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| McCreary |
Godzilla: King of the Monsters: (Bear McCreary)
There exist only three viable storyline variants for movies involving
giant prehistoric monsters rampaging on the earth: those that use the
shock and surprise of the beasts' existence to show humans running
around in awe and panic, those that depict how humans try to cope with
and control the beasts, and those that largely neglect human casualties
altogether and seek to show gratuitous beast-on-beast fighting. Until
filmmakers decide to put these monsters in space operas and/or
pornography flicks, that's about the conceptual limit. The 2019
cinematic entry in the famed
Godzilla franchise dating back to
1954, the third such entry in America and the direct sequel to 2014's
successful
Godzilla, sought to explore the second of three
options above, showing audiences how humanity tries to manipulate the
"Titans" amongst them. Of course, the temptation in any modern
blockbuster is to stray into the third option (pure battle), and there's
plenty of that in
Godzilla: King of the Monsters as well. The
movie didn't work for audiences still enamored with freak-out nature of
option one, the 2019 sequel likely to lose money in the end for the
studio. A whole slew of ancient Titans, some alien and some of Earth's
radioactive doing, is awakened in this movie, in part because of a
militaristic group of humans attempting to control the monsters. Caught
in the middle is a dysfunctional family partially involved with the
military group, and, fortunately, they don't all survive. If the
fighting between monsters isn't enough for your sensibilities, there's
some mass civilian destruction included in
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters as well. Luckily, the ultra-crappy storyline of the film
did not deter some production elements from achieving greatness, and
Bear McCreary's remarkable music for the movie is a reason why fans
should rejoice the studio's perhaps premature green light for another
sequel. McCreary, long producing solid music for television and video
games, finally broke through into Hollywood in the late 2010's with
significant help from his intellectually mesmerizing music for the first
two
Cloverfield sequels.
Stylistically, enthusiasts of McCreary's music for
10
Cloverfield Lane and
The Cloverfield Paradox will find much
to appreciate in
Godzilla: King of the Monsters, many of the same
instrumental techniques and colors applied as a base for the composer's
new, additional layers of intrigue. One cannot help but marvel at the
depth of intelligence conveyed by McCreary in these assignments.
Normally, the abandonment of Alexandre Desplat's identities for the 2014
film would pose a major continuity problem, but McCreary reaches further
back in the franchise to establish those connections, and he succeeds so
well at this task that he ultimately shames Desplat's work for not doing
the same. McCreary is proving himself a foremost leader of instrumental
coloration, the application of each contributor in concept, the
fleshed-out orchestrations, and a highly satisfying mix of the whole in
the end product yielding phenomenally satisfying results for both the
heart and the head. Whereas Michael Giacchino is perhaps the foremost
choice in this era to write operatic blockbuster scores with immense and
keenly developed themes for massive ensembles, McCreary is showing the
capability to write at the same level but record his music with greater
emotional gravity, deeper layers of contemplation, and a vastly superior
recording mix. All of these traits can be heard in
Godzilla: King of
the Monsters, for which the composer carefully considered the
franchise's past from the start. McCreary reached back to Akira Ifukube
and Yuji Koseki's work from the first decade of the concept on screen
and adapted three of their best-known identities into this sequel,
rearranging their personality a bit to suit modern sensibilities. This
tribute to the franchise is very carefully handled here, slowly
revealing each usage until erupting in the final third of the film with
the full, brazen applications of an immensely satisfying nature. Four or
five original themes are supplied to the movie as well, their
development and interactions elegantly managed throughout in the best of
leitmotific methodology. Joining them are specialty instruments or vocal
ensembles representing each identity consistently. The use of voice in
particular is a highlight in this work, three totally distinct types of
vocal performance types used to back three of the themes.
For Godzilla himself, McCreary utilizes the kakegoe
technique of vocalization in addition to traditional percussive tones
from taiko drums and sticks. For much of
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters, this secondary element in the score represents Godzilla
alone, emerging in "Memories of San Francisco" to suggest the monster's
activity in the previous film and persisting in "Old Rivals." The
guttural chants and exhaled force of these performances is superb in the
score; their rhythmic formations are adequate at supplying the titular
monster with all the identity he needs until his official regeneration
in the final act. By "Rebirth," McCreary unleashes the iconic Ifukube
theme for the monster, its repetitively descending three notes
manipulated well for dramatic effect. The percussion and voices are
applied in perfect rhythmic propulsion in this cue, smartly dying out to
a solo performance of the theme on woodwind near the end. The main motif
and its vocal rhythms continue in battle throughout "Battle in Boston"
and "King of the Monsters," the former building back up to the theme
with precision in first 70 seconds. For such a simple construct,
McCreary finds several ways to allude to the theme without simply
churning through its minor third progressions endlessly. In the latter
cue, the voices carry the opening alone while the descending phrase of
the theme definitively concludes. A concert arrangement of the Ifukube
material is presented lovingly in "Godzilla Main Title," updated to a
densely contemporary setting. The composer did the same with Koseki's
"Mothra's Song," which brings back a theme that dates to 1961's
Mosura and is the calling card for the butterfly-like Mothra's
existence in this picture. The first hints of interpolation of this
ethereally choral and woodwind theme come in "The Larva" and eventually
reveal themselves to be a uniquely benevolent presence in the score
thereafter. Exotic woodwinds carry the theme late in "A Mass Awakening"
before its proper introduction to the score in the first half of "Queen
of the Monsters." The identity gets a bit overwhelmed when offered as an
interlude to the others during thematic battle, which is a shame given
this particular Titan's role in assisting Godzilla later in the story,
as evidenced in its rather wimpy performance in "Battle in
Boston."
The third franchise theme returning in
Godzilla: King
of the Monsters is the brazen (if not slightly awkward) Godzilla
fanfare written by Ifukube for 1962's
King Kong vs. Godzilla and
heard in countless subsequent films. Given that King Kong is set to
appear in the next American sequel based on the events in this movie,
it's interesting to hear McCreary bring that identity back in this film.
But it does serve as a general calling card for battle between Titans, a
distinct fanfare that the franchise relied upon for sonic glitz when
necessary. The first impactful burst of this brassy motif here comes in
the initial minute of "Old Rivals" as the battles are first teed up. In
the suite from "Rebirth" to "King of the Monsters" at the end, McCreary
drops this fanfare into the most sensational moments of conflict, its
stomping pace often slowing the surrounding action. He offers it as a
grand opening to "Godzilla Main Title" as well. The remaining themes are
the composer's own creations, and one could argue that the theme for the
antagonist of this tale, Ghidorah, is the weakest of the lot despite its
easily distinguished presence. The underlying Buddhist chanting and
throat singing for this theme are a hypnotic effect that is highly
effective throughout the score, and this technique takes away from
McCreary's actual nine-note theme for the monster. His intent was to
make the musical structures (and perhaps meters, too) for Ghidorah to be
based on threes, as it is a monster with three heads that conveniently
regrow. The chanting rhythmic base for the theme is indeed intoxicating,
a smart move since the monster controls the attention of so many other
Titans. Heard first in "Outpost 32," this rhythm yields to the main
Ghidorah theme in drawn-out pacing later in "Ice Breaker" and, more
formally, in "Rise of Ghidorah." The melody itself is palatable when
presented with the force of the whole ensemble, but the underlying
chanting does get obnoxious after several applications. Still, in "A
Mass Awakening," it serves its purpose well despite its rather perverse
attractiveness. In "Fog Over Fenway," which turns the chanting into
something of a horror tool, the theme receives its final truly glorious
statements. A concert arrangement of the idea in "Ghidorah Theme"
intriguingly weaves in the Ifukube fanfare at its outset, but in far
more subliminal fashion.
Arguably the best of McCreary's new themes for the
franchise in
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is his representation
of the "ancients," the idea of mystery surrounding the backstory of the
Titans. It's a surprisingly pervasive theme in the score, occupying
nearly the entirety of "Memories of San Francisco" and reprised
regularly thereafter in "The First Gods," "The Hollow Earth," and "King
of the Monsters." It's a remarkable bookending presence to the score,
and especially in its first two major performances, it strongly
resembles the tonally attractive portions of
10 Cloverfield Lane
in its Bernard Herrmann-like string figures and eerie yayli tanbur
solos. The manipulation of this theme for the suspense of revelation in
"The Hollow Earth" is notable, as the vocalizations and percussion of
Godzilla's identity continue to weave in and out of the ancient's theme.
McCreary's theme for the human family in the plot is spread even more
thinly throughout the score but receives its expected payoff at the end.
Dominated by its first four, descending notes, this idea is most clearly
heard on piano in "For Andrew" but rarely receives that length of
development until the final cues. It's a pretty but appropriately
fleeting identity, and the descending four notes often occur alone, such
as at the ends of "Memories of San Francisco," "Outpost 32," and "Hollow
Earth," and in the latter half of "The First Gods." It starts to mingle
with the action material in "Stealing the Orca" and serves as an
interlude within "Battle in Boston" before becoming a resolute presence
for full ensemble at the end of "Redemption." Throughout the score, this
theme comes into stylistic conflict with the theme for the Monarch
organization attempting to control the Titans, with which the family is
initially aligned. In "Welcome to Monarch," audiences are treated to a
reprise of the same ambitiously rhythmic style that spanned both the
main paradox theme and Shepard machine theme in
The Cloverfield
Paradox, this time afforded an Andrew Lockington-like brass hero
identity over the top and snare, timpani, and cymbals underneath. In
fact, this score has a knack for reminding of
The Cloverfield
Paradox each time this identity is even hinted; this isn't a
deal-breaker, certainly, but it does prevail in "Outpost 32," the latter
half of "Queen of the Monsters," peripherally in "Stealing the Orca,"
and in rhythm alone during the first half of "Redemption."
Mimicking the style of Giacchino is McCreary for his
theme representing the adversarial Rodan in
Godzilla: King of the
Monsters, perhaps the least accessible idea in the score. The cue
"Rodan" develops this theme to most of its depth, using jungle
percussion underneath wailing French horn pairs meant to emulate the
calls of the monster. This idea returns with gusto in the middle of
"Battle in Boston." The final theme in the score extends out of the
Ancients theme and extends McCreary's use of Babylonian translations of
text he wrote for these scenes. In "The Key to Coexistence" and
especially "Goodbye Old Friend," this theme merges the phrasing and
sensibility of the Ancients and family themes into an identity that
accompanies the Ken Watanabe character, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, as he
descends to an undiscovered underwater world to save Godzilla with a
nuclear detonation. These moments in the score are no doubt poignant,
the latter cue exercising its vocals gorgeously. There are few moments
in the score that do not explore these themes as explicitly, but even
these contain important hints of the identities in fragments and subtle
stylistic references. For instance, the lengthy "The One Who is Many"
opens with subtle allusions to the family theme before offering
Ghidorah, Monarch, and Godzilla ambience. In sum, McCreary has produced
a magnificent "monster opera" that blends intelligent thematic handling
with his usual knack for memorable instrumental design. He occasionally
applies irritating electronic effects, such as descending "sinking
feeling" bass tones, but these are rare. The recording is so vibrant
that it is challenging to return to Desplat's extremely flat-sounding
predecessor. On album, it would have been nice to hear the family and
Ancients themes explored in their own concert arrangements or long end
credits suite, as Giacchino did with
Jurassic World: Fallen
Kingdom, though "Redemption" and "King of the Monsters" may serve
this purpose for some listeners. McCreary's adaptation of the 1977 Blue
Oyster Cult parody song, "Godzilla," a high priority for the composer,
unfortunately made the end credits of the 2019 movie. Its tone is
totally incompatible with the rest of the soundtrack and is the lone
glaring weakness of the album presentation. A 2-CD version followed a
digital release with different track ordering but the same contents; a
lossless option is highly recommended for this extremely dynamic
McCreary recording. Few sequel scores penned by a composer new to a
franchise are as competent and enjoyable as this one. McCreary clearly
proves that he belongs on the blockbuster stage with the biggest of
monsters.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert includes a list of performers and an extensive note from the composer
that offers lyrics to the chanted vocals.
