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Review of Eternals (Ramin Djawadi)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you casually appreciate lovely and fulfilling fantasy
music, Ramin Djawadi providing largely organic, contemplative beauty to
this philosophical Marvel entry.
Avoid it... if you expect the album presentation to include any satisfying narrative whatsoever, the main theme shortchanged in that many of the work's action highlights are missing.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Eternals: (Ramin Djawadi) Unbeknownst to many
casual viewers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a group of eternal
beings has existed on Earth for thousands of years, tasked with ensuring
the survival of humanity as means of propagating their own "Celestial"
kind when the time comes. These immortal superheroes, inhabiting the
print comics for decades, were intentional bystanders to all the mayhem
of the ensemble Avengers films but are now drawn into conflict
because the events of those movies brought back the previously
vanquished enemies of these "Eternals." As a standalone film, 2021's
Eternals is a bit of an enigma in that novice Chinese director
Chloe Zhao sought to explore philosophy just as much as action
technique, causing some audiences to become bored with the story's
relatively slow pacing. Too many characters are introduced in one
picture, forcing them into duty without proper development and with too
few details of their origins explained in a way that audiences can care
about. Nevertheless, Marvel and Walt Disney now have another group of
properties with which to monetize, though not all of the world
appreciated the gesture. The movie was blocked from China due to the
director's statements about the Chinese government and, more
ridiculously, it was banned in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait for
promoting homosexuality after Disney refused to alter the picture for
those audiences. The studio deserves credit for that decision, though it
may not have been thrilled by the less-than-enthusiastic embrace the
remainder of the world gave Eternals. The film represented the
return of composer Ramin Djawadi to the franchise; he had opened it with
a rock-inspired score for 2008's Iron Man that remains one of the
worst Marvel soundtracks. Fortunately, Djawadi, replacing Joseph
Trapanese on the project, has matured significantly as a composer since
then, slowly increasing the quality of his output for both television
and films in the 2010's and now primed to offer far better music to
Eternals. To understand his approach to the story, you have to
remember that Zhao sees the music for her films through a more classical
lens, so do not expect this score to sound like a prototypical superhero
entry. Instead, it is written as a hybrid that combines the genre's
basic anthemic requirements with a series of concert-like compositions
that represent the concepts of the story more generally, often with
beautiful results.
Djawadi follows some of the basic rulesets of the genre in how he devices themes for the protagonists and their adversaries of Eternals and developing those ideas over time. But how he states these themes is remarkably different from expectations. It's almost as though he has taken a page from the Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe methods of writing music inspired by the concept for album appreciation first and then tailoring specific adaptations of those constructs for the picture. As such, you receive a combination of tracks that serve as a classical/new age hybrid product that could exist separately from the film and then some tracks that are better matched to the actual story. Sadly, the album release for Eternals does few favors for listeners expecting to appreciate what was heard in the film, with most of the best rendered action variants of the main themes simply dropped from the product, leaving it as a listening experience defined by Djawadi's religiously-inclined fantasy material in passages typically conveyed over long tracks. The instrumental tone of Eternals isn't fresh at all, but his execution of expected elements is very well handled. An orchestra is a joined by solo female and ensemble voices while electric guitars and a tasteful amount of synthetic ambience is applied for the darker passages. Following the same path taken by Zimmer in Dune, Djawadi also seemingly takes a page from Rupert Gregson-Williams' synthetic slurring effects from Aquaman to enhance the fantasy element for modern ears; it is interesting how pervasive this technique of slurring the pitch of a note up to key has become since 2018. Most of the score's ethnic coloration is restricted to scenes in humanity's ancient past, which is a disappointment given that Djawadi's handling of these tones here echoes the magnificent breadth of his sound for the Disney documentary Elephant the prior year. The solo female voices may be the easy highlight for some listeners, but an organ is where Djawadi really supplies the religious depth to the score. Portions of this work will remind listeners of Mark McKenzie's beautiful music for religious propaganda films, easily digestible for long periods and inspirational to the max. The tonalities in Eternals are largely consistent and extremely accessible, minor thirds applied everywhere and requiring few challenges in the core themes. Even in the score's moments of discord, the composer refrains from outward expressions of dissonance, opting to keep the experience friendly. The main theme of Eternals is a clear winner, appropriately reminiscent of Alan Silvestri's mannerisms and applying the minor third chords and progressions in a simplistic but satisfying manner. The theme's rising conclusive phrases shift to major key heroics on rare occasions. Unfortunately, this idea functions in the score much like Benjamin Wallfisch's main identity in Shazam!, promising more than it delivers, especially on album. The anthem is highlighted at 0:56 and 2:52 into "Eternals Theme" and never achieves the same heights again on album given the absence of so many prominent action cues on the product. It is vague throughout "Somewhere in Time" on strings over mandolin rhythms, lightly choral in latter half of "The Domo," and in fragmented battle mode during "This is Your Fight Now." Djawadi struggles to enunciate the theme in the action and fantasy of "I Have Been Waiting for This" and "Emergence Sea," saving a better rendition for a sorrowful reduction to solo piano and strings in "Eternal Loss" that eventually enjoys better anthemic brass backing. Sometimes associated with this theme is a rhythmic pattern that seems to represent the concept's coolness as well as the Eternals' arrival and spaceship technology in the story. This undulating on synthetic keyboarding opens with quick 3-note phrases up and down and is easily recognizable in the score given its distinct rendering. Heard at 0:10 and 2:22 into "Eternals Theme" and 0:23 into "The Domo," the idea recurs at 1:23 and later into "This is Your Fight Now" for heavier electric guitar and closes out "Earth is Just One Planet." While the electronic performances of this idea are certainly catchy, it exists well in the symphonic realm as well. An interlude to the main anthem in "Eternals Theme" debuts at 1:48 on cellos and remains a sadly underutilized element of the score. It uses same general chord shifts as main theme and, at 0:29 into "Audience with Arishem" on choir and forceful brass, suggesting itself as relating to either Arishem or the associated, compelling backstory. A separate theme for the Eternals' mission on Earth is explored by Djawadi with beauty but not necessarily evolved purpose in the work, encapsulated on piano and solo voice in "Mission." A wonderful variant on this idea exists for ancient Babylon in "Joie de Vivre" on duduk, dulcimer, and ethnic woodwinds in the score's lone Life of Pi moment, but it shifts to a more comfortable religious tone with organ under solo voice in "Isn't It Beautiful," where it enjoys a heroic brass ending. A more subdued performance of the identity graces "A Wish" on piano and strings. The elements of conflict aren't spectacular in Eternals, but the theme representing the Celestials and their Deviants does serve its purpose. The theme is mostly rooted around key, moving between two notes before ominous descents to close out the two phrases denote bad intent. The idea develops out of lovely origins in the ascending formations for solo voice and organ in "Celestials," a cue that becomes anthemic and then frightful at the end, the album's most challenging moment. The proper theme for the villains is best expressed in the cyclical rising brass figures and driving electric guitar menace of "Not Worth Saving" and at 1:41 into "This is Your Fight Now." Deep pulses hint at the theme throughout "It is Time," it's ambient and unnerving in "I Have Been Waiting for This," and it receives an ominous crescendo in "Earth is Just One Planet." Among the best singular themes in Eternals is one for the Thena character (Angelina Jolie) that builds throughout "Remember" and retains a Craig Armstrong-like sense of lamentation. Also a highlight is the romantic theme of "Across the Oceans of Time," this religious, concert-like piece using the same opening progressions as the Celestials theme. Oddly resembling Gabriel Yared's rejected love theme for Troy in part, this idea is affably conveyed on strings over specialty instrument rhythms at 1:31 into "Joie de Vivre" but struggles in the middle of "Audience with Arishem." While all of these themes are sufficient to their task, the album presentation doesn't illuminate any sort of narrative whatsoever. The product is out of chronological order and supplies its ideas in long, suite-like arrangements that slow the experience to the extent that it's impossible to appreciate more than basic conceptual relationships between the music and the film. Still, Eternals remains a solid listening experience for those looking for easily accessible fantasy music of mostly organic character. Twenty to thirty minutes of beautifully contemplative material could be assembled from this work's romantic passages. Don't expect a significant amount of unique intelligence in the score, however, its demeanor coming across like a thinking man's version of Tuomas Kantelinen's 2014 score for The Legend of Hercules but without the outrageously catchy action music to coincide. The album for Eternals concludes with a Hindi-inspired song, "Nach Mera Hero," which was utilized as source in the film. In the end, Djawadi's take on Eternals is about as far from Iron Man as one could imagine, lovely and fulfilling throughout but lacking any pizzazz or enough of the main theme's action potential to establish more than just a very pleasant fantasy mood. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 68:16
* performed by Celina Sharma
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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