| CLOSE WINDOW |
|
FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Kong: Skull Island (Henry Jackman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate serviceable and appropriately
aggressive monster scores, Henry Jackman supplying King Kong and his
human counterparts with compelling themes of massive scope.
Avoid it... if challenging tonalities, half-hearted infusions of 1970s electronics, and a murky thematic narrative can combine with mediocre suspense material to sully the score's accessible highlights.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Kong: Skull Island: (Henry Jackman) Among the
initial four entries in the Legendary and Warner Brothers
"MonsterVerse," 2017's Kong: Skull Island was the most
commercially successful, the eleventh movie in the long history of the
massive ape on the big screen. The studios sought to use this picture to
introduce a variety of the monsters meant not only to fight King Kong in
this film but also Godzilla in subsequent movies. The human characters,
by contrast, are expendable, little of the cast for Kong: Skull
Island figuring at all into the next few films. That awkward group
of former military studs, government operatives, scientists, and a
photo-journalist (for the sake of showing some female flesh) travels to
the mysterious Skull Island in a 1973 expedition to prove the hollow
earth theory at the heart of these tales. Once there, they find a World
War II pilot and a native tribe that warn them about the delightful
creatures of immense size that inhabit the island, and the group has to
battle themselves and the monsters to ultimately save Kong and escape
with the knowledge of the truly nasty adversaries to come. The film was
heralded for its fantastic special effects, bringing both Kong and the
other monsters to life with incredible detail. The era of the tale
caused director Jordan Vogt-Roberts to infuse 1970's songs into the
picture, and he instructed composer Henry Jackman to incorporate some of
that associated sound into his score. This request presented Jackman
with an interesting dilemma, as clearly the King Kong franchise has
enjoyed a storied history of symphonic tradition that dates back to the
Max Steiner classic that many cite as the genesis of motific film music.
Jackman assembled a significant crew, including a bevy of ghostwriters,
to assist him in striking this balance, largely ignoring any direction
from Alexandre Desplat's score for the 2014 Godzilla film that
preceded this one in the "MonsterVerse" franchise. Very minimal relation
ultimately prevailed between the songs and score for Kong: Skull
Island, Jackman simply working around the songs. Likewise, the
1970's instrumental and genre tones in the score are largely confined to
its first third and aren't particularly impactful. Rather, Jackman
strays closer to a generic monster movie stance for this music, but he
does so competently and with a few distinct highlights, generating an
above-average entry in the history of Kong.
The score for Kong: Skull Island is one of those monster movie bashes of immense size that achieves most of the basic needs of the film and sounds like it should be better than it actually is. It beckons you to return to it periodically to figure if you missed something in it the last time you appreciated its ambition. In the end, the score's immense size, thematic consistency, and generally appropriate personality raise all the hell you expect but in a rather anonymous fashion, its latter half failing to retain the promise of its early portions. Jackman and his team execute the formula well, using the opening cues to underline suspense with fragments of important themes. He then shifts to the exuberant human themes of the expedition; after all, they're off to an exotic location to kick some ass. Then comes the suspense of the unknown, the fantasy of the discoveries, and the outright nasty action sequences. This all culminates in the orchestral chest-thumping bravado and an immensely ominous crescendo to set up the monsters in the next film. That sequencing is handled perfectly by Jackman, with execution that makes his other action scores of this era, particularly the disappointing Captain America: Winter Soldier, seem like a distant memory. And yet, despite all its positive attributes in its spotting and instrumental rendering, Kong: Skull Island remains a score less accessible than it could have been, content to break chords and suggest conflict even when basic heroism is on display. The tonalities in this work are often challenging, especially in how the team addresses Kong and both the threat and lament representing that character. When Jackman allows easier harmonic structures, the score is a pleasure, but such moments are rare, and the most accessible theme in the work, the main identity, outright disappears during the second half of the narrative. Listeners more akin to the Steiner, John Barry, and James Newton Howard mould of Kong music will find some solace in the symphonic presence in Kong: Skull Island, though Jackman does reduce it at times to the Hans Zimmer/Remote Control pounding on key that fails intelligence tests while stirring the loins of viewers. If anything, the 1970's electric guitar presence is actually a bit underplayed, confined mostly to one character in application and not providing a coolness factor outside of "The Island," which is easily the score's best cue outside of the major action pieces. 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.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 56:42
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for the digital album. The insert of the
CD includes no extra information about the score or film.
Copyright ©
2021-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Kong: Skull Island are Copyright © 2017, WaterTower Music (Digital), Rambling Records in Japan (CD) and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/13/21 (and not updated significantly since). |
