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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Hellboy (Marco Beltrami)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire one of Marco Beltrami's most rounded and
entertaining career achievements, extending his orchestral and choral
talents to both majestic and carnival-like ends in an alternately quirky
and awesome superhero score.
Avoid it... on the original 2004 album at all costs unless you desire badly incomplete film score presentations and obnoxious clicking sounds; seek only the outstanding 2016 expansion if you have any interest in this music.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Hellboy: (Marco Beltrami) Yet another comic book
hero, this time from the Dark Horse realm, used an oversized fist to
punch his way onto the big screen in 2004, and while the contemporary,
supernatural Hellboy may not have been as widely known as other
comic favorites, his cinematic debut fared well enough for Sony to
launch a franchise based on the concept. Director Guillermo Del Toro
brought to life this tale of a "Bureau of Paranormal Research and
Defense" where freaks with special powers are raised to fight for good
causes, begging questions about the redundancy of these folks, the
X-Men, Mutant X, and all the other weird fighters out there in the
shadows. One such freakish character is Hellboy, a mammoth demon with
horns who was bred by Nazis during World War II (of course, why is it
always Nazis? Why not the Communists? Or radical Muslims? Or, better
yet, the American military?) to unleash senseless evil upon the planet.
But under the care of the father-like leader of this mysterious Bureau,
Hellboy resists attempts to lure him back to the dark side and fights on
the behalf of an oblivious society. Along for the ride are his companion
freaks, one of which the obligatory love interest, and betrayal is
inevitable in this tale of unusual powers. It's typical comic book fluff
for sure, and Del Toro reunited with his Mimic and Blade
II composer, Marco Beltrami, to provide the score for
Hellboy. Beltrami had, for the prior decade, seemed content
dwelling in the foggy musical depths of pop culture horror flicks, with
the Scream trilogy serving as starting point for other Beltrami
works such as Mimic, Resident Evil, Joy Ride, and a
dozen other nearly nameless scores. In 2003 came Beltrami's first major
break into the blockbuster scoring scene, receiving the assignment for
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines after much turmoil in the
selection process for a composer to continue that franchise. Even for
supporters of Beltrami's career, Terminator 3 was a muddled
failure to grasp a great opportunity, with only a mediocre effort
provided for the hit project. Fortunately, the project catapulted the
composer on to several subsequent franchise-like assignments, and those
disappointed by Terminator 3 were treated to a significant
improvement in Hellboy.
The wide popularity of this score is not completely due to Beltrami's creativity in the comic hero genre, but also the substance of depth heard in the orchestra, choir, several specialty instruments, and the thematic bravado with which it all comes together. Such is the case with Hellboy, which strictly orchestral film score enthusiasts were destined to enjoy more than nearly all other previous Beltrami works (that is, if they could find solace in an original album presentation that long remained one of the most notoriously awful in the history of the Varèse Sarabande label). There's nothing better than the flexibility of comic book-inspired score writing to bring the best and brightest of fully orchestral mayhem out of a composer, and Beltrami does not disappoint in Hellboy. If the size of the score, especially compared to Beltrami's usually more subdued ensembles, doesn't impress you, then the sheer creativity of the composition will. His work is complete with the usual, straight forward orchestral hero theme and a variety of interesting secondary ideas, and yet, the more intriguing aspect of Hellboy is the sense of style that Beltrami injects into the equation. Not only does the titular character exist and kick butt, but he also does so with a confident style of swing and elegance, a distinct swagger of sorts, and Beltrami supplements this style in his score by utilizing tango rhythms, operatic vocals, and swooshing strings for the universe that surrounds him. He also indulges listeners with the "coolness" factor inherent in the primary characters by throwing in the obligatory but entertaining electric bass and guitar rhythm introduced in the "Main Title" cue that, at the start, would make you swear that Clint Eastwood was lurking with double barrels behind some dark corner. Such Spaghetti Western personality would be expanded upon by Beltrami very satisfyingly in 3:10 to Yuma, incidentally. This primary identity for the titular character is frequently accessed throughout the score, but Beltrami's best utilizations of it are in conjunction with his "destiny" theme for Hellboy. This idea of melodrama, heard first at the height of "Meet Hellboy" and culminating in "Aw, Crap" and "Gut Grenade," is a highlight even though it resembles Jerry Goldsmith's main theme from The Edge. By the super-heroic rendition at the conclusion of "B.P.R.D. Suite," you'll swear that that this idea's progressions owe a nod as well to John Williams's Star Wars theme for "The Force." Since Del Toro encouraged Beltrami to approach Hellboy like an opera, it should come as no surprise that most of the major secondary characters are treated to thematic development as well. None is as impressive as the idea on sensitive strings for Hellboy and his pyrokenetic love interest, Liz, a theme marginally reminiscent of Danny Elfman's Spider-Man material. It is well developed in several places, too, conveyed in full in "Hellboy & Liz" but reaching its emotional pinnacle in the beautiful, tonally magnificent "A Hot Kiss." Alternately, there's a "red herring" love theme of sorts in "John and Liz" that is intentionally a bit anonymous on celeste. A remarkable waltz-like theme for the father of the group is developed in the vocally operatic "Kroenen's Lied" and translated to monumental lamentation mode in "Father's Funeral" (otherwise known as "Feelings"). More subdued versions of this theme exist on solo woodwinds in "Broom's Fate" and "B.P.R.D. Suite." The "Evil Doers" cue introduces the martial stomp for the Nazis and the prime villain that is somewhat diluted throughout the rest of the score but is afforded all the fantasy power necessary in this initial, appropriately Russian-tinged expression. An alternate version of this material exists in "Evil Dewars." In terms of Hellboy 's general style, Beltrami sometimes dances into the bizarre end of the instrumental spectrum with a wailing theremin in several cues, carrying the load at the start of the ultra-dramatic "Stand By Your Man" and going so far as to merge at very low ranges with a jazzy female vocal in the offbeat "B.P.R.D" cue (renamed "Oompa" for a later album). That last cue on the original album presentation, ironically, is where Beltrami most obviously takes a page from early Elfman music in sheer craziness of rhythm and instrumentation, leaving the listener with the false impression of derangement that doesn't really foreshadow any substantive connection to the composer who would take over the franchise's compositional duties for the sequel. In parts, Beltrami does skirt the boundaries of a carnival atmosphere, but the memorable sequences are the largely orchestral and choral cues that make up the substantial base of the music. Conversely, some of the whipping staccato arrangements of brass during fight sequences are where the score loses some ground, moving at speeds difficult to tolerate for their sheer force of volume. The weaker portions are those that also emulate the faceless, "wall of sound" action material to come shortly thereafter for Beltrami in the inferior I, Robot. Franchise enthusiasts may prefer Elfman's more overtly and fluidly melodramatic highlights in 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, indeed a magnificent follow-up in parts, though that score inexcusably ditches all of Beltrami's solid themes, to its detriment. Listeners also need to be aware that the original 45-minute album release of 2004 for Beltrami's Hellboy is severely lacking, and it should be avoided on the secondary market if at all possible. This Varèse product omits important passages in the score, including much of the prime finale material and the outstanding suite of themes at the end. There were reports that some music could not be included because the label could only offer recordings Beltrami made with the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and not additional music recorded in different sessions with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in Los Angeles. Also, occasional performance errors are distractingly apparent, led by a brass flub at 1:16 into "Stand By Your Man." That track was also the source of much discontentment over clicking sounds and other artifacts that somehow escaped the mastering process and cause frequent problems with album enjoyment. Some copies of the album (including Filmtracks' promotional CD tested prior to this review's initial writing) are seemingly absent this digital pop artifact, though countless buyers of the product have complained through the years about obvious rhythmic clicks occurring every 3 to 6 seconds in a few tracks on their CDs. The label took substantial heat regarding this album for all of the above reasons, so it was a collective relief to see Varèse provide a limited, 2-CD "Club" expansion in 2016 that corrected all these issues and supplied fans with a spectacular presentation of the Hellboy as it was meant to be heard. Some of the tracks have been rearranged and/or split into their proper placements, and the consolidation of the suite-like recordings at the end is much appreciated. There are no technical flaws to this mastering, either. Often times, when considering limited albums that expand a previously available film score album, there aren't enough improvements in sound quality or the quantity of content to merit the purchase to anyone outside of the most ardent group of fans. This is not one of those occasions; the 2016 set truly is so superior to the 2004 predecessor that collectors should not waver to appreciate one of the 3,000 copies available. With the belated 2016 product, this Beltrami score stands as a tremendous opportunity for film score enthusiasts to hear the composer apply his orchestral talents to both majestic and quirky ends in an impressive comic hero's score. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
2004 Varèse Album:
Total Time: 45:06
2016 Varèse Album: Total Time: 122:01
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2004 album includes a note from the director about the
score and a list of performers. The track times listed on that product's packaging
are not always correct. The insert of the 2016 album includes extensive information
about the score and film.
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