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Review of The Wolverine (Marco Beltrami)

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FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you are capable of appreciating Marco Beltrami's most challengingly brutal orchestral tones, his dissonant haze complicated in this work by cultural stereotypes and a nearly unyieldingly depressing attitude.

Avoid it... if you expect any significant continuation of the music provided by Harry Gregson-Williams for X-Men Origins: Wolverine or even the general accessibility of that prior entry.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Wolverine: (Marco Beltrami/Various) Apparently Marvel Entertainment made the determination somewhere along the life of its X-Men films of the 2000's that the character of Wolverine (or Logan in his "normal" existence) is more bankable than the others from that concept, though having lead actor Hugh Jackman decide to produce his own continued existence on screen doesn't hurt. The studio must not care about the critical failure of 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, making The Wolverine the sixth installment in the movie franchise based upon the Marvel Comics series and serving as a sequel to both the 2009 entry and 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. The production was delayed by natural disasters and Jackman's singing stint as Jean Valjean, though that gave the actor time to eat an insane diet in preparation for a return to a role that necessitates shirtless, unnaturally vascular intimidation. The plot of 2013's The Wolverine focuses on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series about the character, taking him to Japan and embroiling him in a conflict involving the Yakuza and, of course, ninjas and samurai. Aside from allowing Logan and his mightily inconvenient protrusions from his fists to thrash these armies of foes, the story also forces the character to overcome his own mortality issues and deal with his relationship with Jean Grey, which in current lingo could be classified as an "epic fail." The music for the X-Men films has been somewhat laughable in its total lack of cohesion or direction, each of the six films through this one tackled by a different Hollywood composer. There has been absolutely zero development towards overarching thematic integrity and the style of each of the entries has differed to varying degrees, some significantly. Thus, a character such as Logan/Wolverine receives no lasting musical identity in this franchise, and this problem continues into The Wolverine. Harry Gregson-Williams was tasked with establishing such an identity in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and managed to do so at a minimal level in a score that rehashed tired techniques from the composer's past. In 2013, Marco Beltrami, who had achieved success with director James Mangold on 3:10 to Yuma, largely ignores Gregson-Williams' styles and motifs, with the exception of the cue "Where To?," which vaguely reprises the cool thematic tones sprinkled throughout "Logan Through Time" and "...I'll Find My Own Way" in the 2009 score. Otherwise, Beltrami and his team are content unleashing a brutal atmosphere of Asian-tinged despair that is far more challenging to the ears than Gregson-Williams' music.

Compared to Beltrami's prior to action efforts of 2013, A Good Day to Die Hard and World War Z, The Wolverine will test your tolerance for orchestral abrasiveness. Each of these three scores has progressively moved away from tonal action accessibility towards an environment in The Wolverine that is downright unpleasant in its demeanor. Undoubtedly, the turmoil in the titular character merits a fair dose of this dissonant, in-your-face attitude, but it somewhat degrades any humanity remaining in him. This is, simply put, a very harshly rendered score, one that serves Logan/Wolverine with only one dimension while doing the same for the Japanese elements, which are represented by an equally stereotypical musical presence. The orchestra is joined by Taiko drums, ethnic woodwinds, and koto to this end, their presence battled literally by the awkward tones of a harmonica, of all things, in the soundscape. The fight sequences are handled with percussion rhythms backed by a continued orchestral haze of dissonance and these passages are nearly unlistenable. There are carryover glimpses of instrumental intelligence from World War Z, but not many, "Sword of Vengeance" an exception. The softer portions of the score are sadly non-descript, especially early on, when solo strings have difficulty generating any warmth for the character's troubles. In fact, there is practically no warmth or humanity to be found anywhere in this score, very few respites allowed by Beltrami on the otherwise bleak canvas. Dramatic flair is rare in The Wolverine, the highlight of the score's few awe-inspiring moments coming in the tonality of brief portions in "The Hidden Passages." This cue builds of off three-note phrases of dramatic origin in "Abduction," this motif existing as the score's only thematic development until the final cues. The easing of tensions in "Goodbye Mariko" is too little, too late to save this score from being a mind numbing experience on the whole, though don't discount the seeming nod to Gregson-Williams in "Where To?" This score will be challenging for listeners to appreciate outside of context, roughly five minutes of material expressing engaging action tones or melodic development, not enough to compensate for what is heard elsewhere on the laborious, nearly hour-long album. As if to concede its gains, the album ends with a meandering atmospheric cue, "Whole Step Haiku," that completely deflates whatever satisfaction the listener was rewarded with in "Where To?" It's difficult to recommend the X-Men Origins: Wolverine score over this one, because it wasn't a stellar work itself, but Beltrami fails to really adopt any kind of superior narrative approach, forcing ambient brutality upon us rather than continued growth for the character. Be prepared for a depressingly futile battle of cultural stereotypes if you choose to explore Beltrami's take.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 58:14

• 1. A Walk in the Woods (1:02) • 2. Threnody for Nagasaki (1:15) • 3. Logan Can't Bear It/Euthanasia (1:36) • 4. Logan's Run (3:56) • 5. The Offer (3:15) • 6. Get Me to the Temple on Time/Arriving at the Temple (2:09) • 7. Who Invited the Yakuza?/Funeral Fight (4:20) • 8. Hold My Sword/Hold My Sword (4:05) • 9. Logan in the Latraine/Bullet Train (1:31) • 10. Matzah-Hisu/The Snare (1:32) • 11. Abduction (2:11) • 12. Logan's Fun/Trusting (1:53) • 13. Ninja Knocking/Ninja Quiet (3:39) • 14. Kantana Surgery (3:49) • 15. The Wolverine (2:20) • 16. The Hidden Fortress (5:00) • 17. Silver Samurai (3:27) • 18. Sword of Vengence (4:31) • 19. Dreams (1:20) • 20. Abayo Mariko/Goodbye Mariko (0:59) • 21. Where To? (2:25) • 22. Whole Step Haiku (2:08)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or 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 The Wolverine are Copyright © 2013, Sony Music Masterworks and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 7/19/13 (and not updated significantly since).