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Review of Jupiter Ascending (Michael Giacchino)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek a gargantuan follow-up to Michael Giacchino's
respected space opera music for John Carter, this entry even more
engaging in its instrumental and vocal applications.
Avoid it... if you demand absolute perfection in the thematic representations within your best scores, because the heroine's theme here is a bit scattered given its usual role in such soundtracks.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Jupiter Ascending: (Michael Giacchino) When Warner
Brothers approached Andy and Lana Wachowski (the latter having
experienced a "gender reassignment," as some in the press have
tactlessly termed it) about devising a truly original science fiction
concept for a new movie franchise, the studio had visions of greatness
based on the groundbreaking success of The Matrix and its
sequels. They clearly weren't hoping for a reprise of the Wachowskis'
later efforts, and, unfortunately, that's what they got. There is no
question that these filmmakers are brilliant conceptual designers, and
2015's Jupiter Ascending is certainly a visual splendor to
behold. But their stories since The Matrix have failed to evoke
the same kind of fascinated response from crowds of ponderous audiences.
The tale this time postulates that Earth is essentially a harvesting
farm of a different nature, one that was seeded long ago as one giant
depository of spare people parts for the alien ownership group of the
planet. When political upheaval and sibling rivalry in the royal class
of these aliens causes the planet's fate to be accelerated (please, let
them harvest Donald Trump first!), the battle turns to Earth, where one
average housemaid in Chicago turns out to be the unlikely focus. While
casual observers have pinned Jupiter Ascending as a cross between
Star Wars and The Matrix, the intent by the Wachowskis was
to produce a cross between the ancient Greek poem "Odyssey" and The
Wizard of Oz instead. Regardless of those best intentions,
Jupiter Ascending failed to thrill critics due to its abysmal
screenplay, with walk-outs causing the theatre of a secret advance
showing at the Sundance Festival to be mostly empty by its end. A small
group of loyalists, led by international followers, helped the film
scrape out its original budget, but the project, beaten insultingly at
the box office by The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, was
ultimately a major loss for Warner. The spectacle was a boon for film
music enthusiasts, though, because the Wachowskis returned to their
musical collaborator on 2008's Speed Racer, Michael Giacchino, to
provide the score. While the composer's best music is often associated
with popular video games ("Medal of Honor") and television series
("Lost"), soundtrack collectors instead look to another early-year,
massive science fiction flop, John Carter, for comparisons. That
2012 embarrassment for Disney was similarly postured as a space opera of
the highest order, and its plot shares several basic elements with
Jupiter Ascending. Not unexpectedly, Giacchino handled the later
film with equal reverence to 1970's and 1980's sci-fi space classics,
and the result is predictably outstanding.
The foundation of the music for Jupiter Ascending is very reminiscent of John Carter, the emphasis by Giacchino remaining on symphonic grandeur, wildly engaging orchestrations, and a dedication to thematic development not often attempted in modern blockbusters. The procedure for this assignment was a bit different, however. The Wachowskis carried over their Cloud Atlas technique of having much of the score written prior to editing so that it could be placed directly in the film as a temp track. Giacchino admits that he was not originally too keen on this idea, but he eventually stated that it allowed him a tremendous amount of freedom in exploring thematic identities without the need to adhere to timing boundaries. Despite some claims that "all" the music for the film was recorded ahead of time (some of this misinformation comes from the composer himself, oddly), only a selection of suites was recorded before the film was ready for its final tailoring of the music. In fact, the large majority of Jupiter Ascending's score was indeed written and recorded in traditional methods both in London and Los Angeles later on. The amount of combined music reached over 100 minutes, in fact, and it necessitated a 2-CD set in order to provide a satisfying presentation of its narrative. Even at that length, the product maintains your interest, in part because Giacchino keeps his rhythms, orchestrations, and especially vocal applications fresh throughout the work. Absent from the equation, interestingly, is any significant role for electronics, despite the mind-bending fantasy of the story. He also avoids over-manipulation as a means of achieving that end. Rather, this is your traditional, timpani-pounding and xylophone-rambling orchestral powerhouse of a score. It's amazing to hear Giacchino truly realize the reputation he earned in 1999 as "the next John Williams." Those early shades of Indiana Jones influence are still there (and quite pronounced this time, actually), and from his brass clusters to frenetic string figures, there is vintage John Williams all over Jupiter Ascending. With growling bassoon applications and noble French horn solos, the Williams influence, whether intentional or not, is quite remarkable to appreciate in this music. It's a comparison that has existed in various doses throughout Giacchino's output for blockbusters (though intriguingly not really as heavy in his Star Trek entries) but has never seemed so concentrated or obvious since those early "Medal of Honor" soundtracks. The composer manages to tap into that level of masterful excellence here without sacrificing the listener's ability to easily grasp the moments of simple, accessible harmony. Having the suites of music recorded prior to the filming on the album certainly assists in providing such listening pleasure. Despite the respect paid to Williams in Jupiter Ascending, Giacchino still manages to saturate the score with his own writing style. There are techniques with string counterpoint and choir that seem truly unique to his career at this point in the film music recording industry. The former is all too evident in part because of the composer's seeming choice to apply this section of the ensemble in a very prominent, dry place in the overall mix. The entirety of Jupiter Ascending isn't as dry as some of the composer's works can be, straying closer to John Carter in that regard and better representing the fantasy genre as a result. Intriguingly balancing that position is the mixing of the vocal elements here, a prominent boy soprano, for instance, extremely wet in that same mix. Giacchino's overall use of voices is really where this score, among others in his career, stands above the competition. There is a widely religious element to his choices, the boy soprano an obvious allusion but the liturgically chanting deep male voices also lending an apocalyptic tone to portions. Giacchino isn't afraid to instruct his singers to utilize their voices in far more than the typical cooing manner for this context, the stabbing chants and sometimes nearly shrieking emphasis on vocal flair really providing fabulous color to the overall sound. There are snippets of more fluid performances for the voices, sure, especially in the original suites, but they don't grab your attention to the same degree. Perhaps it is inevitable that listeners will recall the boy soprano here much like it dominated Graeme Revell's The Saint in a vaguely similar context. Sometimes, it's the more subtle moments that are the highlight; one such incredible moment is the combination low voices, bass strings, and bass woodwinds under the fleeting soprano during the villainous thematic development in "The Abrasax Family Tree." That theme is one of three that really constitute the score, and it's in many ways the highlight. Genre enthusiasts will appreciate the connections to Williams' theme for the Emperor in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi here, though the multiple full brass outbursts of the idea in the cue make it better rounded. While Giacchino refers to this theme throughout the score, it never reaches the same zealous glory as it experiences in "The Abrasax Family Tree," which, at 9 minutes in length, offers up enough of the idea to satisfy, including some trilling trumpet work and chime-banging just to lay on the "epicness" factor. This personality, often as purely sinister as an orchestral ensemble can be made to sound without electronic enhancements, works its way into several of the main action pieces throughout the score as well. Giacchino seems to love writing these sinewy, longer-lined villain's themes, and the films are definitely better because of them. The second theme Giacchino revisits throughout Jupiter Ascending is the one for the main character, Jupiter. Her identity is perhaps appropriately muted amongst the grandeur of the surrounding material, and some listeners may not even really pick up on it given its inherently scattered construct. It is introduced in "I Hate My Life" with lighter Williams rhythmic tones, an amusing allusion to "Ode to Harrison" from Star Trek: Intro Darkness inserted into the middle. The whirlwind "It's a Hellava Chase" cue later almost comically weaves this idea into the score's chase material and throws in some wedding-related tones for good reason. The third identity is a love theme for the two main protagonists, alluding to Jupiter's theme at times and achieving its best renditions in the remarkable "Commitment" cue at the end of the score that returns to the beauty of the soprano tones as well. When you step back from this music, you notice that Giacchino planned many of his progressions so they form distinct, three-note phrases. One has to wonder if this adherence to the "three's" was connected to the plot's character set or only coincidental. The seeds of these ideas are fascinating to hear in the four suites of music conjured by Giacchino prior to the film's production, especially the repeated use of the three-note phrases. Aside from the almost awkwardly standout John Barry tribute in "The Titus Clipper" (it's difficult to say if that cue is a positive or negative given how shamelessly it refers to lighter James Bond relaxation), much of the extended listening highlights on the album are contained in those suites. Even the aggressive brass in the "3rd Movement" is easy to digest. A general lack of development of the Abrasax theme in these portions is the only disappointment. Overall, Jupiter Ascending proves that John Carter was no fluke in the area of high Giacchino effort for a crappy project. You have to love the fact that he continues to tackle these duds largely on his own. At a time when orchestrators, arrangers, and assistants create ensemble scores that lack any cohesive personality, Jupiter Ascending is so saturated with Giacchino's style that you have to admire his dedicated exploration of his own musical voice while retaining some of the best techniques introduced by Williams in the Bronze Age of film music. The somewhat dry mix at times will still bother some listeners; that seems to be the composer's preference and it's a shame for those who prefer a tasteful amount of reverb in their fantasy works. But that mix is not as negatively impactful in this recording, in part because some of the layers do seem to receive a better ambient presence. In the over twenty reviews of Giacchino's music prior to this one, he had often received four-star ratings but never a full five stars. While Jupiter Ascending isn't a prototypical "classic" score and has some slow portions, it's difficult to imagine what more Giacchino could have done with it. For this magnificent treatment of an undeserving picture, the composer finally achieves the highest rating. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 103:30
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a long note from the composer, a list of performers for all the ensembles involved, and
photography from the sessions.
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