PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

Regardless of where you fall in the perpetual debate amongst film score collectors about the legacy of Giacchino in his generation relative to greats like John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith in theirs, one must recognize that Giacchino is among the few mainstream composers of the 2010's actively attempting to maintain some semblance of symphonic integrity while Hollywood producers are more readily content with indiscriminately loud, ambient muck as their film scores. Others of the younger generation, including Brian Tyler, are trying to match those efforts, but it's Giacchino whose reputation in the industry is best positioned to fight for the mere idea of a massively dynamic orchestral score in a film like Doctor Strange. To this end alone, the composer valiantly succeeds in this work, the tone of Giacchino's Doctor Strange merging symphonic, ethnic, and electronic elements with an emphasis on the leitmotific role of the ensemble. By the end of this score, you almost receive the swashbuckling ambience of old-fashioned Bronze Age film music exuberance in the send-off for Strange, something that only Tyler and Christophe Beck have really attempted recently in this genre of films. Like Beck and Tyler, Giacchino tastefully supplies electronic elements to his orchestra, in this case usually taking the form of thumping base or other rhythmic accompaniment. There is post-processing manipulation in some of the ethnic representations of East India, most notably in the sitar that functions like an electric guitar in its role here. These ethnic accents extend back to a harpsichord for the English element, and between that and the sitar, there's enough interesting texture to suffice. Harpsichords and sitars, as with accordions, can be extremely obnoxious instruments if applied too strikingly and forward in the mix of an ensemble, but Giacchino handles them in Doctor Strange the way you'd expect Debbie Wiseman to achieve, and in a cue like "The True Purpose of the Sorcerer," the harpsichord's tonal disparity from the rumbling bass and deep choral elements yields a surprisingly effective soundscape of mystery and sophistication. In the softer conversational explorations of the main theme, you hear these accent players at their rhythmically subtle best, whether it's a piano in "The Hands Dealt," the sitar in "Post Op Paracosm," or the harpsichord in "Hippocratic Hypocrite." While all these elements represent the heroic interests in the score, the villain is more nebulously defined by the instrumentation, the chorus typically handling his nastiness.

Thematically, Doctor Strange sounds very much like a Giacchino score in its tonalities and progressions. The work will rarely overcome your senses in ways that Jupiter Ascending managed, nor will it click in its momentum as Tomorrowland did, but it maintains a more conventional superhero structure that yields perhaps the best, singular finale cue of any of these three scores. Giacchino tackles two of the film's characters with major themes and seems content deconstructing those ideas to represent the remaining identities on screen. The main theme is for Strange himself, naturally, and this theme experiences an evolution in conjunction with the theme for the Ancient One, which is a catch-all for the mysticism of the story. The Strange theme has a tinge of Star Trek fantasy to it but it's otherwise a very satisfying identity. After the necessary tease of the theme for full ensemble at the conclusion of "Ancient Sorcerer's Secret," Giacchino allows the theme to meander in its progressions without stating its actual melody for much of the first half, clearly reflecting the character's wayward search for answers to his physical predicament. Fortunately, these underlying chords are both easily recognizable and elegant in their pseudo-classical nature, yielding several conversational cues that seem to double as a cold representation of any love interest in the story. Only once Strange realizes his powers fully and becomes a superhero does the theme express itself accordingly, the burst at 6:32 in "Sanctimonious Sanctum Sacking" officially announcing his arrival. The second half of the score more liberally explores the idea in full, leading up to a brazenly bold and optimistic performance at the end of the finale, "Strange Days Ahead," that ranks near the top of Giacchino's career achievements for a single cue. The quieter statements of the theme, as in "The Hands Dealt," sometimes mingle freely with the progressions of the theme for the "Ancient One." This identity erupts at 1:26 into "Ancient Sorcerer's Secret" and is reminiscent of Debbie Wiseman mannerisms with a touch of Don Davis's frantic violin and trumpet figures from the latter The Matrix scores. Listen for the "Ancient One" theme in "Mystery Training" and in its last glorious gasps late in "Smote and Mirrors." The treatment in "Mystery Training" offers some of Giacchino's best combination of synthetic thumping of a Jerry Goldsmith nature with the woodwinds and choir combining for an otherworldly environment. It also conveys the composer's preference for stomping timpani and occasional French horn solos a la James Horner. The true intrigue of Doctor Strange stews in understated cues like this one.

Not all is perfect in the music for Doctor Strange, unfortunately, and it's these relatively minor but noticeable detractions that restrain the score from a top rating. First, Giacchino underplays the musical cohesiveness of the villain, seemingly content to address him with loud discord rather than a distinctive melody suitable for a master sorcerer turned evil. Many opportunities for glorious sonic battle between two larger-than-life themes were missed in the spotting of this score. Likewise, Giacchino missed the mark in succumbing to the truly hideous technique of outright backwards/forwards mixing of orchestral takes that is as obnoxiously cliche as anything in today's post-processing-first world. In "A Long Strange Trip" and "Hong Kong Kablooey," the composer inserts these abrupt, backwards edits to accentuate the twisted reality on screen. It's a cheap trick, one that functions marginally in context and destroys the listening experience on album. In fact, why such cues are even included on soundtrack albums is baffling; they arguably belong on albums as bonus cues at the end. Outside of these sideshows, the action material is a hit and miss prospect, best serving the scene when thumping rhythmic accompaniment is at play. It's interesting to sit back and reminisce about Jerry Goldsmith with this score, because, in a number of ways, Giacchino needed to write an equivalent to The Shadow for Doctor Strange. There was the same instrumental blend, the same Eastern element, the same reality-bending twist, and the same reliance upon sophisticated rhythmic propulsion. And yet, for all the strengths of Doctor Strange, including the addition of choir, it can't touch the classic narrative or sense of postmodern superhero pastiche of Goldsmith's The Shadow. That said, Doctor Strange remains an extremely entertaining score for much of its duration. The intelligence with which Giacchino finally merges his sitar, harpsichord, piano, cello, and other solo elements into "Strange Days Ahead" to denote a character fully realized before his swashbuckling exit is masterful. The humor of the main theme's bonus cues, "Go for Baroque" and "The Master of the Mystic End Credits," is appreciated, especially the latter, which yanks the identity into perfect Toto Dune territory. Don't be surprised if you see this score in the top 10 lists of 2016 for many film music collectors, for it contains more than half an hour of excellent superhero material and a generally smart handling of its existing identities. Something must also be said in favor of hearing an appropriately mystical and optimistic (read: major key) take on any troubled superhero these days. There are holes in the equation, however, that leave Doctor Strange a step behind its most accomplished peers in the genre.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.46 (in 43 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.21 (in 22,573 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 66:21