: (Henry Jackman) On paper, the pitch of
placing action stars in an espionage thriller involving the inhabitants
of the North Pole as the protagonists must have looked tantalizing. A
weight-lifting Santa Clause with futuristic technology is kidnapped,
leading his forces on a search that begins with an average doofus of a
hacker who sold the villains the coordinates they needed to execute
their plot. Santa's security and a larger mythical group of enforcers
work their way through various global settings in James Bond style.
Along their journey, they force the hacker and even Krampus to join them
as they confront the evil witch responsible for all the ruckus. And, of
course, Santa has to fulfill is his annual duties and bring everyone
together in Christmas cheer at the end. The movie was extraordinarily
expensive, a quarter billion dollars spent towards its production. At
least $50 million of that money went to busy actor and producer Dwayne
Johnson, who reportedly caused costly delays in the shooting because he
was chronically late to the set. He also landed on the naughty list for
urinating in bottles once there. Despite a massive marketing campaign,
the movie didn't generate anticipated interest and critical response was
poor, yielding an immediate likelihood that the project could not recoup
its budget in theaters alone. Director Jake Kasdan reunited a number of
colleagues from his
films, and that crew included
composer Henry Jackman. (Rumors that Andrew Lockington was to score this
film were unfounded.) Jackman's music for the two
movies
improved over their span, and the composer's adventure style has
generally impressed with greater frequency over the late 2010's and
early 2020's. As per usual, he brings a sizable team of ghostwriters to
, and the resulting score strives for the same
crowd-pleasing entertainment value as the production as a whole. The
action core begins with Jackman's
Jackman's instrumental style for
Red One is exactly
as one would expect for this assignment, starting with the full,
hyperactive orchestral ensemble laced with sleigh bells and other
holiday-associated accents. A choir ranges from light tones of caroling
for the North Pole to deep male bravado for Krampus. Electronics are a
staple of the composer's works, and they are fairly tastefully applied
throughout, an appropriate addition given the outlandish fantasy
technologies seen in the story. A vibrant recording mix brings all of
these elements together extremely well,
Red One emulating some of
the better balance heard in
Strange World two years earlier. The
snazzy elements may not be as attractively lively as Jablonsky's
equivalent in
Red Notice, but that component in
Red One is
actually somewhat marginalized to just two or three cues. Veteran film
score collectors will note that the demeanor of the wholesome,
full-ensemble holiday portions aspires towards the John Williams
influences while the straight action sometimes emulates Alan Silvestri,
and it's hard to go wrong with either of those frameworks. Assisting the
narrative greatly is a solid set of the mostly transparent themes that
is almost omnipresent throughout the score. Holding everything together
is Jackman's best and main identity, that for the cool Santa and his
North Pole lair and technology. Its primary phrasing consists of two
five-note phrases, with the first humorously emulating the famous riff
from Europe's song, "The Final Countdown" when truncated in action form.
The second phrase resolves down to key in a clear nod to
Home
Alone. This theme is heard immediately in "Red One" and extended
through a highly varied set of styles, culminating in a Williams fanfare
of brass and metallic percussion wholesomeness by the end. Secondary
phrases are elongated variants of the main phrase for dramatic effect in
the cue's midsection. This theme swirls on brass over choir and bubbly
woodwinds and strings in "The North Pole," revisiting the charming
secondary development in the middle of the cue. From there, Jackman and
his crew take the Santa theme through an extreme variety of alterations
for nearly every kind of emotional application, rarely touching upon the
Christmas-appropriate tone of its "The North Pole" demeanor until the
fulfilling final pair of cues.
After its cheery establishment early in the film, the
main theme of
Red One becomes embroiled in fragmented mystery at
the outset of "M.O.R.A," informs the muscular action in "Breach" with
bold horns renditions, and bursts in James Bond-like transition duties
in the middle of "Aruba Bound." It emerges with enthusiastic,
militaristic heroism late in "Death Mercs," engages in battle alongside
the Krampus theme in "Mythic Mayhem," and supplies brief interpolations
of its first three notes several times in "The Christmas Witch."
Finally, the main theme returns to cheery form in the middle of "Saint
Nick" and overflows in Williams-inspired fanfares at the end. It's
accelerated at the start of "Saving Christmas" with driving action
rhythms and shifts gears in the middle of the cue to wholesome string
drama. The extended resolution for this theme in the final two cues is a
pleasure that yields a seven-minute highlight. While the Santa theme
remains a constant force throughout the score, the one for the hacker,
Jack O'Malley, tapers off as the story progresses. In light caper style
with bongo drums, electric bass, saxophone, and drum kit, this theme's
pairs of notes are teased at 0:31 into "Jack O'Malley," eventually
fuller for the ensemble at 1:38. A longer, descending secondary line has
distinct Lalo Schifrin and
Mission: Impossible theme references.
This idea returns on brass in the harp-swirling action in the middle of
"The Wolf," enjoys a powerful statement late in "Aruba Bound," and
swaggers in style throughout "Trouble in Paradise." It contributes to
the action in the second half of "Snowmen" but is limited (and the caper
mode completely gone) thereafter despite being redeemed at the start of
"Saint Nick." Ancillary to the themes above is a comparatively obscure
family theme that Jackman tosses in as a relatively anonymous character
association for sensitivity. Explored tentatively on woodwinds and
strings in "One Last Ride," this material provides melodramatic worry in
the culmination of "Breach." A prior clarinet performance returns to
fill out a bit more of the idea in "To Be Good," and piano helps lead it
to fruition in "Father and Son" with help of the Santa theme's figures.
The melody reveals itself as an interlude to that main theme in the
latter half of "Saving Christmas." Generally, this lesser character
theme exists only to allow relief amongst the plethora of intense action
and suspense cues, but its downtime does serve the listening experience
well.
The other secondary themes in
Red One all take a
while to introduce themselves in the narrative. The villain theme for
Grýla is often associated in the film's midsection with light
atmospheric dread, its mysterious five-note phrasing very slowly
developed with ambient haziness in "Grýla." The idea wafts
through "Possession" with the same tone of suspense laced by synthetics,
and that technique continues at the start of "Snowmen." The theme really
flourishes in full, stomping battle mode at the start of "Stop That
Sleigh!" with Silvestri-like percussion, and it even achieves a massive
gothic romp a minute into "The Christmas Witch" that persists at the
cue's climax. A theme for the mythical enforcers, M.O.R.A., contains
pairs of ascending and descending notes of anonymous suspense in
"M.O.R.A." and develops into a chopping militaristic rhythmic form that
opens "Aruba Bound" and recurs in "Snowmen." Its progressions are
clarified in the mysterious, electronically-guided "Shape-Shifters" and
lend their rhythmic forces to "Stop That Sleigh!" Finally, most
intriguing in the score for
Red One is the theme for
much-maligned but enticing Krampus. This melody opens "Krampus" in its
ominous, gothic minor and major-alternating modes, grand but restrained
on deep choir and brass for a swell at 2:13. The theme returns at the
end of the cue with some hints of its ascending, major-key potential. It
builds at the start of "Mythic Mayhem" into a bigger identity with
clanging metallics and enjoys several action performances against the
Santa theme in that cue. The idea then receives a positive
transformation for a few performances in "The Christmas Witch," returns
to its more dramatic inclinations at 0:43 into "Saint Nick" in still
lighter shades, and achieves outright redemption in a phrase at 1:20
later in that cue. Overall, the main Santa theme alone holds this score
together, however, and Jackman's instrumentation and mix are adept in
all corners. The 51-minute album is missing a significant amount of
music, especially some of the compelling Krampus material in the latter
half. A bad transition between the final two score tracks is a detriment
that hampers the best pair of cues. Some versions of the album include
the brief Laufey song "Christmas Magic," a vintage, source-like
Christmas jazz piece that is no stylistic match for the score. For his
part, Jackman continues to impress in these frenetic adventure films,
Red One one of the composer's best genre entries anchored by a
highly attractive main theme of both holiday cheer and action muscle.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Henry Jackman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.8
(in 25 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.78
(in 6,774 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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