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Giacchino follows this line of musical evolution expectedly in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but with a distinct emphasis on stark loneliness, a clear representation of a post-apocalyptic wasteland environment and the despair it entails. It has to be mentioned immediately that the composer made no evident, impactful effort to coordinate the structures of this score with those of his predecessor, Patrick Doyle, whose work for Rise of the Planet of the Apes remains the pinnacle in the entire franchise. There are common techniques of using rising chord progressions to denote the ascendance of a civilization or concept, perhaps, especially at the conclusions of the two scores, but listeners will struggle to find meaningful connections in the bulk of the works. Giacchino maintains the desire for creative orchestration and especially percussive handling, but even here, the volume of this material growls more often than it outright frightens or exhilarates. The thematic core of this work is closely rooted to the composer's more understated melodic expressions of the past, especially the solo piano portions of his popular music for the television series "Lost." He employs a similarly-conceived idea for the sense of goodness in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, primarily for the relationship between the main ape family members, and don't be surprised if these sequences pass you by without making an impression in their barely audible portions, such as "Past Their Primates." It does expand into a full-fledged variation in "The Great Ape Processional" and "Primates For Life," aided by rhythmic and choral effects that are clearly the highlight of this score. Listeners will also notice connections between this softly tender, thoughtful idea and similarly sparse melodic renderings in Super 8, and a few progressions will even remind of the solemn Vulcan identity in the composer's music for the "Star Trek" franchise. These passages are limited in number, however, and Giacchino counters them with a couple of action motifs that run through the score with a more standard contemporary edge. Highlighted by performances late in "Close Encounters of the Furred Kind" and "Planet of the End Credits," these ideas, which burst suddenly from horrifying choral dissonance in the middle of "Look Who's Stalking" as well, are a cyclical expression of primal force using low strings to set the base rhythm while the other sections let rip with various phrases over the top, flutes especially pronounced in their duties atop the range.

The most obvious, harmonically accessible thematic performances in the score come in the form of the "ascendance motif" heard at the very end of the film itself ("Primates For Life") and the end credits, assisted by choir and a pounding ending. These moments are not really satisfying enough to compensate for the remainder of this long and comparatively dull score. To this point in Giacchino's career, perhaps his biggest disappointment was 2009's Land of the Lost, and much of the mid-section of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, even when audible in its atmospheric toiling, emulates the weaknesses of that prior score. For some reason, Giacchino has difficulty making highly textured music interesting enough to sustain your attention at times, a problem with "Lost" at some points, too. The usually very creative composer got stuck in an ambient rut in parts of this score, and it causes the very long album arrangement to drag badly in its midsection. Still, on the whole, the style of this score is very much in the Giacchino mould, almost every moment connected in some way to his previous works. The lack of continuity with Doyle's score is a major detriment here, the two 2010's films' content and themes requiring continued development across productions. Doyle's merging of percussion and propulsion is superior in almost all places, his effort gaining far more traction as a separate listening experience. While Giacchino remains a huge enthusiast of the original Goldsmith score (and you can tell that he tried to incorporate some textural tributes to the 1968 work at times), it was Doyle's music that was most relevant here, and Giacchino seems to have completely forgotten this reality. No better an opportunity to connect to the prior score existed than in the scene with James Franco's cameo on a camcorder recording, an opportunity almost too easy to miss. There are two other detriments to Giacchino's score on album that are typical to the composer's career. First is his and his crew's asinine insistence upon cute cue titles that do little to help the listener identify where a cue is placed in the film (if, for instance, you want to find the music for that camcorder scene anyway, you're an ape out of luck). Far more important, however, is Giacchino's preference for an awkwardly dry mix to his scores, a choice he seemingly deviated from in John Carter but one that returns with a vengeance here. This is a fantasy score, and the eerie atmosphere in its suspenseful moments could have used reverb to achieve an outstanding effect. Instead, the score sounds very flat, exacerbating its restrained demeanor and really diminishing its potential impact. While functional in its purpose, this score is a laborious listening experience on album, a difficult one to ultimately recommend.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ***
• Music as Heard on Album:  **
• Overall:  ***

Bias Check:

For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48 (in 35 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.24 (in 17,701 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 77:38