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Specializing in electronic textures and sound design, the bulk of Sarne's career has entailed co-writing rather obscure scores with the Rosses, most of that music really bad. One member of that team, Nick Chuba, joins Sarne for this assignment, and the outcome is a slightly more palatable version of the insufferable 2016 score for Triple 9. This is a rock and sound design score of extreme aggression and lack of sophistication with token orchestration added. Grungy in tone and angry in personality during most of its length, the work exhibits almost no emotional range in its narrative whatsoever, its focus on grit rather than person and losing any chance of warmth in its character cues. Although the director requested more emotional diversity, her execution is all too heavy. The orchestral presence is extremely simplistic, with almost no satisfying complexity of construct. Absent any smart performance inflection, there is nothing dynamic about the tone, with no true heroism on display regardless of character's persona in development. The composer's darkly synthetic bass dwelling defines everything in the end, its dirty presence tiring. Her slurred electric guitar techniques are overworn by this point and offer nothing of value. Post-production manipulation and overreliance upon booming bass elements are equally devoid of an artistic purpose. Slamming rock percussion alongside the guitars is cheap and betrays the legacy of the franchise in particular. Veteran orchestrator and conductor James Shearman is credited with arranging the music, and some listeners may assume this suggests that he was responsible for incorporating the symphonic side to a relatively significant degree. That portion, which seems to consist of strings and brass, cannot save this bonehead work, however. The solo piano is mixed so badly that it cannot survive the ambience for a positive impact. Choral elements contribute at times but are presented far back in the mix and thus have no real fantasy implications. Almost the whole score is depressingly sour and snarling in its layering, the tonal portions still resentful. Thematically, the score is poorly executed, the new main theme joined by inconsistent secondary ideas. Sarne's main identity for the titular hero in Supergirl contains basic variations of the same phrase repeatedly, a highly anticipatory structure in ways the Hans Zimmer Wonder Woman mould established.

With very basic harmonics struggling to escape its juvenile minor thirds, the structure of Sarne's main theme will remind some of the end of "Make Thee an Ark" from Clint Mansell's Noah and has none of the personality of Goldsmith's identity or the gothic power of Wallfisch's. The idea takes a while to build its formations in "Supergirl Suite" and isn't entirely clear, electric guitar wails and synthetic layering dulling the performance significantly. Building out of the family material on simplistic strings in "Argo, Pt. 2," the theme tries to form a culminating passage to official status in "Flying Through Space" but fails. Secondary lines of seven-note phrasing joins the main melody in "Supergirl," the slamming percussion and synthy sustains behind the theme muddying it badly, and the idea disappears from there. A clump of family-oriented ideas applies vaguely ascending chords without any meaningful progressions on top. They may have some role in the underlying harmonics at the start of "Supergirl Suite," brood loudly in "Krypton Destroyed," and shift to solo cello and other strings in "Argo, Pt. 1." This mode achieves some horn warmth in "Argo, Pt. 2" but is still too elusive to be memorable, similar brightness attempting to emerge at the end of "The Battle." This music shifts gears for the very basic, contemplative strings of "The Cave," and its the three-note figures factor right away into "Clark's Apartment" and drive that highlight cue. The continuation of this personality in "Reunited" isn't vibrant enough to serve as a decent farewell. Other themes include the forced, pulsing synthetic thumping and electric guitar coolness in "Lobo," slurred synthetic figures in "Krem" that are heinously stupid and not a bit frightening, and some attempted warmth on piano in "Ruthye" that is too dull in the mix to suffice. The villain ideas are tied directly into the extremely abrasive action material that provides no genuine excitement outside of its sheer volume. The final two cues on the album for Supergirl, alongside the main theme renditions prior, may save the experience for some. John Williams' iconic Superman theme provides two synthy fragments in "Clark's Apartment" as counterpoint, and they are credited inclusions. Generally, though, the whole personality is just wrong for the character, even in this execution. Wallfisch showed that gloomy and gothic tonalities could be magnificently dynamic and compelling for this character, and none of that mastery is heard here. The filmmakers themselves earn this score's low rating, Sarne and Chuba out of their (Justice) league.  *   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 49:41