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Howard |
The Huntsman: Winter's War: (James Newton Howard)
Chalking up another win in the "mediocre sequel that exists because it
can" category is 2016's
The Huntsman: Winter's War, both a
prequel and sequel to 2012's
Snow White and the Huntsman. Tepid
audience response faced
The Huntsman: Winter's War despite a
wider international run than the previous film, reaction to the
unnecessary nature of the story countering the production's casting
prowess. The tale is something of a "bitch-fest," with Queen Ravenna and
her Snow Queen sister, Freya, battling over the kingdom through
deception and magic, combining the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian
Andersen fairy tales where convenient and making the "Huntsmen" army of
the younger sister the protagonists. False deaths seem to be order of
the day. In fact, do any of these characters actually ever die? Or are
they Colonel Harland Sanders, selling fried chicken to Americans long
after his previous deaths? While the ravishing Charlize Theron returns
as evil bitch #1, vying for similar importance for film music fans was
the continued presence of composer James Newton Howard in the fantasy
realm. Since his occasionally delightful work for
Snow White and the
Huntsman, Howard had fine-tuned the genre's sound for
Maleficent, a product of the same filmmakers responsible now for
The Huntsman: Winter's War. While the prior score in this
franchise was not among Howard's more memorable efforts, it did, as
usual for the composer, contain some absolutely lovely lyrical passages
of easy tonal accessibility, especially in conjunction with rambling
piano rhythms. Both those piano applications and the primary theme for
Snow White from the prior film are jettisoned in the sequel, but much of
the same vocabulary is otherwise retained. True to Howard's methodology
in these scores, you have the broad symphony sound augmented by tasteful
electronic accents, light choral ensemble, a boy soprano voice sparingly
applied, and a solo string instrument (a cello this time). True to the
villain's musical identity in the prior entry, you also have Howard
revisiting the pounding, slashing, and clanging percussive mode for
times when evil bitch #2, in this case, becomes irreparably pissy. As a
bonus in this score, you receive a number of really pretty woodwind
solos as well, often performing the primary new identity for the film.
As in any Howard fantasy effort, the atmosphere is as vital as the
thematic cohesiveness, and his enthusiasts should be pleased by more
than half of
The Huntsman: Winter's War.
With the primary character of the prior film, Snow
White, now absent, so too is the main thematic glue of that production,
Howard tending to
The Huntsman: Winter's War with an overarching
love theme for the huntsmen in the sequel instead. This romantic idea,
representing not only Thor/Eric and his fellow huntswoman love interest
but all huntsmen in their struggle to deal with both evil bitch #1 and
#2. This identity is a definite winner in the pantheon of Howard fantasy
themes, expressed in a range from militaristic stature (3:45 in "The
Children Arrive," reminding of
The Last Airbender in its
underlying percussion; listen for a nicely layered electric guitar in
this performance) to heartbreaking tenderness (1:33 in "You Shouldn't
Walk in Shadows" and 1:00 in "We Are Worthy of Each Other," both
utilizing John Barry-like flute). The idea is first introduced
(abbreviated) with solemn ensemble at 1:20 into "The Huntsman" and
extends out of choral agony at 3:39 in "Freya's Spell." It neatly wraps
up the score at 2:14 in "Ravenna's Embrace," followed by Howard's
Maleficent-like celebratory children's choir bounciness. There
does exist a more restrained, noble identity for the huntsmen as well,
perhaps for Eric himself, and you hear that theme replace the prior
work's Snow White theme as the solitary horn opening the entire score.
Freya's antics are treated to a theme that contains similar instrumental
brutality to the Queen Ravenna material from the prior score when
necessary (totally understandable, of course). At 1:50 into "Freya's
Spell," you hear the same halting, rhythmically oppressive, low brass
and percussion movement under her identity that represented Ravenna in
the other film when her temper flared. Howard tones this motif back to
boy soprano and children's choir eeriness in the subsequent "Freya
Prepares for War," another moment that will recall
Maleficent's
addressing of an evil bitch. Despite some claims that Sara, the
huntswoman love interest, receives a theme, it's difficult to identify
exactly where it is on album. The same applies to the stunningly
beautiful "Sancuary" motif from the prior score; while that location
returns in this story, you don't receive the same three-note phrases
with any clarity in "The Goblin Forest" or anywhere else (perhaps this
material was tracked in to the film). You do, however, receive a reprise
of Howard's chopping chase motif from "Escape from the Tower" in the
previous score in "The Goblin Fight" here. The action music in
The
Huntsman: Winter's War tends to be a little easier to appreciate in
its flow, leaving behind some of the composer's more obnoxious
dissonance techniques.
For true enthusiasts of the
Snow White and the
Huntsman score, one of the pleasures of
The Huntsman: Winter's
War will be the treatment of Queen Ravenna's theme. Since evil bitch
#1 only really exists in this film in spirit form (or maybe not... who
the hell knows?), Howard translates her threateningly elegant theme from
the brutish low brass of the prior score to bass strings and woodwinds
in the sequel, suggesting her dastardly influence very clearly without
giving her as much of a "larger than life" presence. You're hit with her
theme right away at 2:40 into "The Huntsman," her unmistakable rising
and falling rhythmic formation as hypnotic as ever. One of the
highlights of the score comes in "Ravenna Returns," an absolute delight
of a cue for low woodwind enthusiasts. By the third minute, deep choral
tones and a tolling chime join the theme to denote that evil bitch #1 is
truly the quintessential evil bitch. Musically, her material overshadows
that of evil bitch #2 in the latter portions of the score, though the
rhythmic Freya war motif does return in "Stand or Fall Together,"
conveniently merged with the underlying Ravenna rhythm as they briefly
face off against the huntsmen together. The pair of "This is My Kingdom"
and "Stand or Fall Together" contains some strong conversational moments
of tonal gravitational force, the main love theme interjecting
occasionally in fragments. Expect more of the practice of Howard
suddenly cutting off a fluid line of thought with an abrupt thump and a
burst of dissonance, however. Such is typical to his writing,
unfortunately. The only truly optimistic cue in the score is "Ravenna's
Embrace," its light choral ambience sending off the score without as
much fanfare as equivalent Howard fantasy works. The "Castle" song
performed by young American songwriter Ashley Nicolette Frangipane,
otherwise known as Halsey, continues Howard's trend of collaborating
with harsh, abrasive female vocalists for these projects' songs, though
he only arranged the symphonic backing of this somewhat mediocre song
and had nothing to do with its melodic composition. Overall,
The
Huntsman: Winter's War is a weak four-star score, slightly stronger
than
Snow White and the Huntsman, which was a strong three-star
effort. There are dull moments of the sequel score that need trimmed
from the album (the "Lacrimosa" religious choral cue also stands apart
stylistically), but the new love theme and the incorporation of
Ravenna's material make this entry more consistently enjoyable. More
importantly, film music fans can take the pretty highlights of the first
score and combine them with the love theme and a few action portions of
this one to yield a very solid four-star experience overall between the
two.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check: |
For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.41
(in 63 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.4
(in 76,325 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.