Filmtracks: Deadpool 2 (Tyler Bates)

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Written 6/5/18

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Buy it... if you were tickled by Tyler Bates' somewhat humorous parody score in the context of the film despite its fractured and derivative nature.

Avoid it... if you demand a robust presence of overstatement in your satirical film scores, this one conveying sufficient attitude at times but also interpolating other composers' themes and techniques without much savvy.

Bates

Deadpool 2: (Tyler Bates) As most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe careens into depressingly existential emotional territory, the Deadpool franchise embarks upon a similar journey with 2018's Deadpool 2, but it does so with irreverent satire as its sidekick. Self-deprecating humor allows audiences to laugh as major characters are killed without meaning, the storyline even taking aim at other, specific superhero properties and films. The titular X-Men spinoff attempts to reconcile his place in the universe during this sequel, joining other mutants in his haphazard effort to seek revenge, purpose, and relief from boredom as a time-travelling foe challenges him and his friends for his own vendetta. Don't expect a masterpiece of emotional depth here, for this flick is a parody of the highest order, complicating plans the studio is developing to merge Deadpool into the rest of the MCU in the future. With a new director at the helm, Deadpool 2 thrashed its way to critical and box office success, its juvenile and arguably sexist messaging kicking all the right people in the loins for audiences to embrace. The humor and profanity of the script carries over into its soundtrack, much of which, as with the preceding movie, dominated by song placements. The original song, "Ashes," performed by Celine Dion, is a brilliant deadpan success, the performer gorgeously juxtaposing her own rock ballad beauty against the asininity of the concept. It's a fantastic song in every regard, albeit one that is not connected in any way to the score. That score, meanwhile, is, according to its publicity campaign, the first ever to force an "explicit content" parental advisory on its album for its incorporation of profanity directly into its musical recording. This appropriate feat was served up by Tyler Bates, who had collaborated with newly arrived director David Leitch multiple times and had proven his chops in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, where his music was equally assailed by extensive song placements. The original music for 2016's Deadpool was the sorry work of Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), who provided the concept with arguably the worst noise ever placed into a Marvel film. For some listeners, the replacement of Holkenborg with Bates will alone yield enough merit to generate interest in the sequel score.

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The road travelled by Bates to arrive at Deadpool 2 is an unlikely one; after his blundering imitation job for 2007's 300, his inartful copying forced the studio, Warner Brothers, to embarrassingly admit that the score had been plagiarized. And despite his atonement in several assignments since, including a significant maturation of his symphonic aptitude on display in the Guardians of the Galaxy scores, the situation for 300 will be relevant for some listeners of Deadpool 2 because of the 2018 score's clear referencing of previous film music. The difference here, of course, is that Deadpool 2 is a project of satirical intent, so a parody score with plundering of existing material is, to some extent, forgivable. Still, film music collectors will hear a fair dose of Carlo Siliotto's rather solemn romanticism in the 2004 score for The Punisher, both in the total resurrection of its main theme and in the style of some of its sparse but heroic orchestral passages. Much of the score also owes to Christopher Lennertz's parody methodology, with 2008's Meet the Spartans coming to mind at several junctures. The technique of overblown, choral interludes with funny lyrics is a direct carry over from Theodore Shapiro's highly entertaining Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie in 2017. There are also some singular moments of direct referencing, highlighted by the obvious homage to Brad Fiedel's 1984 favorite, The Terminator, in the first half of "Ice Box." Unfortunately, none of Bates' knock-off applications of these general ideas can compete with the prowess of the aforementioned originals, the Siliotto score maintaining a distinctive flavor that compensates for its sometimes-awkward simplicity, and the genre veterans, Lennertz and Shapiro, simply superior in all regards of parody writing. In fairness, Bates' score is a choppy mess of short recordings due to spotting needs (haphazard pacing in the plot and song placements), so the highlights in his work are brief by necessity. But, more importantly, they do not convey the robust stature of the Guardians of the Galaxy scores when a parody moment calls for such grandeur to be overwhelming. Instead of sounding like a fantastic tribute to the superhero genre in satirical glee, Deadpool 2 instead meanders through rather cheap-sounding imitations for much of its short overall duration.

Some listeners will applaud Bates' work for Deadpool 2 simply because it is light years ahead of Holkenborg's music in terms of supplying some dose of narrative quality, orchestral fortitude, and, of course, humor. And, on those counts, Bates prevails. He is very loyal to his main The Punisher theme, providing it the expected fanfare performances, sometimes with choral backing, in "X-Men Arrive," "Courage Mother Fucker," and "Docking," the last of which segueing directly into some Hans Zimmer Gladiator chord progressions. The melody also receives satisfyingly tender renditions in "Sorry For Your Loss" and "Let Me In," though just like the fanfare versions, these softer interludes are too short to really appreciate on album. An appropriately fleeting theme for the love interest is explored in "Vanessa," though this material is underplayed in tone and unnecessarily abandoned. Piano applications for friendship and family yield one touching moment for the villain in "Cable Flashback." The choral usage is where this score makes its name, Bates offering female vocalists chanting "holy shit balls" in "Holy Shit Balls" and "You Can't Stop This Motherfucker." In "Fighting Dirty," Bates introduces his main action motif, a rather simple chant over aggressive percussion and electric guitar with flourishes of flailing brass counterpoint. The Latin-inspired choral performances in this cue are switched to open profanity in "You Can't Stop This Motherfucker," in which a supporting character is supplied some lyrical unholiness. Frankly, this score required more such brazen choral attitude, as much of it devolves into rather tepid ambience. Lengthy cues like "Make the Whole World Our Bitch" and "The Orphanage" do nothing to propel the narrative forward, stewing in non-descript orchestral and synthetic tones. On the other end of the volume scale, "Mutant Convoy" resurrects some of the worst electronic mannerisms of the Holkenborg predecessor. Overall, the main Dion song is the clear highlight of the overall soundtrack for Deadpool 2, but don't expect to hear it on the same album with the score. Bates' parody attempt is an improvement in the franchise and amuses at times, but it falls short due to blatant referencing at its best moments and insufficient, dull droning in its worst. Its album includes only 37 minutes of music, some of which badly edited in an effort to merge cues for the presentation. From the unnatural fade-in to open "X-Men Arrive" at the start to the atrocious transition at 0:22 into "Courage Mother Fucker" at the end, the product lacks appeal outside of one survey for amusement. It's like watching an online video of a violently overflowing urinal; it earns a chuckle once, but that's about it. @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Music as Written for the Film: ***
Music as Heard on the Score-Only Album: **
Overall: **

Bias Check:

For Tyler Bates reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.11 (in 9 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.47 (in 4,717 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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