The Equalizer 3: (Marcelo Zarvos) With the body
count from the first two films in the franchise of
The Equalizer
deemed insufficient for some reason, director Antoine Fuqua, writer
Richard Wenk, and lead actor Denzel Washington sought to find greener
pastures in which to kill unlikeable human beings. Those literally
greener pastures in 2023's
The Equalizer 3 are the vineyards of
Italy, where American intelligence officer Robert McCall finds himself
recuperating after a successful mission in Sicily. He's taken in and
cared for by the people of a remote coastal town, Altamonte, with whom
he eventually forms a bond. As demanded by the plot, a branch of the
Italian mafia wants to commercialize the town, terrorizing its citizens
as means of coercing them into compliance. Such convenient contrivance
allows McCall to continue executing unsavory villains around bouts of
pithy dialogue, and he eventually involves his contacts at the CIA to
dismember the mafia group. The character has come a long way since his
1970's debut on television, but the equation for
The Equalizer 3
remains highly familiar, and audiences rewarded the movie with a ho-hum
reaction. One distinct change in the tenor of the film is its score. The
prior two entries had received serviceable suspense and morbid drama
tones from Harry Gregson-Williams while developing one core theme for
McCall himself. With the veteran composer toiling on a few other,
wretched projects far below his capabilities at the time,
The
Equalizer 3 instead became the assignment of Brazilian composer
Marcelo Zarvos, whose career consists to two decades of music for films
similarly themed to this one. While the general demeanor of his approach
to the franchise remains consistent enough to avoid any jarring
discrepancies for casual followers of the concept, he does change two
important aspects of the music for the third entry. His strategy is more
acoustic than that of Gregson-Williams, perhaps due to the setting of
this story, but he also branches off into new motific territory, only
barely alluding to the main theme of the first two movies.
Most of the music Zarvos supplies to
The Equalizer
3 is surprisingly palatable, outright dissonance often diminished to
a background role. His instrumental choices and conveyance techniques
are easy to digest, though the score is intruded upon by Thomas Azier's
infinitely more abrasive and out of place insertions for the cues "Nine
Seconds" and "Love, Disorderly." Aside from these highly annoying
diversions that are not justified by the remainder of the soundtrack's
personality, Zarvos provides an ensemble consisting of strings, piano,
and solo trumpet with possibly woodwinds from the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra and nondescript percussion overlays. A quick survey
of the score may not stir much interest, especially with the unoffensive
but rather dull suspense cue like "Bottom Up" and "Did He Save a Good
Man?" sprinkled throughout. There isn't as much alienation and
disillusionment inherent in Zarvos' take on the character's
contemplations, and there are even glimmers of hope that were mostly
absent from Gregson-Williams' work. The most interesting aspect of
The Equalizer 3 is Zarvos' restrained but evident attempts to
infuse some Italian character into the music, and this sensibility
ultimately provides some of the score's best moments. Thematically, his
tapestry is far more developed than the simplicity of Gregson-Williams,
with three or four themes weaving in and out and offering compelling
takes at least once in most cases. Zarvos' new main theme for McCall is
constructed out of malleable, descending pairs of notes that may prove
too elusive for some listeners. It's heard throughout "Prelude" on
strings and piano, vague hints of prior Gregson-Williams' theme stewing
in secondary lines. Its role is often ponderous, conveyed by hazy
strings early in "Nine Seconds" and lightly suspenseful on piano in
"Marco Threatens Gio" but clearer on still-meandering piano lines in
"Collins Makes Contact." The idea overlaps with the Gregson-Williams
theme's rhythmic adaptation in "That's Who You Are," becomes solitary on
trumpet in the first half of "Robert Gives Himself Up," briefly joins
the celebration at 3:08 into "Altamonte's Victory," and is tentative on
piano and then strings at the outset of "A Storm is Brewing." It's an
adequate, though unassuming identity.
The extent to which Gregson-Williams' theme from the
prior score figures into
The Equalizer 3 can be debated, but
Zarvos does apply that motif's opening three, descending notes as a
cyclical, rhythmic formation in several cues, as heard on piano in
"First Walk" and "That's Who You Are." This phrasing sometimes slips
into the middle of the new main theme, suggesting some conscious
decision by Zarvos to connect his work to the only truly compelling
aspect of the previous scores. (Anyone still expecting the theme from
the 1970's television show to reappear in this film franchise is in for
a longer wait.) For the Italian location of
The Equalizer 3 and
the mafia connections, the composer indulges with a general theme
highlighted by its classically engaging performance on melodramatic
strings throughout most of "Vincent's Demise." The theme achieves its
other dramatic stance late in "That's Who You Are" but is otherwise
reduced to fragmentary duties, deconstructed in "Drive to Vineyard,"
very slightly informing the suspense of "They Should Have Let Him In,"
and its primary, three-note phrase adapted into the suspense of
"Barbarian at the Gate." By far the highlight of the score is Zarvos'
refreshingly upbeat identity for the town, Altamonte, and its people.
This warm, optimistic piano and acoustic guitar theme prevails in
"Aminah" for the waitress and enjoys a long, flowing, and muscular
moment in "Altamonte's Victory" for the game sequence at the end. The
string section flourishes over piano and drums in this cue, solo cello
making a pronounced appearance and invoking the previous scores. This
idea is also reduced to solo cello menace in "Fireside Chat" and
inverted for contemplation on piano and cello in "Robert Reconsiders."
The villains of the tale aren't overtly afforded melodic elements,
though there is a simple thumping motif in "Synthetic Amphetamine" that
develops further in "Good Man Bad Man." Overall, Zarvos' largely organic
take on
The Equalizer 3 is more dynamic and emotionally varied
than Gregson-Williams' scores, and it contains ten minutes of very
compelling highlights. But the loss of the explicit franchise theme, the
terrible Azier cues, and an album that is frustratingly out of
chronological order are significant detriments. The Altamonte theme
ultimately carries the score to a third star, a surprisingly
compassionate turn of character for this franchise of music.
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