Tron: Legacy: (Daft Punk) The concept of
Tron has always represented all the things that get the juices
flowing in teenage boys. It's a fetish for any smart young geek in need
of escape or recognition, combining into one glorious package video
games, imaginative worlds, sexy ass-kicking chicks, competitive sports,
electronic music, and those sleek neon lights that such guys seem to
like to install in the undercarriage of their cars so they look really
cool to underclassmen on rainy nights. The original 1982 film was not a
classic because of its screenplay or its acting, but because it so
creatively represented all of the above necessities for a generation of
teenage boys. It took much longer than expected for a sequel to be
finalized, yet Disney's 2010 reemergence of the novel universe in
Tron: Legacy appeals and repulses for the same exact reasons as
its predecessor. Intellectuals will complain about the nebulous plot,
conservatives will lament the technological debauchery, and stupid
people will fail to explore what few interesting metaphors about
relationships that do toil in the concept's alternate reality. Dazzling
the sequel will be for teenage boys, however, for the money withheld
from the editing of the screenplay for
Tron: Legacy was clearly
redirected (reportedly with some rumored help from Pixar) in the
direction of the special effects. Those stunning visuals combine with
reprised roles by Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner to modernize the
idea of becoming trapped inside an arcade game that has, for the past
twenty years, been evolving into its own universe with two versions of
Bridges inside. His son's entry into the game to rescue him gives that
aforementioned next generation of teenage boys yet another hero to
imagine as themselves. Even before the year of post-production work done
on the special effects, the director and producer of
Tron: Legacy
had long known the style of sound they wished to hear in accordance with
those visuals. They were fans of the French techno and electronic duo
Daft Punk and asked them (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de
Homem-Christo in real life) to not only write music early in the
production process, but in turn appear in the film as DJ's. The pair's
iconic performance personas, complete with robot costumes and an
abundance of flashy lights, were a perfect match for
Tron:
Legacy.
By their own accounts, Bangalter and De Homem-Christo were
huge fans of the concept and Wendy Carlos' music for the 1982 film, but
their biggest challenge involved finding the same balance of electronic
and organic sound that had made Carlos' score so memorable and
effective. Bangalter had minor previous scoring experience, but the duo
had never tackled an assignment together, nor had they ever before
handled an orchestral ensemble. The key to success for them was to
extend as much of their club-worthy techno style as possible without
relegating their work for
Tron: Legacy to classification as
simple fetish music. After all, what appeals as trance and techno dance
material in Europe would likely not alone carry a blockbuster motion
picture even as well suited to them as this one. Thus, they sought a
significant amount of help to acquire the services of a large London
orchestral ensemble and several people familiar with those players. The
most likely recipients of thanks are Hans Zimmer, John Powell, and Harry
Gregson-Williams, whose often shared crews contributed to
Tron:
Legacy. The meat of the task was handled by Joseph Trapanese, though
it is more interesting to note that Bruce Broughton, a longtime veteran
with these London symphonic recordings, is credited with some
consultation work on the orchestrations. Ultimately, however, with
Disney involved, it's no surprise that the score was ultimately
assembled at Zimmer's Remote Control back in America, leading to
comparisons (both deserved and not) between this score and the mass of
anonymous material coming out of that production house nowadays. Despite
some familiarity in certain facets of the recording of
Tron:
Legacy, however, the result of Daft Punk's efforts is far more
creative than what you'd usually hear from a Zimmer clone using the
Remote Control library alone. Bangalter and De Homem-Christo do
reference that library, but they do so as only a background element in a
score that proves that fresh perspectives are always a good thing in
Hollywood. The duo credits the unlikely combination of Max Steiner,
Maurice Jarre, Bernard Herrmann, John Carpenter, and Vangelis when
citing their influences for this endeavor. Where Steiner, Jarre, and
Herrmann can be heard in the score is anyone's guess; this music has as
much to do with Golden and Silver Age sensibilities as penguins have
with tanning salons.
You can clearly hear that the composers for
Tron:
Legacy do channel their affinity for the music of Carpenter and
Vangelis, however, and film music collectors will also hear some
influence from the works of Brad Fiedel and Basil Poledouris as well.
Lost in the equation is a specific reliance upon (or even straight
acknowledgement of) the sound of Wendy Carlos for the original; although
there have been claims that her music had some kind of impact on Daft
Punk, the only carryover is the basic blend of ingredients. Those
expecting to hear specific elements from Carlos' cult favorite score
will be disappointed, although one cue does fleetingly reference some of
her thematic material in a manner that it is barely recognizable.
Likewise, those who go to Daft Punk performances will also find less
than ten minutes of straight techno material suitable for their
sensibilities. Ironically, the score for
Tron: Legacy is more
likely to appeal to orchestral film score collectors than Daft Punk
fanatics. The handling of the ensemble isn't spectacular, with the
orchestrations rather simplistic, the progressions predictable, and
techniques like counterpoint and dissonance applied without complexity.
Fortunately, the orchestration is competent, so the driving harmonic
rhythms and the major thematic performances are easy on the ears and
will satisfy the masses in theatres. Continuity in the score is
maintained by both the balance between electronic and symphonic
instrumentation and the score's main theme and rhythmic motifs. The one
major theme is quite memorable in its simplicity, barely enhanced by
electronics as it is introduced with timpani rolling and cymbal-crashing
glory in "Overture." It is transferred to keyboards in Vangelis mode in
"The Grid" for a similarly powerful performance, though the idea goes
largely unused in much of the middle section of the score. The entire
package would undoubtedly have been stronger had it featured more subtle
explorations of the idea, as in "Father and Son." But for those who want
their bombastic themes to serve as only bookends,
Tron: Legacy
does revive its main idea with significant repetition in "Flynn Lives"
and the "Finale" and "End Titles" cues. The only other significant
thematic creation can be heard in "Adagio for Tron," a romantic theme
that emulates Carlos' score in very slow tempi. The combination of
strings and organ in the first two minutes seem like something of a nod
to Carlos, though the idea is beefed up to Zimmer anthem posture in the
latter half of that cue, even utilizing a yearning cello solo in the
same fashion that the renown composer has preferred through the
years.
Aside from their two easily discernable themes for
Tron: Legacy, Bangalter and De Homem-Christo maintain continuity
with a series of rhythmic devices for the strings as well. Heard first
under Jeff Bridges' well-performed narration in "The Grid," the most
frequent incarnation of this ostinato takes John Powell mannerisms and
gives it an extra dose of Zimmer testosterone in "Recognizer,"
Tron:
Legacy's ode to the ballsy brute force of
Inception. The
ostinatos merge with the electronics by "The Game Has Changed,"
sometimes to grating effect. They slow down to get better footing in
"Disc Wars," by which point they begin to resemble Steve Jablonsky's
work for the
Transformers franchise (especially in this score's
tendency to build up to a crescendo over several minutes). A singular,
more impressive set of string rhythms exists in "Outlands" and
"Outlands, Part II," cues that very clearly reflect Poledouris' quirky
but likeable
Cherry 2000 in its layers of enthusiastic activity.
For those seeking the score's best developed orchestral constructs
(along with a similarly secondary touch of keyboarded enhancements), the
two "Outlands" cues are impressive highlights. There are a handful of
cues that feature the London players almost exclusively, the lovely
"Adagio for Tron," a sadly underused idea in the score as a whole,
followed by the anonymous but pleasant "Nocturne." Also in this category
is the more standard orchestral pair of "Overture" and "Finale," which
only overlay a slight electronic accent to bolster the bass during their
major, closing thematic performances. One of the detractions of
Tron:
Legacy is that despite all the attempts by its composers to
integrate the orchestra with the electronics, few cues actually manage
to do it very thoroughly. Low key cues like "Armory" and "Arrival" make
little impact compared to the wholesale battles in the mix that erupt in
"The Game Has Changed" and "Disc Wars." While the electronic aspects of
some of these cues, as in the former, can be quite irritating and
actually induce the distortion effects of high gain levels (the same
mixing technique nearly ruins "C.L.U."), moments like the latter add the
synthetic element very tastefully to otherwise Zimmer-like rhythms of
rolling power. Among the best maturations of combined string ostinato
and keyboarding comes across the "ENCOM, Part I" and "ENCOM, Part II"
tracks. The "End Titles" cue is the best (and overdue) merging of both
halves, despite cheesy dance percussion from the 1990's in its first
half. The cue's slow transformation from a typical Daft Punk club piece
into a mighty orchestral finale is entertaining.
The score's purely electronic side is a bit difficult to
tolerate at times (from the perspective of a film score collector, of
course), though when Daft Punk channels Vangelis or Poledouris, the
results are far more palatable than when they go for Carpenter's more
aggressive demeanor or their own techno sounds. Prickly keyboarding in
"The Son of Flynn" tries to be too contemporary for its own good, though
the trio of watery, smoothly keyboarded, new-age styled "Solar Sailer,"
"Father and Son," and "Sea of Simulation" once again remind of
Poledouris' trademark 1990's style, the "Solar Sailer" cue specifically
recalling
Wind (most appropriately) and "Sea of Simulation"
extending out of the "Outlands" Poledouris-like material. The least
tolerable cues in
Tron: Legacy may be those that resurrect Brad
Fiedel's tones from his
The Terminator scores; from "Arena" to
"Reflections," the intentionally aged synthetic tones don't always yield
a pleasurable listening experience. The trio of "End of Line,"
"Derezzed," and "Castor" include trance-like dance loops so aggressive
that they should probably be separated onto their own section of an
album. Likewise, "Round One," "Rinzler," and "Fall" are daunting to sit
through, the latter two exhibiting the distortion effect either
intentionally or due to bad mixing of the albums' gain levels. Some of
this striking tone is excusable simply because it is applied as source
music in the film; not only is Daft Punk shown performing in the movie,
but the "Derezzed" cue was heavily push as a teaser for fans of the duo
as both the music in one of the film's trailers and an advanced release
as a single download track before the rest of the albums were available.
All things considered together,
Tron: Legacy has to be considered
a triumph for Daft Punk because of one undeniable factor: at a time when
composers use synthesizers to make everything sound like the 1990's
Media Ventures glory days, this score doesn't try to conform; instead,
the electronics intentionally sound like transfers from the 1980's and
1990's. The style of the electronic half of the score still originates
from the old arcade game days, and Daft Punk has to be credited with
taking those familiar, applicable tones and infusing them into an
otherwise streamlined orchestral backdrop. The drum pads may be tired,
sure, but it's not everyday you actually get to hear old 80's sound
effects from those games developed into rhythms as in "End of Line." And
it doesn't get any more raw than taking the sound of an electrical
current (and associated zapping effects) and harmonizing it in various
pitches to denote a virtual reality.
Overall,
Tron: Legacy is a success of a score.
It proves that the same pieces to the giant musical puzzle can still be
rearranged into something both fresh and generally palatable. It will
require rearrangement by nearly any listener, but there's something for
everyone here. Only a lack of consistency in the tone of the
electronic/symphonic blend is a major detraction; the narrative flow is
intact, but that immense orchestral title theme could have used far more
creative manipulation in the realm of the synthetic. Additionally,
Tron: Legacy is the kind of work that frequently betrays its
influences. You sometimes hear this kind of thing when you have novice
composers thrust upon a big stage, and film score collectors will in
particular need to turn off their brains to fully appreciate this music.
For instance, to hear "Rinzler" overlap the slapping percussion from
Powell's scores for
Green Zone and the Bourne films with
Vangelis' rambling rhythms from the 1980's can be distracting. And yet,
this cue, as with nearly all of them, suffices because it's a
combination that hasn't been attempted before. Less original,
unfortunately, is what Walt Disney Records decided to do to bilk an
extra buck from Daft Punk fans. There had been many disgraceful releases
of soundtracks over the previous ten years, but the situation with
Tron: Legacy not only established a new low in terms of the
division of the score onto differing products, but it also made no sense
for the market in 2010. In order for a fan of this score to acquire all
of the commercially available music for
Tron: Legacy (amounting
to almost 80 minutes) at the time, he or she was forced to purchase four
separate products. Forget the fact that 79 minutes of this score would
have fit nicely onto one CD. Instead, 59 minutes was presented on the
score's primary release to the American market (including Bridges'
introductory narration, a great inclusion). A simultaneous "Limited
Edition" album licensed for sale outside of the United States (and
reportedly focused on Europe) added a second CD with twelve more minutes
in five cues and a variety of enhanced-CD content. The iTunes release
included two additional unique tracks at six minutes that were initially
available only when you purchased the full album, and the Amazon.com MP3
download had an exclusive 3-minute track that was initially available to
download alone. The relatively obscure Nokia Ovi store offered an MP3 of
yet another exclusive 3-minute track. Thus, if you wanted to hear all of
this material, you'd have to buy at least the international set, the
iTunes tracks, and the single Amazon.com and Nokia Ovi tracks. If you
wanted it all in lossless format, you were out of luck.
Usually, the bonus tracks exclusive to a download
option of an album aren't noteworthy, but that was not the case with
Tron: Legacy. The five cues on the "limited" international set
aren't spectacular, but they also contain something for everyone. The
"ENCOM, Part I" and "ENCOM, Part II" cues include further exploration of
the aggressive string ostinatos, with slight brass and distant bass
keyboarding contributing in the first cue. The second part overlays
interesting synthetic textures to good effect. Both "Round One" and
"Castor" contain dispensable, harder synthetic rhythms in pulsation
mode, culminating in a continuation of the style in "Derezzed." Finally,
"Reflections" returns to the ostinato, but with overbearing Fiedel-like
keyboarded tones. While these cues aren't really essential, the tragedy
comes with the exclusive download tracks, all of which belonging on any
decent presentation of music from
Tron: Legacy. The two iTunes
cues are great, starting with a tender keyboarded rendering of the title
theme over soft orchestral backing in "Father and Son." Likewise,
"Outlands, Part II" is a very satisfying extension of the other
"Outlands" cue's rhythm, but with stronger bass enhancements and breathy
vocal effects. The bonus track available from Amazon.com is "Sea of
Simulation," a similar cue to "Solar Sailer" that extends the "Outlands"
rhythmic motif with satisfying harmony and continued watery keyboarding.
The sole track from Nokia Ovi, "Sunrise Prelude," is a smooth and
attractive, largely tonal crescendo of optimism. To force consumers (and
especially audiophiles) to buy these four MP3 tracks was a tremendous
disservice to listeners and, despite Disney's likely reason for taking
this route, such annoyances don't necessary translate to riches for the
label. Ten to fifteen years earlier, ploys like this worked, mostly
because Internet sharing was in its infancy. But in 2010, especially
with the kind of techno-savvy listeners attracted to both Daft Punk and
modern film music, Disney was setting itself up for an illegal
file-sharing bonanza. Dividing out the content was a decision so
motivated by greed that it was destined to compel fans to bootleg the
soundtrack more than they naturally would. Finally, in 2020, Disney
quietly released what it termed a "Complete Edition" with all of these
cues combined into one lossless digital offering. While a decent
resolution to an overdue problem, the presentation did not provide the
tracks in chronological order, leaving that task to listeners. None of
these questionable actions by Disney should be held against Daft Punk's
music, however. The score itself is a surprising success that transcends
any expectations that it would be a fetish score suitable for groping in
clubs rather than groping in darkened theatres.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Presented on the Albums: **
- Overall: ***
The inserts of the regular and limited CD releases contain a list of performers
and notes from the director and producer of the film. The regular product is contained within
a glossy cardboard sleeve with text that is difficult to read on the exterior. The actual
CD of the regular edition is black on the playing surface, an intriguing novelty. That
American product is an Enhanced CD that promises non-music bonus content, but it is in
fact a link to a Disney-registered URL that, at the time of this review, was parked at
the domain registrar and featured nothing related to this film or score. The limited
set includes that content on the actual second CD. All of the 2010 albums, on CD and digital,
utilize the same cover art. The 2020 digital product includes no official packaging.
