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There is good news in regards to the music for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, however: it isn't as wretched as Steve Jablonsky's Battleship. As moronic and derivative as these types of scores can be, at least Jackman (aided by his own team of ghostwriters, the true sign of having graduated past the highest ranks of the Zimmer factory) shows glimpses of promise during some sequences of exotic texture and ballsy action. Still, this is, without question, a procedural, library cut and paste job with no unique features whatsoever, as well as continuing proof as to why this sound has been met with such a vehement backlash from traditional film score collectors. Some of Jablonsky's Battleship samples seem to have inspired the soundscape for Jackman, the expected, straight electric guitar performances slashed by heavily manipulated synthetic tones that often swallow up the string and brass-dominated orchestra. The only woodwind performer in the group is tasked with providing some Eastern flavor in "Storm Shadow," a dramatic highlight of the work. Rock percussion is supplied as needed, laying waste in "Get Me the GI Joes" and congealing with the main theme in "Honor Restored" in ways that will fry the brains of the average Silvestri enthusiast. That cue does present Jackman's heroic main theme in its best light, but even here it's so generic that it simply seems to convey pleasantly noble progressions rather than a cohesive motif. The villains' material is led by the atrocious "Firefly," a rowdy but nearly unlistenable cue sullied by the electronic layovers. Some of the synthetic effects are so emphasized in the bass region that they cause possibly intentional distortion in the mix, essentially the old "sinking feeling" effect gone ridiculous. None of the themes in G.I. Joe: Retaliation reprises what Silvestri had already written, which makes little sense given that Jackman's ideas are inferior versions that try to take advantage of the same basic musical concepts. If you combine "Prologue," "Storm Shadow" and "End Game," the last of which features a few hints of Silvestri's organic action mode in its latter half, you might achieve three or four minutes of decent material. But that's not enough to float a 56-minute experience on album, a presentation in which the music is tedious and fails to make any attempt to distinguish itself. Jackman is better than this. Would he have been fired from the assignment for writing a more fluid hybrid score with at least token nods to Silvestri's original? Perhaps with a few Jerry Goldsmith meters thrown in for good measure? Probably not. Earning paychecks for this kind of trash is fine, but don't expect to receive any praise for it, other than the instinctive spasms from those in the mainstream who buy rock scores because they can't restrain themselves from leaking their precious bodily fluids while watching such idiotic displays of illogic.  *   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Henry Jackman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.8 (in 25 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.79 (in 7,748 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 56:06