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Rise of the Planet of the Apes: (Patrick Doyle)
Ever since the initial adaptation of Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel to the
big screen in the classic
Planet of the Apes of 1968, the concept
has generated enough interest to lure studios into seeking scripts that
further explore that universe. In 1972, the fourth of five films in the
original franchise series,
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes,
featured an origin story that told of how the apes were initially thrust
into battle against humanity, and the 2011 reboot of the franchise,
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, follows a similar basic plotline.
A San Francisco Bay Area facility seeking a cure for Alzheimer's Disease
injects the chimpanzees with a compound that radically increases their
intelligence, making them not only equal to humans in mental
capabilities but also consequently causing them to revolt against the
slave-like conditions in which they have been kept. The leader of the
apes, Caesar, is caught in between his affections for the human
scientists sympathetic to his cause and the plight of his species,
eventually attempting to lead the group of enhanced, escaped primates to
a natural environment against the will of the military forces of the
humans. No doubt the plan by 20th Century Fox is to follow
Rise of
the Planet of the Apes with a series of sequels that develops the
same general timeline as the early 1970's films in the franchise, and
early positive reactions to their initial reboot entry will likely spur
efforts in that regard. There was, of course, another "re-imagining" of
the franchise by Tim Burton in 2001, and for that occasion, Danny Elfman
provided music that was as brutally percussive as anything in his career
and certainly more aggressive than the music for the prior five films.
For the 2011 movie, Scottish veteran Patrick Doyle was hired by the
relatively novice British director Rupert Wyatt for the task of scoring
the picture, a intriguing choice but one that did not generate as much
controversy as it could have due to Doyle's handling of the blockbuster
Thor earlier in the same summer. Doyle, despite his popular music
for
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, had never been known
prior to 2011 as a major action genre composer, typically associated
instead with Kenneth Branagh's Shakespearean adaptations and other
dramatic productions outside of the Hollywood spotlight. For
Thor, his action mode was forced to evolve more than the primates
in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and that trend continues in
the latter film, merging American stylistic norms with his own highly
melodic sensibilities.
Doyle's forced adaptation of modern American rhythmic
models of score writing has yielded one of the most interesting
storylines of 2011 in the film music realm. While some Doyle purists
suffered an allergic reaction to
Thor because they perceived too
many influences from the methods of Hans Zimmer and his Remote Control
soundtrack production house, the score still maintains a strong identity
within Doyle's own stylistic domain. In several of its basic
characteristics, the score for
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is
even more informed by conventional methodology, but Doyle pushes back
even harder within that genre by stubbornly refusing to relinquish his
own recognizable mannerisms. In a casual listening experience, one might
say that
Rise of the Planet of the Apes has very little of
Doyle's trademark sound, but careful appreciation of the score reveals
that it is not only a strong contender within the field of American
blockbuster scores of this time, but also one with Doyle's sonic
fingerprints all over its structures. The instrumentation goes in the
direction of Elfman's score for the concept but stops well short of its
relentless depth and force. The exotic percussion and vocals in
Rise
of the Planet of the Apes are understandably African in origin, the
former treated as just one section of the larger ensemble (in terms of
emphasis in the mix) and the latter often relegated to rhythmic chanting
in the bass region. Doyle augments that very active but treble-friendly
percussion work with a few notable solo accents that really highlight
his intelligent approach to this score. The use of an ostrich egg
ocarina to represent Caesar's origins and echoes of motherly love is a
genuinely unique tactic, its tone residing halfway between an ethnic
woodwind and female vocal. A series of grunted ape noises and clanging
metallic effects meant to resemble the rattling of cages (a.k.a.
"Klingons at mealtime") are applied as frequent pace-setters, and their
placement in the mix highlights their tones rather allowing them to fade
beneath the ensemble. Tastefully applied electronics are treated as an
equal participant in the ensemble as well, contributing to the science
fiction aspect of the lab's environment. The Los Angeles orchestra is
not that robust in physical size (it's too bad the London Symphony
Orchestra didn't sink their teeth into this one, especially with some of
the string runs discussed later in this review), but that lack of
overwhelming power is compensated for by a solid forward mix and
performances conducted in such a way as to solicit outstanding emphasis
from especially the string section. Like Alexandre Desplat, Doyle also
treats woodwinds as percussion instruments as times.
The level of instrumental activity in
Rise of the
Planet of the Apes is a constant pleasure. Unlike many Remote
Control-emulating scores that simply pound away at their ideas or
present one-dimensional lines of activity with no counterpoint or
intellectual structural design, Doyle is perpetually layering this score
with interesting activity, even if those performances are carried by an
instrument as soft as a harp. Such was the case with
Thor, a
score that likewise could have been much more simplistic and sufficed
for the film just the same. The composer has also proven several times,
and with extremely positive results as recently as
La Ligne
Droite, that he is capable of producing surprisingly robust results
from less than full ensembles. The mix of the group for
Rise of the
Planet of the Apes is somewhat on the dry side, though this choice
really emphasizes the specialty performers and allows a listener to the
album presentation to add some reverb on the consumer end to gain a
fantasy atmosphere if desired. On top of the engaging instrumentation in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Doyle as usual doesn't disappoint
with his melodic constructs. His sense of melodramatic lyricism is a
throwback to a different age in film scores, and it's relieving to hear
the composer retain a loyalty to his melodic roots in a score that
otherwise would be known for its textures. He offers three themes to
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, two of them experiencing
interesting development throughout the film while the third serving as a
battle cry for the latter half of the story. That announcement of
hostility will steal the show, joining Doyle's own
Thor and
Michael Giacchino's
Super 8 as summer 2011 scores that feature a
stunning secondary idea that dominate their respective narratives. In
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this rebellion theme explodes
suddenly at the outset of "Buck is Released" and is a full-blooded brass
expression that resurrects Jerry Goldsmith's style of the 1990's. From
"Caesar Says No" to "Golden Gate Bridge," this theme is a constant
player, toned back in the first two cues of that sequence but building
to another momentous statement at the end of "Zoo Breakout." Its
sinister performance at 1:35 into "Golden Gate Bridge" once again
reminds of Goldsmith's style. A descending slur of brass or strings
often accompanies this material, in the form of horn counterpoint in the
middle of "Caesar Says No" and accelerating on cellos and violins in
"Gen-Sys Freedom" and "Zoo Breakout." The wildly frenetic string runs
heard during moments of panic in the score ("The Beginning" and "The
Apes Attack") will remind some listeners of the "Ice Bear Combat" cue in
Desplat's
The Golden Compass.
The two primary themes written by Doyle for
Rise of
the Planet of the Apes interweave constantly, especially in the
score's first half. One is dedicated to Caesar himself, developing from
solo ocarina performances into a heroic fanfare by the conclusion of the
film. A little more elusive but almost as frequently referenced is a
theme of softer, loving intent to reflect the positive relationship
between the lead and sympathetic human characters before the revolt
occurs. The theme for Caesar is the one heard mysteriously in the exotic
ocarina tones in the first few cues, vaguely reminiscent of Marco
Beltrami's iconic theme for the
Scream franchise. There is a
sense of motherly love embedded in the similarity between this exotic
woodwind's tone and a female voice, a somber inflection defining most of
the early performances of the idea. A continuation of the theme early in
"Who Am I?" leads to subsequently understandable fragments of the idea
in that cue. Quiet but resolute heroism begins to embody the theme in
"Dodge Hoses Caesar" and "Inhaling the Virus." The ocarina returns to
convey the theme at the ends of "Visiting Time" and "Caesar Says No,"
maintaining the identity's origins throughout most of the story. As the
chimp gains his leadership position, Doyle applies his idea in a wider
variety of ways, including the distant wailing-like references to its
primary phrase in "Caesar Says No" and the full ensemble defiance in the
middle of "Gen-Sys Freedom." In the latter half of "Golden Gate Bridge,"
Doyle uses the theme as the more cohesive alternative to the
aforementioned action theme, rallying a sense of pride behind the idea
while never quite relinquishing its somewhat dour origins. The melody's
slightly mutated progressions on brass at 0:55 into "The Apes Attack" is
followed by uncomfortable fragmentary references that extend into
"Caesar and Buck." The latter cue, though, brings evocative pathos to
the theme, its striking string performances by the end presenting the
kind of quivering, suspenseful crescendo that only a composer like Doyle
can offer. The resolution cue, "Caesar's Home," explores softer string
variations on the theme's secondary phrases before issuing a monumental
brass statement at the end, complete with militaristically ripping
snare, to victoriously close out the score. In this and many of the
previously mentioned cues, Doyle alternates between this identity for
Caesar and its loving, human-related companion theme. This less readily
obvious melody balances out the bold aggressiveness of the action motifs
and the frequent, somber heroism of Caesar's theme, generating the
warmest moments in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes before
necessarily dissolving by the end of the picture.
It's interesting to note that in its progressions and
instrumentation, the companionship theme in
Rise of the Planet of the
Apes is an intriguing combination of ideas from
La Ligne
Droite and James Horner's
Avatar, the former really informing
the structure of the melody while the latter influencing performances
like the one of upbeat personality in "Muir Woods." It's actually
introduced earlier, its first statement at 1:35 into "The Beginning" and
hinted in "Stealing the 112," both of which will give those fortunate
enough to have enjoyed
La Ligne Droite, and, to a lesser extent,
Doyle's other obscure success of 2011,
Jig, the feeling that they
have heard the composer traverse this territory before. Its choral
introduction in "Off You Go" is vaguely reminiscent of James Newton
Howard's fantasy mode, as is the building, fluttering activity behind
the theme's actual statement thereafter (plus, you get a chance
reference to John Williams' Krypton theme in the brass at 1:30). Doyle
adeptly passes the idea between subtle woodwinds, brass, and then
strings in the middle of "The Primate Facility." Sadly subdued early in
"Visiting Time," the theme then picks up steam with strings and what
sounds like a synthetic xylophone. Tragic melodramatic hints in "Charles
Slips Away" and "Inhaling the Virus" dissolve into one last slight
reference early in "Golden Gate Bridge." The theme merges with Caesar's
identity in "Caesar's Home," reprising some of the tone from "Muir
Woods" as his species returns to that environment. Aside from these
themes, Doyle keeps the score interesting with other individual
techniques of note. In several early cues, including "Bright Eyes
Escapes" and "Stealing the 112," Doyle applies an ostinato for strings
and percussion similar to
Thor. There's a hint of John Ottman's
suspense mode in this and the tingling tones and progressions in "The
Primate facility." The rattling percussive effects over drums and low
voices in "Caesar Protects Charles" are quite intense for Doyle, as are
the interesting deep, metallic synthesizer tones at the conclusions of
these two cues. The clicking rhythmic effects late in "Caesing the
Knife" remind of vintage
Star Trek film scores. The panic
ostinatos in "Golden Gate Bridge" and elsewhere are effective without
being derivative, though they tend to be somewhat anonymous. Some
listeners will find too much of
Rise of the Planet of the Apes to
be similarly generic in its catering to blockbuster norms, but listen
more carefully to Doyle's complexities and you will be rewarded. The
thematic development, while very strong, is not quite pleasing enough in
its obvious placements to give this score the highest rating. It stands
as a strong sibling to
Thor, however, and proves that the humble
and humorous Scot is certainly more than capable of handling these kinds
of assignments.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Patrick Doyle reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.83
(in 29 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.47
(in 22,212 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a detailed note from Doyle about the score.
