Jackman and his team utilize two major themes in
Kong:
Skull Island, with three secondary ones meandering in and out of
them. But the composer supplies especially Kong's identity in so many
variants and fragments that it may not be considered memorable by casual
listeners. Despite supplying the major monster-oriented stomps in the
score, the Kong theme is arguably not the work's primary identity. The
main theme of the film represents everything from the Monarch Project to
Skull Island and a general sense of adventure, ultimately accompanying
the human characters in their journey. As these people become more and
more marginalized compared to the massive fighting beasts on screen,
Jackman restrains this theme so that it only impacts the second half of
the plot when the humans engage in some action to help Kong in his
battles. The idea consists of pairs of three-note phrases often
accompanied by chugging ostinatos by violins and/or percussion. It
debuts at 0:09 into "Project Monarch," repeating throughout the cue and
joined by electric guitar accents. The opening rhythm occupies lower
tones at the outset of "Assembling the Team" before the theme emerges 30
seconds in. The coolness of the electric guitars interrupts this cue,
but the rhythm and theme eventually overtake it. The rhythm alone
becomes more forceful yet less focused throughout "Into the Storm,"
returning on electric guitar to open "The Island," where the theme's
most prominent performances reside. This cue offers the best rendering
of the idea, with romantic strings in balance with bold brass for a tone
that almost borders on the coolness of the espionage genre. Sadly, the
theme disappears for much off the remainder of the movie, only recurring
at 0:16 into "The Battle of Skull Island," its overdue rhythm and
thematic combination fending off Kong theme and becoming heroic at 2:09
and 3:18 in rare tonal highlights. The theme is faint on violins at 1:03
into "King Kong," meandering off the melody. Extending out of this
material for the humans is the outward 1970s influence for the unstable
Packard character (Samuel L. Jackson) for whom Jackman saves his vintage
synthetics and psychedelic guitars. These sideshow moments include very
slight twanging ambience in "Packard's Blues" and later reminders of
that tone at the end of "Spider Attack," during all of "Lost," and
against unpleasantly pounding percussive rhythms in "Man vs. Beast." The
lack of identity or interest resulting from these applications shows,
perhaps, an intent by Jackman to serve the director's wishes while
downplaying their impact.
The material for the titular character in
Kong:
Skull Island strives to honor the momentous size of prior monster
scores, with varied success. The theme is surprisingly long in its
fullest form, but it becomes truncated by Jackman as the score moves
onward, and he even inverts the shorter version of the theme to
represent the hideous Skullcrawler monsters that are the primary
villains of this tale. The Kong theme is formally nine notes, rising and
falling before a pair of dominant high notes at the end that shift in
each repetition of the phrase. The idea is highly variable in the score,
sometimes reduced to 5 or 6 notes by dropping the early ascent in the
melody. Likely to accentuate the conflicted nature of Kong (friend or
foe?), Jackman uses tough harmonies to nail down in this material, with
broken chords aplenty. The theme is previewed with a monster menace tone
at the end of "The Beach" but is really saved for "Kong the Destroyer,"
where it is conveyed overlapping several times in the middle of the cue
after the seemingly obligatory "horn of doom" blasts from low brass. The
final portions of the theme enjoy a dramatic conclusion at the end of
that cue. Hints of the theme rumble throughout "Monsters Exist" and
"Dominant Species" before Jackman explores more elegant variations on
the idea with tribal instrumentation and fantasy choir in "The Temple,"
consolidating it on strings at 2:11 with a melancholy tone in its slight
atonality. The composer inverts the phrasing of the theme to represent
the Skullcrawlers, forcing the final progression to resolve downward
with gravity rather than shift upwards in hope. This version opens
"Ambushed" with force. Conclusive chords of the proper Kong theme open
"The Heart of Kong" menacingly, the tone shifting quickly to a full,
high string version of the theme with empathy. It fights on brass over
the percussion and electric guitars of Packard in "Man vs. Beast,"
agonized in its varying progressions at the end. Fragments of the theme
open "Creature From the Deep" with great size, the inverted Skullcrawler
motif from "Ambushed" returning at 1:48 before the Kong theme
re-consolidates at the cue's end in fanfare mode. A shorter version of
the theme stomps on low brass at 1:42 into "The Battle of Skull Island"
and continues in several statements thereafter, including reminders of
its romantic variations; the inverted Skullcrawler version returns in
the latter half on bursting low brass, and a victorious rendition at
4:40 with choir and the Marlow character theme as counterpoint offer
closure.
It takes Jackman until "The Battle of Skull Island" for
the expected clarity of major Kong theme performances to become obvious.
Don't be surprised if, upon casual listening to the score's album, this
theme doesn't really stick in your mind until that point. Even here,
however, the idea changes its shape a bit to accommodate its romantic
variations and intriguing borrowing of progressions from the Marlow
theme. "King Kong" opens with the theme languishing on strings, again
with hints of romantic aspects, though the cue ends with a
timpani-pounding exit for the latter half of the theme only. By this
point, the first four notes of the idea are rarely emphasized. As a
bonus, the inverted Skullcrawler version of the theme is toyed with in
"Monster Mash" before launching into new idea in full, a clear setup to
monster themes meant for development in future films in the franchise
but never realized. The theme for Marlow, the stranded pilot on the
island, is an interesting diversion in
Kong: Skull Island, as it
allows Jackman to lean on one of his influences, Jerry Goldsmith, for a
few moments of militaristic nobility. Is plays like truncated pieces of
the island theme to open "Grey Fox" on Goldsmith-like trumpets. The cue
morphs the theme into a longer-lined, more romantic identity, and a
mature version is stated outright by the ensemble in the last third of
the cue. This theme also opens "Marlow's Farewell" with optimistic
swirls and sensitive ethnic flute denoting the character's past and
connection to the island. A dramatic, hanging ending for the theme on
strings closes out the cue. The first two phrases of the theme accent
the crescendo at the end of "The Battle of Skull Island," and it blends
with Kong's romantic variant by the opening of "King Kong." In between
these cues dedicated to the development of Jackman's themes,
Kong:
Skull Island offers far less interesting filler material in the
suspense and action departments, with much of it resembling the
serviceable but not particularly engaging equivalents from the composer
in his
Jumani scores. In fact, much of the overall demeanor of
Kong: Skull Island reminds of the in-game portions of
Jumani, which is something of a compliment given that they are
decent works. But the middle of
Kong: Skull Island tends to drag,
and the 57-minute album presentation doesn't help by awkwardly placing
cues out of narrative order. Expect to take ten to fifteen minutes of
material from the score, led by the propulsive, wonderful "The Island,"
and form an admirable suite of music. Tom Holkenborg abandoned Jackman's
Kong theme in
Godzilla vs. Kong to his own detriment.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
