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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of The King's Man (Matthew Margeson/Dominic Lewis)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if a more traditional symphonic approach to this
franchise's music, absent its snazziest spy thriller moments, can carry
your interest, this score's harmonies and themes comfortably consistent
with but distinct from its predecessors.
Avoid it... if you demand a coherent thematic narrative for the protagonists or the villains, both of their sets of identities sounding uncertain and half-evolved in especially the album presentation.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
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. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 78:02
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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