. The pair of films was originally meant to
wrap up the concept, telling the conclusion of a galactic underdog story
of little value. The rebels defending an agrarian world against an
all-powerful imperial force using every tired technique and special
character capability to defy the odds and free their world. Additional
backstory reveals more about the main characters, though few critics
were impressed by any of the new details. Once again plaguing this
franchise is the director's reliance upon fake backgrounds that in many
cases look too terrible to forgive. Audiences tuned in to the hybrid
theatrical and (mostly) streaming spectacle even if they knew the
product was rather trashy, and the filmmakers tentatively decided to
punch out a series of additional movies based on the concept regardless
of its poor reputation. For film music collectors,
afforded electronica and budding orchestral
enthusiast Tom Holkenborg the opportunity to write a space opera in the
Hans Zimmer mould. Holkenborg and an army of ghostwriters conjured an
epic fantasy environment that owes nearly all of its style and tone to
Zimmer, though the upside of that emulation is that some of the solo
vocal and string work in the score proved to be among the best material
Holkenborg had applied to a film by that point. The music for
is a direct continuation of the exact
same musical equation, the scores clearly tackled as one. The orchestral
handling, the synthetic edge to the post-processing, and the alluring
solo layers all return in exactly the same duties, though the strings
are emphasized a bit differently in their artistic chamber sensibilities
a few times. The faults of the prior score also define the sequel,
Holkenborg and his crew simply unable to avoid overemphasizing every
last moment of the work, making it a somewhat exhausting experience with
few genuine respites.
As before, the composer's team manages to guide
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver away from the total mindless
pounding of his
Godzilla vs. Kong scores, but not indefinitely.
As the score reaches its climax of action here, the unyieldingly
abrasive, processed sound of the London orchestra, led by atrociously
blaring brass emphasis, does intrude badly at moments of intended
gravitas. The terrible new action in "Born of Woman" resembles the
stomping of
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and extends to
synthetically heavy suspense in "Everything That Rises." But these
moments of extremely challenging deterrence are relatively few, and
Holkenborg ultimately brings catharsis to the tandem of scores with his
still overblown but at least resolving dramatic culmination in "Whitsun
Oath" at the end. Casual listeners will know exactly what to expect with
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver, though they should be aware
that the second score frontloads the most interesting tracks and
devolves into more generic action from there. Most of the vocal and
string solos of interest recur in the first half, the former far more
fleeting this time around. A somewhat underachieving song, "The Land We
Breath" with Rose Betts, has various performances spread throughout
movie, but only one appears near the end of the album. The "Maman
Tché" source song alongside it also appears much earlier in the
film. The three dominant themes from
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child
of Fire all return, but the primary one for the protagonists' planet
and society is largely diminished. Formerly the score's main theme, this
identity doesn't return as cleanly as one might expect. Wailing female
vocals suggest fragments of the idea in "Warmblood," and it struggles
against the villain material in "From a Rabble Such as This." It's
deconstructed on a solo string in "Everything That Rises," is thrust
into brooding action mode early in "Who Dares Wins," and transitions its
phrasing to become something of a folksy influence on the song, "The
Land We Breath." Given that the main planet and the inhabitants of this
story are the same as in the prior one, it's difficult to determine why
Holkenborg's team would largely abandon this broadly established idea,
especially as it had vitally intertwined itself with the main character
theme for Kora previously.
The primary character theme thrives in
Rebel Moon -
Part Two: The Scargiver, yielding an especially intriguing
adaptation in "Auguries of Innocence" on strings, a distinct shift from
the female voice that had previously guided the identity. In that cue,
the theme becomes frantic and delirious in a horror mode for much of its
length, and similar performance techniques carry over to another melody
in "Poems No Child Should Know." This theme for Kora interrupts the
action at 1:00 into "Cut and Run" on its more familiar vocal tones and
is reprised at 0:55 into "Who Dares Wins," becoming solemn during
several renditions at 2:56 into "Whitsun Oath." Also returning is the
descending motif for the Imperium and general concepts of conflict,
reprising its distant choral menace early and late in "The Hated Other."
It is adapted into the action of "Quickhatch" as a cyclical tool,
building drama in latter half, and it faintly threatens early in "From a
Rabble Such as This" before shifting to melodrama in the middle of "Who
Dares Wins." Also reprised wholesale for Princess Issa is the undulating
boy soprano voice from "My Life for Hers" in "Seneschal Psalms," that
material fighting the thrashing processed brass in "What's Best in Men"
prior to a return to original vocal form. The best parts of "The Weight
of Lions" for General Titus are reprised without much variance in "The
Falling Mountain" as well. A pair of other themes become more pronounced
in the second film, including a noble identity consisting of two to
four-note phrases of hope. This optimism opens "We Make Ourselves a
Place Apart" on strings and extends on solo cello, joined by warm
acoustic guitar accompaniment. It returns in the latter half of "Enemy
of the Sun" for a few prominent phrases and faintly informs the latter
half of "Who Dares Wins." Also of note is an action motif at 2:24 into
"Quickhatch" with an impressively tonal muscularity on brass layers that
is a clear highlight of the score. Similar phrasing takes a more
dramatic turn in "Or Cover Me with Dirt," and it lends the same stance
to the major fantasy culmination at the start of "Whitsun Oath."
Overall, the score for
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver
doesn't satisfyingly build upon the highlights of the prior score, but
it doesn't really tread backwards in quality, either. The duo of
"Auguries of Innocence" and "Quickhatch" provide the only significant
moments of interest in an otherwise drab and soulless continuation. An
enjoyable compilation of the two scores' highlights could impress, but
this music is still the equivalent of fast food: artificially inflated
and naggingly substanceless.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Tom Holkenborg reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.16
(in 19 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.48
(in 5,292 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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