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| Beltrami |
Underworld: Evolution: (Marco Beltrami) In the tale
of the battle between vampires and werewolves, one thing is certain:
it's long enough for a sequel or two. Fans of
Underworld were the
direct targets of the sequel, extending the story to include new
villains and new battles while maintaining the same bleak atmosphere of
the first film. For the mass majority of mainstream audiences, most of
whom will only catch a glimpse of this film on midnight cable runs
someday, the only notable aspect of the film is lead vampire Kate
Beckinsale and her evil leather costume. Fans of such "cuteness gone
bad" will be pleased to know that there's more nudity and sex in this
film than the first, though be aware that there are so many special
effects in
Underworld: Evolution that you can't assume that
anything in the picture is actually real. The plotline in
Underworld:
Evolution isn't as intriguing as the one in the first film, reducing
the sequel to a series of chases intermingled with lengthy
conversational explanations of background information that only devoted
fans will bother paying attention to. For a number of reasons, mostly
related to the concept of redundancy, the film was torn apart by
critics, and for most people, the story ends there. But for film score
collectors, the insertion of horror score veteran Marco Beltrami into
the crew showed a glimpse of hope. The original film's score was a
hardcore, no-nonsense industrial affair by Paul Haslinger, harshly
dissonant and equaling the film's visuals in bleak tone. Ironically,
there was something about the ballsy metallic sound of Haslinger's score
that worked well with the urban environment of the film, and some of
that overbearing personality has been lost in the sequel. Beltrami's
approach to
Underworld: Evolution is far more conventional in an
orchestral sense, following the lines of his plethora of previous
efforts requiring a similarly dark atmosphere of brooding and chasing.
There are stylistic traits from Hans Zimmer's recent rhythmic constructs
that you'll recognize in several places. He did not overtly incorporate
the themes or sound of Haslinger, though more will be said on matter
later.
The original themes in
Underworld: Evolution are
sparse and often underdeveloped. It's is a usual trait of Beltrami's
more anonymous thriller or fantasy scores, and this one relies as much
on rhythm and texture as any other. The themes that are hinted at are
not transparent enough to be satisfying, even on album (with the
exception of the fine, Brian Tyler-like finale in "The Future"), causing
the highlights of the score to be some rip-roaring rhythmic cues later
in the film. After a slow start, Beltrami provides a less dramatic
industrial sound for
Underworld: Evolution, with harmonic rhythmic
chase cues featuring the normal array of synthetic thumping and other
electronic and traditional percussion. There is a deep resonance of the
bass region in the score, sometimes serving to drown out whatever
intelligence is trying to play higher up. There are no truly awful
sequences in the score, but it does fall victim to the length of its
album when heard apart from the film. Three things are working against
Beltrami in
Underworld: Evolution, and it's possible that he had
nothing to do with any of them. All three problems plague the album, and
one of them also affecting the film is nearly fatal. First, the album is
45 minutes too long and is presented in film order. Usually, neither of
these things is a negative, but in the case of the score for
Underworld: Evolution, the excess material exposes the least
interesting parts of the score that add nothing but tedium to the
listening experience, and the good cues are too spread apart to easily
appreciate without burning your own compilation of highlights. Finally,
the music everyone best remembers from
Underworld: Evolution is
actually based on Haslinger's material from the first film. The softer
theme developed by Haslinger in the cue "Eternity and a Day" from
Underworld is used during the love scene and the revelation scene
in the sequel, and this variation is not available on either score
album. The original inspiration for the theme on the first score album
is your best bet if you want the highlight cue from
Underworld:
Evolution. It's not known if Beltrami was involved with this
extended performance (or simply a new mix) of Haslinger's material, but
its omission from this album is strange given that the same studio and
label own both scores. Casual moviegoers should approach with this
troubled album with caution, and even devoted Beltrami collectors will
be doing some fast-forwarding.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Marco Beltrami reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.75
(in 28 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.8
(in 19,011 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
