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| Haslinger |
The Three Musketeers: (Paul Haslinger) Financed
with a substantial amount of support from various groups within Germany,
Paul W. S. Anderson's 2011 resurrection of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale
of 17th Century musketeers and their exploits in French and British
political intrigue steers the concept into "steampunk" territory by
including a secret invention of Leonardo Da Vinci as the centerpiece of
its otherwise typical, character-centric plot. Betrayals and duels are
once again the concentration of the story in
The Three
Musketeers, though fans of historical science fiction and alternate
realities will appreciate the battle between Da Vinci's flying machines
that attempt to alone justify the heavy advertising of the movie's 3D
element. Despite the appeal of Orlando Bloom and Milla Jovovich, the
latter a regular Anderson collaborator, in major roles, the movie didn't
generate the positive buzz in younger crowds that the multitude of
studios probably hoped for, its script often a target for ridicule. In
the director's efforts to revise the concept for another generation,
perhaps he forgot about similar aspirations made by the production of
The Man in the Iron Mask in 1998, and nowhere is the overlap in
focus more evident than in the music for 2011's
The Three
Musketeers. Anderson has rotated regularly through composing
partners for his prior films, often with awful results (
Mortal
Kombat,
Resident Evil) or mundane orchestral efforts
(
Soldier,
Alien vs. Predator). He has certainly
established that he is not afraid to hire unconventional artists for
these assignments, sometimes solo and at times in conjunction with an
established composer, and in predictably unpredictable fashion for
The Three Musketeers, he sought the services of Paul Haslinger.
Although a veteran of film scores (notably in the
Underworld
franchise recently) and classically trained, Haslinger is best known as
a sound designer specializing in industrial metal tones, a style that
lends itself well to the darker corners of the fantasy genre. For
The
Three Musketeers, he branches out into a more classically inclined
orchestral score, writing an uncharacteristically dynamic composition
and recording it with a moderate ensemble in Germany. Accented with a
few token cameos by solo strings, accordion, guitars, and harpsichord,
these orchestral recordings were then layered with more typical
Haslinger design techniques, lending a contemporary electronic feel to
the finished mix.
Not surprisingly,
The Three Musketeers will
likely be among the most easily accessible scores of Haslinger's career
for mainstream listeners and even some film music collectors.
Unfortunately, it's also far more shamelessly derivative of other
composers' work than the normal Haslinger score, making it a mixed bag
at best. If Nick Glennie-Smith introduced Dumas' characters to the
masculine Media Ventures sound in
The Man in the Iron Mask, then
Haslinger triples down on that tactic, producing what almost amusingly
plays like a compilation of Media Ventures/Remote Control techniques
over the prior dozen years. It has often been said that Trevor Rabin is
the only composer of that late 1990's generation of Hans Zimmer
spin-offs to still be writing and recording in the same mould in the
2011's, but Haslinger has, despite joining the party late, managed to
accomplish exactly the same thing. In fact, one might be able to say
that
The Three Musketeers is an imitation of what Rabin would
have written for the movie. You could take of all the intellectual
criticisms leveled at the now-Remote Control sound and point them
squarely at Haslinger for this one, including but not limited to
simplistic power anthems, a lack of counterpoint, pounding percussion on
each beat, sections of the orchestra playing in unison, constant
metallic tapping effects, an overpowering bass mix, occasional wailing
electric guitars, and tasteless electronic enhancements of a mix that
already dilutes the organic tone of the real players. This repackaging
is even more disappointing than it might have been given the
orchestrating assistance Haslinger had on this project; Tim Davies and
Matt Dunkley, the latter a veteran Craig Armstrong collaborator, had
worked together on assignments like A.R. Rahman's
Couples Retreat
that featured infinitely more character than what you hear in
The
Three Musketeers. In the composition itself, Haslinger's emulation
of possible temp track placements is distracting, too. The massive whole
note barrage opening the score in "Only Four Men" is a derivative of
Zimmer's
Inception. In "Special Delivery For the King," you hear
the major melodic ideas that recur throughout the score, starting with
Jack Sparrow's theme from the
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise
and shifting into a generic love theme at the end. An extension of the
Sparrow material is explored in "Buckingham's Departure" before pounding
repetition of synthetic-sounding Media Ventures-style figures blows out
your ears at the end. For those who prefer Zimmer's early-90's feel-good
melodies instead, enjoy the simple anthem at the end of "All For
One."
The feeling of familiarity in
The Three
Musketeers continues in "Do You Know Who I Am?," an accordion cameo
yielding to solo strings again of the Jack Sparrow variety. A hint of
harpsichord in "As Far Away as Possible" is swallowed by the score's
Rabin anthem in its full, asteroid-busting glory, though if you'd prefer
Rabin's lighter contemporary melodies, then enjoy the soft guitar
coolness of "The King and Queen." Haslinger enthusiasts will better
appreciate the harsher edge to the mix, as well as a few electric guitar
accents, in "Announcing Lady De Winter." The cute Robert
Rodriguez-styled tango in "Concealed Weapons Tango" returns in "The
Venice Heist," where it is picked up by harpsichord before Haslinger's
obnoxious industrial design elements finally come to the forefront. Some
of this irritating tone leaks through in "Get Me One of Those!," with
synthetic pulsating under a piano rhythm before a massive anthem is
backed by grating percussive loops (beware of distortion from gain
levels in this track). Light, seemingly synthetic choral effects
(reflecting Mark Snow's library) become a factor at this point, "She
Died the Way She Lived" quite pretty before erupting into a Zimmer-like
string adagio. The start of "Rochefort Ante Portas" hilariously combines
the flapping wing ambience of
Batman Begins with the deep choral
and snare tone of
Crimson Tide. Generic and aimless action
material ensues from there, the Media Ventures pinball machine effect in
full force and allowing for only occasional thematic references. By "If
You Insist!," Haslinger pours on his brash industrial tones from
electric guitars without restraint. Haslinger returns to the broad bass
whole notes from
Inception in "You Should Have Apologized to My
Horse!," adding more varied choral tones this time. In "Boys Will Be
Boys," Jack Sparrow joins the musketeers once again in obvious fashion.
The heartfelt oboe solos in "The World Calls to the Young" are an odd
change of pace and tone, and the full ensemble finally sounds organic
later in this cue. Rounding out the score in "To France, Of Course" is
an inelegant reprise of "Buckingham's Departure" and the album tacks on
a pleasant light rock (and vaguely country) song, "When We Were Young,"
by British band Take That. Overall, film score purists will be driven
nuts by this score. The familiarity with most of this material,
sometimes extremely obvious in the influence, is a major distraction
from a score that sounds like a relic from a decade prior. Only with
"The World Calls to the Young" will experienced listeners find much
individual merit (or convincing character, for that matter). The album
bleeds its tracks together in suite format and high gain levels cause
occasional distortion, completing the emulation of Media Ventures' glory
days with remarkable totality.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert includes a note from the director about the film and score.
