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| Lewis |
The King's Man: (Matthew Margeson/Dominic Lewis)
After the carefree flair of the first two, contemporary entries in the
Kingsman franchise, writer and director Matthew Vaughn took the
concept to its serious past in 2021's much-delayed
The King's
Man. The prequel is more a history lesson about early 20th Century
global politics than an espionage thriller, following the efforts of the
British aristocrat of the 1900's who collects colleagues to join the
first incarnation of the spy network that would later become the
Kingsman. The group, with the support of the monarchy, navigates the
players at the top of the Russian and American governments to prevent
possibly disastrous outcomes of World War I, identifying the Russian
mystic Grigori Rasputin as a manipulator of the Russian Tsar via the
mysterious "Shepherd" that is controlling the villainous network's
actions throughout the story. The lead British agent (Ralph Fiennes, to
nobody's surprise) ultimately prevails but at great cost, and the table
is set for a potential follow-up picture to handle the rise of the World
War II elements shown at the end of the story. The personal tragedy
depicted in
The King's Man may have diminished appeal for the
prequel concept, however, the movie failing to generate either positive
critical reviews or audience enthusiasm at the box office. The music of
the
Kingsman films has blended highly stylish orchestral spy
thriller traditions with contemporary electronic embellishments and a
variety of song placements, but
The King's Man forced the
production to drop all of the latter elements and approach the score
from a more serious historical perspective. Composer Henry Jackman had
anchored the primary scores, but his co-writer, Matthew Margeson, takes
the lead role for the 2021 film. He had always wanted to collaborated
with his friend and fellow Remote Control Productions composer, Dominic
Lewis, on a major project, and
The King's Man ended up being that
score. Lewis had provided additional material for the original 2014
score in the franchise and was already aware of the general sound of the
concept's music.
Margeson and Lewis made a conscious decision to swap the
typical musical roles they usually play for collaborative scores while
working on
The King's Man, Margeson taking the emotional and
dramatic portions while Lewis toiling with the action element. Their
tackling of the score was drawn out over a long time because of the
pandemic's impact on the film, causing some of the score to be recorded
in London while remainders were handled in Sydney. The evolving
narrative involving the film's villains caused the composers to struggle
to find the right nuances for that part of their work, and the score as
a whole suffers as a result. Dropping all of the synthetics and electric
guitars was clearly a necessary decision, and rarely are there dissonant
and challenging passages outside of the silent knife fight scene halfway
through. With a mostly-new crew of additional composers and other staff,
The King's Man does lose some of the character exhibited by the
prior scores, and not just due to the change in time period. While the
prior franchise scores were littered with outstanding action pieces,
this entry is more of a consistently serviceable experience with few
truly memorable cues aside from the "Crying Conrad" cue portion labelled
as "Lionheart" on the album. Still, enough structural elements from the
prior scores do persist, including the harmonies of the themes, the
orchestration of the dominant brass, and a tendency for action sequences
to ascend in underlying chord progressions without fail. The brass once
again carry the score as whole, solo woodwinds figuring more prominently
as well. A pair of sensitive themes in
The King's Man forces a
softer approach for Margeson to navigate, and he does so adequately but
without much depth of weight. Likewise, Lewis' action material is fine
but not as snazzy as the equivalent in the prior scores, leaving the
results of both men to be decently entertaining but not matching the
engrossing personality of
Kingsman: The Golden Circle. They do
manage to work a choir into a greater role in this effort, mixing its
lower male tones for the Russian aspects with more obvious impacts. A
cimbalom also sparingly addresses the villains, but that's about the
limit for instrumental creativity.
Thematically, Margeson approached
The King's Man
early with the knowledge that the main franchise theme would have to be
marginalized, as the story doesn't allow for it before the Kingsman
organization exists. But both it and the interlude eventually associated
with the Harry character do appear strategically in the score. The main
Kingsman theme accompanies the opening logos of the film with two of its
phrases only, and it's teased at 0:31 into "Savile Row." The idea
continues to dabble with the new theme for this film, as the descending
second phrase of main franchise theme becomes a repeated B-phrase within
the new main theme of
The King's Man. But the hints of the
franchise theme do prevail at times even when applied against the new
theme, as in repetitions at 2:45 into "Network of Domestics" and after.
It starts to consolidate near the end of "Cracking the Code," and the
descending phrases contribute to the choral culmination in "Lionheart."
The full theme is finally announced at 3:28 into "Knights of the
Roundtable" as the group is formed. The interlude theme from the 2014
score, enhanced for Harry in the 2017 sequel, is hinted at 2:29 into
"The Promise" but afforded a full performance for the ensemble at 0:44
into "Savile Row." From there, however, the themes of the score are
completely fresh. The composers devise a new main identity for
The
King's Man and also explore dedicated themes for the Oxford family
and for their ancestors. The villain material and associated suspense
motifs are muddier and overblown for this context, and the album
presentation especially confuses their purpose. But the attractive new
main theme is what will count for most listeners, using similar chord
progressions as the franchise theme but with more notes. With the
B-phrase consisting of the secondary descending fragments of the
franchise theme, casual movie-goers may not even notice much difference
between the two identities. The new theme follows the franchise one at
0:18 into "The King's Man" with lush, broad strokes, returning to close
out the cue from 3:51 onward. While the album presentation may suggest
that this cue is a suite of ideas from the score, it is not, instead
being titled "The Camp" for the opening scene and not containing any of
the score's later villain material.
The new main theme of
The King's Man transitions to
become bold and majestic with nice brass layering at 1:56 into "The
Promise" but is reduced for several cues thereafter. A fragment at 0:12
into "Savile Row" is followed by minor development at the one-minute
mark in "Oxfords, Not Rogues" and faint echoes early in "We Three
Kings." The idea opens "Network of Domestics" on solo horn with a sense
of hope and is handed off to lightly dramatic strings later. It finally
realizes its action mode at 2:36 into "Dance on Your Graves" and earns
its stripes in playful hints throughout "Cracking the Code," with smart
piano fragments. The theme is at peace early in "We Shall Not Sleep,"
shifting to a solo trumpet rendition that extends to "Lionheart" over
snare, building in that cue to a massive, heroic choral version that
highlights the whole work. The new theme moves back into adventure mode
early in "Skydiving," a very strong action cue, and fights the villain's
theme throughout "Goliath" before triumphing by the end of the cue. That
conflict continues in "Crooked Blade" but wins the day with heroic
bravado and optimism at the outset of "Knights of the Roundtable." The
Oxford family theme for the Emily and Conrad characters addresses the
depressing portion of the story, its structure opening on anticipatory
chords with no real resolution at their beginning or end, also
incorporating the three-note descending phrase from the main franchise
theme. This idea debuts at 2:47 into "The King's Man" on solo piano and
cello but realizes poignancy at 0:43 and 2:43 into "The Promise." A
fragment is conveyed at 0:43 into "Cost of War" but the melody turns
dramatic at 1:26 under the new main theme. It returns at 1:09 into
"Cracking the Code" but takes a muted stance at 0:19 into "Crying
Conrad" before a solo piano version at 0:57 previews impending doom. The
family theme churns through most of the eulogy scene in "Dulce et
Decorum Est" but manages a suspenseful moment late in "Skydiving" before
returning to solemn form as it agonizes in the middle of "Victoria
Cross," consolidating to solo piano and trumpet at 2:01 and receiving
ensemble closure at the end of the cue. Even at its most dramatic
emphasis, this theme struggles to pull at the heart strings, going
through the motions with pretty intent but never achieving catharsis
until the "Victoria Cross" scene at the end.
A less-heralded new theme seemingly diminished in the
final cut of
The King's Man is the Oxford ancestor theme, which
plays a far more prominent role on the album than in the actual film
version of the score. Introduced in the picture in the unreleased "Our
Ancestors," the idea occupies the album at 2:56 into "The Promise" with
distinction and opens "Oxfords, Not Rogues" softly, switching to solo
piano at 1:53 before enjoying a very large statement. The theme stews
softly at 0:24 into "Network of Domestics" but ends that cue in a
dramatic fragment. It's intelligently deconstructed at the start of
"Silent Knife," a necessarily annoying, dissonant cue thereafter.
Perhaps the lack of this theme elsewhere in the score indicates its
abandonment by the composers during the work's prolonged evolution. The
villain's theme is, by comparison, a bit too overstated in James Bond
super-villain character to really work in this film. This tact was fine
in
Kingsman: The Golden Circle, but its representation of the
Shepherd in this film doesn't really fit with the serious distinction in
the remaining music. Casual listeners may think that the theme
represents Rasputin, but in fact it is more closely tethered to the
Shepherd character organizing Rasputin's actions as part of a larger
plan. The theme is often accompanied by chopped, two-note phrases on
strings or cimbalom, allowing it to churn in a slow crescendo like the
Golden Circle weapon motif in the prior score. How this material is
applied on album is much different from in the film version of the
score; the latter is much easier to follow in the narrative, whereas the
album seems to convey a few false-starts in related material, again
suggesting motific avenues cue short. For album listeners, the theme
debuts at 3:48 into "My Shepherd," takes to stomping at 2:48 into "We
Three Kings," and earns longer, more menacing lines at 2:38 into "Cost
of War." It's engrained in the action of "Goliath," shifts to frantic
rhythmic formations early in "Crooked Blade," and opens "Victoria Cross"
with massive force. The album deceives in the villain's theme, however,
as there is also concurrent development of other sinister ideas with the
same instrumentation and underlying rhythms, as in the openings of "We
Three Kings" and "The Lord's Vessel" on low voices and woodwinds and
eventually meandering through the presumed alternate cue, "The New
Flock," placed out of order at the end of the product.
Comparing the album to the film version of the score
for
The King's Man, the latter released by Disney on its
promotional hub for awards consideration, the questions about the
material included on the album multiply. A suspense motif heard during
the camp sequence at 1:19 and 2:17 into "The King's Man" consists of two
phrases with a different final note, and the rhythmic figures that
accompany this idea seem to entail some connection to the villain's
themes in the story. It's softly sinister music that would have made a
strong identity on its own, but only the underlying rhythmic formations
persist as a dancing accompaniment through the middle of "My Shepherd."
In the film version of the score, "The Flock" introduces the final
villain's material with its rhythm formally building up to its first,
massive thematic statement. There are a few notable omissions from the
album revealed by the film version of the score, led by the absence of
the striking horror of "Emily Shot" that should be placed at the start
of "The Promise." Aside from the aforementioned development of those two
themes in "Our Ancestors" and "The Flock," the film version offers a
uniquely massive choral outburst of drama in "Failed Attempt," and
"Cousins" keenly explores a lighter version of the villain's theme. More
impressive is the Shepherd theme with full choir in "HMS Hampshire" and
with a twisted variation in "Enter Lenin." Some listeners may prefer the
different version of "Network of Domestics" heard in "Polly Get Baking."
Most intriguing is the film version of "Crying Conrad," a different take
on the album's "Lionheart" recording that is arguably superior but with
a hanging ending. Nice development for the villain's theme awaits in
"Fencing Practice" and "US Embassy," the latter mingling with the main
new theme well. "Time to Cut Off the Head" is a very solid anticipatory
cue setting the stage for late action. On the album but not the
promotional presentation is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" in "Dance on
Your Graves," a cue that also rips with some blasts of humorous folk.
Otherwise, standout cues include the powerful, singular choral and
ensemble drama in "Out of the Shadows" and the seemingly diminished
Oxford ancestor material in "Oxfords, Not Rogues." There are enough of
these highlights, along with action glamour in "Skydiving" and drama in
"Lionheart," to recommend
The King's Man overall, but Margeson
and Lewis do not match the tight narrative arc and snazzy appeal of
Jackman's coordination in
Kingsman: The Golden Circle. A better
combined presentation of final and unused music would be merited.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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