 into "Adam's Journey" over the Adam rhythm with increasing
intensity. Again, the nasal choral climax to the motif here is hideous.
On the flip side of the score is the two-part identity for the Justice
Society. The main theme for this group is what Balfe calls
"contemporary" but with "nostalgic roots," which doesn't really have
much meaning in the final product aside from reduced electronic
manipulation and a longer-lined melody. It is, though, a more
traditionally lyrical identity and closer to Balfe's usual tonalities
and progressions. The theme is summarized at 0:11 into "The Justice
Society Theme" after its own chopping introductory rhythm, repeating
several times in thicker layers of instrumental and choral action,
taking almost a soft electronic dance turn at 2:18, and lighter
keyboarding closing out the arrangement without discernable purpose. In
the actual score, the theme debuts at the start of "Introducing the JSA"
after a softer opening string rhythm, with contemporary coolness at 0:38
sounding like a failing computer hard drive in the vocal effects, a
technique that returns distractingly at 3:34. The theme shifts to brass
force and fuller strings in the middle and at the end of the cue,
establishing honorable personality at 2:43 without electronic layers in
an overly noble presentation. The Justice Society theme opens "What Kind
of Magic?" in low shades of brooding but builds confidence throughout,
while the rhythm and angry thematic fragments occupy the middle of
"Black Adam Spotted."
As demanded by the plot of
Black Adam, the
Justice Society's main theme comes to dominate the middle of the score.
Its rhythm is full of wrath at the start of "Just Say Shazam" on guitars
and slammed drums before the theme proper at 0:52 into that cue offers a
sudden break from the hard attitude; the rock anthem rendition at 1:56
sonically battles the Adam material. A super-cool rendition opens
"Ancient Palace" with choral weight over contemporary loops, the rhythm
then informing the propulsion of "Little Man." The Justice Society theme
remains a little uncomfortable amongst the Adam theme parts in the
middle of "Fly Bikes," further fragmented early in "Nanobots" before
consolidating with uneasy tension later. It dwells in suspense early in
"Is This the End?," trying to escape the bass region without success. An
important shift happens with the lighter moment at 1:05 into "Lake
Baikal," the theme taking its own turn as a heroic identity at 1:57 but
then shifting back to the interlude sequence dedicated to that purpose.
It's teased early in "Capes and Corpses" and is stoic but stoked early
in "Hawkman's Fate," building
Terminator Genisys tonalities.
Slowed to melodramatic, ultra-action mode in "The JSA Fights Back," the
theme erupts into a rowdy, manipulated rendition with its rhythm
thereafter, and it goes to battle early in "Slave Champion." Like the
main Adam theme, this one disappears at the end of the score as well.
Taking up more oxygen by this point is the interlude sequence to the
Justice Society theme, which is more brazenly heroic in attitude, though
the rock percussion doesn't jive well with the rest of the identity. In
the summary suite, this motif builds its ascending phrases at 1:13 and
goes full hero mode at 1:33, by which point it sounds a bit like a
vintage Trevor Rabin idea. It's softer at 2:40 until a terrible hero
mode strikes at 2:59 with awful electric slurring, concluding with
Rocky aspirations on trumpets at 3:41 in almost humorous doses of
overblown parody. Within the score, the heroic interlude for the group
is introduced at 0:58 into "Introducing the JSA" with a little subtlety
but becomes brassier at 3:40. The underlying chords alone occupy the
middle of "What Kind of Magic?" with snazzy intent while the melody
influences "Time to Go" but never really gets established. It opens
"Through the Wall" lightly and overcomes the Adam material's menace at
0:49, battling even more brazenly later in the cue. An anthemic
performance at 1:14 into "Lake Baikal" for brass and choir repeats
several times in the crescendo at the end of the cue for lofty
power
As the score for
Black Adam concludes, the
heroic interlude sequence for the Justice Society theme experiences an
interesting variety of emotional variants. It's dramatic in its bassline
late in "Hawkman's Fate," makes a cameo late in "The JSA Fights Back,"
becomes softly ethereal in a great, angelic choral application in "A Bad
Plan is a Good Plan," joins victoriously with choir at 1:52 into "Prison
Break," and partly informs the momentous sacrifice cue in "The Doctor's
Destiny." The final significant motif in
Black Adam represents
the relationship between Adam and his son, an idea slightly related to
the Black Adam theme in harmonics and progressions. Debuting at 3:54
into "Kahndaq," this theme meanders early in "Our Only Hope" without
resolution and makes an angry allusion at 1:50 into "Ancient Palace."
The theme is summarized mostly in "Father & Son," however, heard at 0:07
on solo strings and building to sizeable choral lament; the percussive
elements in this cue are more organic and easier to digest. This family
theme opens "Lake Baikal" with urgency and culminates with oppressively
dark force at 0:24 into "Adam's Journey" and again later in the cue,
pounding away repeatedly in shades of the main theme to close the cue.
The only other motif of interest in the score is one for Doctor Fate,
dissonant warping and descending three note phrases accompanying the
character's mystical capabilities. This idea is heard best at the
outsets of "Hawkman's Fate" and "Dr. Fate." On the whole, though, the
multitude of thematic parts for Black Adam and the two distinct motifs
for the Justice Society present an overcomplicated narrative, especially
with each idea conveyed independently to yield six or seven thematic
attributions. More damning in
Black Adam is the mind-numbingly
brutal and overbearing tone that dominates so much of the score. It's a
persistently angry work, the ethnic elements drowned out and the
electronic manipulation obnoxious more often than not. Balfe has proven
himself better than this lowest common denominator kind of style. On
album, the 109-minute presentation, sans Williams'
Superman
cameo, is laborious and includes two remixes at the end that only serve
to crank up the synthetic aspects and will not appeal to film score
collectors. A 2-CD option with the same contents followed the digital
release. The first half of this score will hammer you into submission
and make you wonder if your speakers are damaged. The latter half
strives to compensate for that suffering, but the highlights in these
parts can be better appreciated in more accomplished Balfe works like
Black Widow. There are effective moments here, but ready the pain
pills.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: **
| Bias Check: |
For Lorne Balfe reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.83
(in 30 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.86
(in 23,486 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.
