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Review of Wing Commander (Kevin Kiner/David Arnold)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek a direct extension of the themes, tone, and
style of David Arnold's Independence Day.
Avoid it... if you expect to hear any hint of originality in this otherwise exhilarating space adventure score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Wing Commander: (Kevin Kiner/David Arnold) Have you
ever gone to a movie in the theatres with the intent of viewing a great
trailer and then leaving before the actual feature started? That's what
happened for many people when Wing Commander debuted in March of
1999. Few could make an argument that Wing Commander even
scratches close to the realm of decent entertainment, but when Twentieth
Century Fox attached the highly anticipated trailer to Star Wars: The
Phantom Menace to its start, science fiction fans went wild.
Unfortunately, there was no purpose for any of them to stay and be
forced to witness to trash that is Wing Commander. With a script
so incredibly dumb that it borders on parody, the film was helmed by the
inexperienced Chris Roberts, who had directed some parts of the popular
video game of the same name. The premise of the story is predictable to
the point of utter boredom, lifting most elements from Battlestar
Gallactica. There are humans, some with civil rights problems, who
fight disgusting alien creates that want to destroy the entire universe
(which seems to defeat the purpose of existence, but hey... this is a
dumb film), and in the end, three young hot shot fighter pilots have all
the responsibility of saving the day. The only plot twist that could
have saved Wing Commander would be the capture, torture, rape,
and execution of all those heroes, but, alas, that never happens. In
terms of its music, Wing Commander is one of those rare occasions
in which a director asks for a certain type of music, doesn't get
anything like what he wanted, but raves about it because he doesn't seem
to know the difference. Roberts approached the team of David Arnold and
Kevin Kiner with the request of classic orchestral music from the World
War II genre, with which Wing Commander (in his mind) shared some
common characteristics. Kiner and Arnold had worked together before, and
television scoring veteran Kiner is accustomed to working with Arnold's
original themes.
The two composers collaborated on the television series "The Visitor" and "Stargate SG-1," both of which offering underscores by Kiner with heavy influences from Arnold's title themes for those concepts. Regardless of what Roberts wanted, Arnold and Kiner completely ignored the WWII genre and instead sought influence from the classic B-rate science fiction bonanzas of the early 1980's. The score they delivered has all the campy fun of Battle Beyond the Stars and The Last Starfighter, with a touch of Arnold's flair for the patriotic from the mid-1990's. In fact, the largely orchestral music for Wing Commander is really not much more than an extension of Arnold's Independence Day, with almost identical characteristics in each of its various parts. At the time that Arnold wrote the nearly 4-minute theme for Wing Commander, it seemed like a throwaway project... a side note of little consequence. It turned out to be, however, Arnold's swan song in that straight action and science fiction sound, with the composer heading into more experimental and minimalistic efforts for most of his projects over the following years. Luckily, his theme for Wing Commander is a visit to an old friend, for everything attractive about Independence Day and, to a lesser extent, Stargate, is on bombastic display in the "Overture" here. The theme is brought to life by the ballsy kind of trombone performances that would have made Jerry Goldsmith proud, using the force of them and the French horns with undeniable unison and clarity. The progression of the theme breaks no ground, being highly reminiscent of early 80's styles. A gorgeous string interlude recalls the attractive progressions of Stargate while also using several techniques that James Horner established in the genre at the start of his career. In fact, there seems to be significant influence from Horner's earliest works throughout the entire score for Wing Commander, which alone proves that WWII was not the inspiration here. The "Overture" by itself is likely enough to merit the entire album for Arnold fans, because that ripping snare and crystal-clear brass is hard to turn away from. Arnold's contribution ends there, but not that you'd really notice. Kiner has proven himself extremely adept at adapting Arnold's styles into the sound of his work. This could be better attributed to the involvement of Arnold's usual orchestrator and conductor, Nicholas Dodd, as is often the suspicion on any project for which Dodd is employed. While Kiner has proven his solo talents on various other projects for television, his own voice is absent from Wing Commander. All you really hear is a rearranged series of temp track adaptations from Arnold's famous works, and the connections are so obvious in places ("Into the Quasar" is particularly obnoxious in this respect) that the score doesn't really ask to given much merit. Kiner seems to have more success working with Arnold's secondary theme (the interlude from the "Overture") and translates it into tender string and woodwind performances in "Pod Scene," "Pilgrims," "Angel's Story," and "The Gift" that not only pull a bit from Horner, but John Barry's romantic sensibilities as well. The only cues for which Kiner diverts from the expected dose of straight Arnold material is the duo of "Briefing/Tricked" and "Hot Dogs," both of which feature irritating, electronic effects. The latter suffers from electric guitar coolness that doesn't mesh with the rest of the score. The sound quality of the recording is decent enough, but for some reason the quality of the "Overture" alone seems to be more robust than the remainder of adapted work. Kiner integrates a synthetic, deep male choir at times to further extend the Arnold sound, though it doesn't really make an impact due to its diminished mixing gains. Ultimately, with all the bells, whistles, and synth chorales, this score will keep you on your toes. It is by no means original, but it ranks high on the fun meter for anyone who appreciates exhilarating space adventure music. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 38:22
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains a brief note by director Chris Roberts, but surprisingly
little photography from the film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Wing Commander are Copyright © 1999, Sonic Images Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/8/99 and last updated 6/12/08. |
