While Beck is certainly a capable composer in this genre,
graduating to the kind of status that allows him to pass off some of the
workload to an army of assistants and ghostwriters, his technique with
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is frightfully generic. If you were to
ask an artificial intelligence to write orchestral music for a superhero
film, this score could result. Every usual rhythmic and instrumental
tactic is employed, all of them faint echoes of John Williams' ideas of
the past, and the performances fail to inspire. At least the players of
Shazam! sounded as though they had consumed an energy drink (or
eaten a bowl of chili) prior to recording. Here, everyone sounds as
though they were just earning their pay. The orchestrations are fine; in
fact, there are few synthetics muddying the waters. The brass section
does its usual heroic representation while strings offer a rhythmic
base. Piano and solo woodwinds present character sensitivity, as
expected. A choir is supplied, but its contributions are anonymous until
some puffed male chants in "Unicorn Act." Structurally, an excess of
massive crescendos of stereotypical thematic material closes out several
cues in tired fashion. Thematically, Beck relies very heavily on "call
and answer" phrasing, almost to a fault. There are hints of Jerry
Goldsmith and James Horner in these ideas at times, but never do you
receive any of the heart or resonance that resulted from those
composers' equivalent execution. The only distracting emulation comes
from some oddly cheap resurrection of Trevor Rabin's anthemic stance
from
Armageddon at the starts of "A True God After All" and
"Restoration," such usage highly distracting for the learned film score
collector. Hans Zimmer's Wonder Woman theme is dropped in as source, as
is Abel Korzeniowski's "Abdication" from
W.E. Some listeners may
find the themes from Beck's sequel score to be more memorable than those
by Wallfisch, and that's no surprise. Wallfisch was establishing his
material in an origin posture. Beck simply blares his themes repeatedly
throughout much of the score without any such hindrance. For most
people,
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will sound like a two-theme
score, and that observation is largely correct. But Beck potentially
frustrates by saving his most engaging melodic ideas for secondary
themes that never gain enough traction in the work to satisfy. The
general musical narrative of the two major themes is fine, but their
intermingling is not as adept as one might hope during scenes of direct
conflict.
Becks' replacement main theme for
Shazam! Fury of
the Gods is completely standard, built upon a seven-note first
phrase followed by a six-note answer. The first four notes are sometimes
applied as a quick reference throughout. Heard immediately on horns in
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods (Main Title Theme)," this idea builds from
chugging string rhythms to a full statement at 0:29 and brackets the
suite with a large rendition featuring plenty of crashing cymbals at
2:22. The theme actually opens the score in "Introduction - Fright at
the Museum" with anticipatory horn nobility, culminating in a choral and
triangle-rattling triumph in the first minute of that cue. Thereafter,
it is fragmented in the first minute of "Dome and Gloom," reduced to
humorous guises throughout "Freddy Sneaks In," opens "Act of Violins"
with a single burst, and starts "A Family Affair" in single phrases
while those pieces litter "Dragon Drop." The new main theme is made
tender at the outset of "Before You Go" with genuine solos passed around
the ensemble (beware the Williams-imitation crescendo at the end) but
shifts to full bravado mode at the start of "Dragon Chase," culminating
in a melodramatic finale with choir. An underlying rhythm builds to a
full, crashing performance in "Taste the Rainbow" as well. After
becoming solitary on piano at 0:36 into "All or None", Beck goes full
superhero mode again at 1:37. The theme is challenged to dramatic
lengths early in "We End This Now," extends out of 1990's anthemic tones
in "A True God After All," guides the emotional height of "Restoration"
in underlying chords only, and previews somewhat limp resolution
variants following a solo string rendition in "Hero." This main theme
has an interlude sequence that affords wholesome accompaniment for the
superhero fanfare. Its most significant development, not surprisingly,
comes in the middle of "Shazam! Fury of the Gods (Main Title Theme)."
Here, the interlude sequence emerges at 0:52 on strings, elongating the
main theme's phrasing for romanticism. It is shortened at 1:20 to
five-note phrases from its latter sections for wonderment. As a
character-centric tool, perhaps for the "Shazamily," this idea recurs at
0:13 into "Steve" on charming strings (shifting to solo clarinet at
0:45), offers sensitivity to the latter half of "Unicorn Act," and
provides inspiration to the end of "Freddy Resists." An offshoot of this
interlude has more Horner-like mannerisms, light on harp and flute at
the start of "Freddy over Heels" and peeking through in the middle of
"The Guardian." Don't expect any of these brief moments of interest to
last in your memory.
The other primary theme of
Shazam! Fury of the
Gods belongs to the Daughters of Atlas; like the main theme, this
idea also contains a seven-note first phrase followed by a six-note
answer. In its vaguely Middle-Eastern tones, there are some
Goldsmith-like feelings here when performed on brass. Heard first at
2:15 into "Introduction - Fright at the Museum," the theme is more
obvious on choir at 2:32 and large on brass and slamming percussion at
3:29. It offers intrigue early in "Daughters of Atlas," stewing
repeatedly later in the cue, and it is menacing on brass and choir at
1:38 into "Dome and Gloom," where the main theme battles a full ensemble
version in second half. The villains' theme is deconstructed at 0:31
into "Act of Violins," twisted to a more manic version in the first
minute of "The Guardian" (dwindling to sinister shades at the close of
the cue), and forced to stomp at 0:12 into "A Family Affair" before
becoming mystical with choir. Fragments inform the action of "Dragon
Drop," and they resolve to major brass moments in "Philly Tree's Take"
and turn agonized on strings at 0:18 into "I Chose Right," where the
idea is reduced to somber choral shades. It's barely recognizable in the
first minute of "You Disobeyed Me" prior to really obnoxious, pounded
fragments thereafter. At the climax, the villains' theme fends off the
main theme in "Lightning in a Bottle," enjoying a huge brass moment, and
it builds to a pounding series of notes in "Garage Showdown." Per a
character's change of heart, the theme shifts to an impressive major-key
rendition of fantasy in "Crack of Dome" before reverting to its negative
origins. Associated with this theme is a descending or ascending pitch
slur for the Kalypso daughter, heard at 1:59 into "Introduction - Fright
at the Museum," 1:57 into "Dome and Gloom" on exotic and conventional
horns, with malice starting "Philly Tree's Take," and at the end of
"Unicorn Act" in ascending form. The best theme in the score is the
exotic identity for the daughter Anthea and associated plot elements,
once again using a call and answer format. At first, it's a bit nebulous
in progression and doesn't stand out immediately. It opens the score at
0:52 into "Introduction - Fright at the Museum" on exotic woodwind and
at 1:18 on strings over rambling chimes. Redemptive hints remind us of
this material in two soothing performances at 2:24 into "I Chose Right."
The payoff comes in the beautiful flourishes of the idea in "Changing of
the Garden." This competent melodic handling isn't enough to generate
more than a generic "good guy theme versus bad guy theme" environment
for
Shazam! Fury of the Gods, however. The music has plenty of
power but an absence of heart and convincing enthusiasm. Behold, the
future generic artificial intelligence superhero score!
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