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Deadpool
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Composed and Produced by:
Conducted by:
Nick Glennie-Smith
Orchestrated by:
Jonathan Beard Edward Trybek Henri Wilkinson
Additional Music by:
Aljoscha Christenhuss
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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Both of the Milan products are regular U.S. releases. The initial CD album was released
three weeks after the download version. For the "Deadpool Reloaded" product offered a few months later,
Milan also provided a limited edition vinyl version of 1,000 copies.
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AWARDS
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None.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... only if you desire a faithful representation of the music
you heard in the film, and even then, be prepared for a totally
incoherent listening experience on either of the available albums.
Avoid it... if you expect any meaningful intelligence from Tom
Holkenborg in the film's original score, a dull, uninspired merging of
tired superhero atmosphere and intentionally insufferable retro
synthetics.
BUY IT
 | Holkenborg |
Deadpool: (Tom Holkenborg) The eighth entry in the
seemingly endless parade of cinematic money-makers involving the "X-Men"
concept is Deadpool, 2016's feature dedicated to a character that
had been limited to just a cameo in one of the prior movies. The titular
hero is a regular guy trying to marry the woman of his dreams but is
stricken suddenly by cancer. Whereas a made-for-television version of
that wholesome story would cure the protagonist through the discovery of
Jesus Christ and an intervention from God, the 20th Century Fox "X-Men"
variant instead cures him through disfiguring torture, senseless death,
and shady mutant beings definitely "not of God." As the main character
becomes "Deadpool" and dispatches villains without remorse (after all,
they did make him one ugly dude), he integrates himself into the world
of idiotic superhero humor and the long-standing tradition of not
knowing exactly what all these mutant freaks are doing out there in the
first place. The juvenile subject matter and extremely shallow plot
didn't seem to bother anyone in the general public, however,
Deadpool becoming a smash box office success and ensuring that
more such exploits are witnessed for years, if not decades, to come. The
various movies in the "X-Men" franchise have rarely exhibited any
significant carry-over in intelligent musical design, and for his
inaugural entry into the concept, Tom Holkenborg continues to muddy the
waters with yet another interpretation of the realm. The Dutch
electronica artist (otherwise known as Junkie XL) became one of the
hottest composers in Hollywood after his collaborations with Harry
Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer in the late 2000's and early 2010's put
him squarely on studio short-lists. His solo scores have tended to be
underdeveloped, not a surprising circumstance given his lack of formal
training in the field, though film music collectors warmed to his
efforts upon his better-conceived Mad Max: Fury Road.
Unfortunately, Deadpool is a return to a level
of sonic hideousness that most associated with 300: Rise of an
Empire, a combination of tedious, boiler-plate genre pounding and
electronic elements that are violently challenging to both the heart and
the brain. There has been some bad music for the "X-Men" films through
the years, but none of it compares with the explosive flatulence of
Deadpool. Add into the formula the placement of numerous totally
unrelated songs from various decades in the movie, and you have a
disastrous soundtrack on album as well. To supply the film with a
distinctly retro vibe, Holkenborg employed an array of vintage 1980's
synthesizers (ARP 2600, Synclavier, Oberheim, etc.) to create an
intentionally cheesy version of what Daft Punk took quite seriously in
Tron: Legacy. On top of that, he accessed the usual crew and
resources from Zimmer's Remote Control to supply orchestral music that
would connect Deadpool with its siblings in the franchise.
Unfortunately, neither is accomplished to any degree whatsoever. The
rambling, percussion-aided electronic sequences for mindless combat is
glorified in such intolerable cues such as "Maximum Effort" and "Twelve
Bullets," passages of these recordings so painful as to make a person
laugh. The composer has even suggested in interviews that the purpose of
these cues was, essentially, to amuse rather than inspire. Despite
Holkenborg's stated intention to have these 1980's tones carry over to
the more "emotional" portions of the score, these parts are instead
treated to insipidly dull orchestral meanderings that are generally
pleasing in a harmonic sense but never truly accomplish anything
substantial. Most of the orchestral involvement entails the usual broad,
low-brass muscularity and rhythmic cello work that has long overstayed
its welcome in the genre. More importantly, the retro synthetic feel of
some of the score's action cues doesn't effectively carry over in any
meaningful way to the rest of the work, negating their purpose. A few
Zimmer emulations abound, naturally, in the weak stabs at
nobility.
There has been much banter in the film music community
about Deadpool being among the worst scores of all-time, but, in
all reality, it's not quite that bad. In fact, parts of it play like
discarded ideas from Mad Max: Fury Road. Rather, it's simply
incompetent and boring, the product of an artist who is out of his
league, and it does suffer from one of the most incoherent album
presentations ever assembled. Sure, there is humor meant in the
combination of Holkenborg's often grating music and the song placements
in the film, but when you actually try to appreciate this combination on
the albums from Milan Records, you can't help but question your sanity.
Somewhere between George Michael, Juice Newton, Neil Sedaka,
Salt-N-Pepa, and DMX (not to mention the adaptation of TeamHeadKick's
"Deadpool Rap" for this picture) exists the meaning of life, but that's
far too big a spread to attempt to mingle in and around Holkenborg's own
schizophrenic score. Though not guaranteeing salvation, the songs should
have been clustered together at one end of the initial album. Similar
problems exist with the "Deadpool Reloaded" follow-up album released by
the same label a few months after the first offering. This frightfully
short product contains only about five minutes of additional Holkenborg
score, the pair of "Because I Want To" and "Same Mistakes" barely
registering at over a minute each and "Fear the T-Rex" a redundant
extension of the industrial rhythmic brooding of the score but offering
some substance for fans of the work. Several remixes of the score and
"Deadpool Rap" are offered, none of which likely to be of interest to
film score collectors. Like the first album, a few classic diversions
really mess with the flow of the listening experience, the vintage duo
of "Mr. Sandman" and "You're the Inspiration" clearly appropriate in
representing funny placements from the movie but not compatible with the
album's other contents outside of context. Clocking in at under 40
minutes, the "Deadpool Reloaded" product is only for die-hard
enthusiasts of the movie or Holkenborg. On either product, the music is
a mind-bogglingly impossible listening experience, one that will
disappoint even the most ardent fans of the Zimmer/Remote Control
industrial complex.
* @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
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 6,124 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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Regular Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 68:12 |
1. Angel of the Morning - performed by Juice Newton (4:12)
2. Maximum Effort (2:08)
3. Small Disruption (1:12)
4. Shoop - performed by Salt-N-Pepa (4:08)
5. Twelve Bullets (2:50)
6. Man in a Red Suit (2:20)
7. Liam Neeson Nightmares (1:56)
8. Calendar Girl (1999 Remastered Version) - performed by Neil Sedaka (2:37)
9. The Punch Bowl (5:55)
10. Back to Life (2:12)
11. Every Time I See Her (0:54)
12. Deadpool Rap - performed by TeamHeadKick (3:25)
13. Easy Angel (2:31)
14. Scrap Yard (1:02)
15. This Place Looks Sanitary (6:50)
16. Watership Down (4:10)
17. X Gon' Give It to Ya (Radio Edit) - performed by DMX (3:37)
18. Going Commando (3:46)
19. Let's Try to Kill Each Other (1:00)
20. Stupider When You Say It (2:24)
21. Four or Five Moments (0:54)
22. A Face I Would Sit On (3:07)
23. Careless Whisper - performed by George Michael (5:02)
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Reloaded Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 39:29 |
1. Merc With a Mouth - performed by Teamheadkick (3:47)
2. Fear the T-Rex (2:55)
3. Because I Want To (1:00)
4. Mr. Sandman - performed by The Chordettes (2:22)
5. Same Mistakes (1:26)
6. The Boys Are Back - performed by Campfire (2:45)
7. Maximum Effort (Remix) - performed by Night Club (3:16)
8. Twelve Bullets (Remix) - performed by El Huervo (6:17)
9. You're the Inspiration - performed by Chicago (3:50)
10. Deadpool Rap (Brown Pants EDM Mix) - performed by Teamheadkick (3:14)
11. Twelve Bullets (Remix) - performed by Kreng (4:42)
12. Deadpool Rap (Acoustic Version) - performed by Brentwood Duo (3:55)
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The insert of neither product includes extra information about the score or film.
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