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Gregson-Williams |
Wonder Woman: (Rupert Gregson-Williams/Various) In
no small part due to the male-dominated tilt of the comic books that
inspire them, there has been sadly little feminine heroism on display in
the first few decades of the post-2000 Hollywood superhero renaissance.
The DC character of Wonder Woman had inspired filmmakers to test the
production waters since the mid-1990's, though, with a variety of famous
directors and lead actresses rumored to be attached to the concept,
including everyone from Lucy Lawless to Sandra Bullock supposedly
starring. The character's overdue introduction into the DC Extended
Universe of pictures came with 2016's
Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice, the first of many contractual appearances set for actress
Gal Gadot, who stirred up a little controversy due to her past in the
Israeli military and launched all the usual feminist grumbling about
femdom fantasies. One also has to wonder why, in this day and age, male
superhero actors often pack on 15 pounds of muscle for a lead role while
a female superhero actress instead focuses on simply tightening up those
glutes. (Let's face it, Gadot isn't appearing on the cover of "Oxygen"
or "Strong" magazines.) The production did take measures to employ a
female director, Patty Jenkins conducting herself admirably and guiding
2017's
Wonder Woman to immense critical praise, box office
triumph, and immediate plans for multiple sequels. In the plot of this
establishing story, the island of Themyscira (probably located in the
Aegean Sea, but who knows?) is shown to be the home of an Amazon race of
warrior women left in solitude by the gods of Mount Olympus to
eventually save humanity from Ares, the God of War. During World War I,
however, the film shows the Germans discovering the island and an
American pilot rescued by soon-to-be Wonder Woman Diana Prince. The two
set off to foil the war, fornicate along the way, and determine the role
of Ares in all the ruckus.
From a general perspective,
Wonder Woman would seem
to be no different from any other comic book hero when considering its
soundtrack, but this film did present a few challenges. First, its
setting in 1918 doesn't exactly lend itself conducive to the usual Hans
Zimmer-led Remote Control Productions pounding of the 2010's, nor does
that sound really resonate with a female heroine. Second, you have an
existing Zimmer theme for the character from
Batman v Superman: Dawn
of Justice that was largely unworkable as a broader identity.
Finally, you have the undeniable fact that this assignment was the
perfect opportunity for a female composer to helm a major Hollywood
action blockbuster. There was a fan-led campaign for a woman to score
this picture, and even Zimmer himself was an advocate for that idea. The
perfect candidate would have been Debbie Wiseman, whose outrageously
ballsy duo of
Arsène Lupin and
Lesbian Vampire
Killers qualified her immensely for this assignment. Of course,
given that studios are hopelessly wedded to the Remote Control mythology
spawned by Zimmer himself,
Wonder Woman's score went to not only
an average, penis-endowed RC/Zimmer clone, Rupert Gregson-Williams, but
the whole standard team of ghostwriters, conductor, and orchestrators
for this score were also born with penises. Not a wondrous choice by any
means. This was the time for Zimmer to throw his weight behind his known
liberal ideology and actually force a different outcome via his media
savvy, and he failed. Had he done so, perhaps
Wonder Woman would
have benefitted from a score more uniquely appropriate for the character
and era of the story. Rupert Gregson-Williams is not the brightest of
rising, shining stars to come from Remote Control, both
The Legend of
Tarzan and
Hacksaw Ridge annoyingly underwhelming. His output
for
Wonder Woman is predictably generic in an RC sense,
derivative to the maximum and breaking no glass ceilings
musically.
The pre-existing theme for the titular character as coined
by Zimmer for
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was extremely
popular and, arguably the highlight of that score. It's relentlessly
kick-ass combination of coolly hyperactive underlying rhythm and
frenetically zany theme on top was distinct because of its extremely
electronic demeanor and unashamed force of will. It stuck with audiences
because it was so different from the rest of that otherwise stale,
droning and pounding score. The studio was intent upon having that
musical property return and guide
Wonder Woman, but, as
Gregson-Williams and his horde soon figured, the theme is totally
unmalleable. You can't really adapt it into a dramatic realm with slower
rhythms without dissecting it or making it unrecognizable in some other
way. In that regard, the idea remains more appropriate for a villain's
identity, because it is singularly focused and lacks
three-dimensionality. But the RC team did apply the theme in the
expected form of straight reprises in several places in
Wonder
Woman, trying additionally to separate the rhythm and melody for
solo applications elsewhere. To that end, they actually succeeded as
well as anyone could have hoped. That franchise fight motif receives its
due treatment starting in the middle of "No Man's Land," the snazzy
plucked rhythm at 3:08 joined by the theme itself at 3:22. The electric
string personality carries over completely intact, and the underlying
rhythm offers a really strongly satisfying bass to the later portions of
that cue and elsewhere. This is especially the case in "Wonder Woman's
Wrath," which gives the rhythm a hefty workout. The RC team sends
audiences off with the expected burst of the theme at the end of
"Trafalgar Celebration" as well. More interesting are the subtle
references to the two parts of this identity spread throughout. Both are
hinted early in "Amazons of Themyscira," the rhythm and melody's first
four notes and slurring, rising secondary phrase heard at 0:09 and 0:23
respectively. The rhythm peeks through at the end of "History Lesson"
and the solo melody returns at 1:04 into "Angel on the Wing." That
slurred, groaning secondary phrase of the theme is a recurring
background accent.
Not surprisingly, Gregson-Williams and his cohorts had to
concoct several other themes to address the fuller range of emotions in
Wonder Woman, and here is where we encounter a barrage of
recycled muck of lowest common denominator. The ensemble is comprised of
the usual bass-heavy orchestral tones, manipulated solo strings saving
the day as expected. Choir is applied sparingly, and the ubiquitous solo
female vocal element is present but pushed further back in the mix. The
addition of a duduk seems to be the exotic tone of choice for a touch of
other-worldliness in blockbuster action scores at the moment, having
graced
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
concurrently. At least the bass region isn't quite as overbearing in
either of these two RC scores, perhaps the result of Zimmer himself
stepping aside (likely temporarily, if history goes to show) from the
leading role. Some duduk and woodwind flourishes sound like flubs,
though, as at 4:35 into "Amazons of Themyscira" and at 2:23 into
"Lightning Strikes." The retained fight theme and rhythm are about as
harsh an electronic sound as one will hear in
Wonder Woman. There
are essentially three major new themes at work here for the forces of
good, and all apply to Diana in some fashion. The problem is that they
all reference similar phrasing and thus bleed together, the primary
dramatic identity for Diana, which really is the main theme of this
picture, guiding the others. This theme for Diana in general is the
vintage Media Ventures power anthem first heard at 2:25 into "Amazons of
Themyscira" and occupying the remainder of that track. The idea is
reprised frequently throughout the score, though it is often
deconstructed to blend with a seemingly separate theme of sorts for her
relationship with the American pilot and deconstructed even further to
account for her familiar relations. The renderings of all of these
variations are so similar, utilizing extremely simple harmonic shifts
(often with minor thirds in mind) that they generally serve one common
dramatic purpose without really latching on to a distinct person. Still,
if pressed to distinguish them, you can rely on the fact that the
composers use a set number of notes per phrase for the different
applications. For instance, for Diana's herself, you hear four-note
phrases in succession. For the love interest, that is cut to phrases of
three notes. And for the familial connections, including the more
sinister manipulation of tone for Ares, those phrases are cut down to
two notes.
Since the score for
Wonder Woman so
simplistically and systematically conveys its themes in such static,
juvenile phrasing, it makes the identification of "themes" a little
easier. That doesn't infuse any intelligence into them, however. On the
upside, it does provide for the ultimate in "RC easy-listening" at
times, the equivalent for the DC universe what the new-age inspired
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen score was to that franchise.
In fact, for RC collectors who leak semen into their britches when
appreciating the glory days of MV/RC power anthems,
Wonder Woman
will provide them with ample moments of brainless goodness that
perfectly blend Steve Jablonsky's
Transformers structures, Trevor
Rabin's late-1990's anthems of self-importance, and the bloated drama
and exoticism of Brian Tyler's
Children of Dune all into one very
easily digestible combination. The resemblance to
Children of
Dune at times is laughable, the softer tones that merge cello with
duduk or solo voice in nearly identical progressions, as at the
beginning of "Pain, Loss & Love," perhaps indicative of some temp track
love. The duduk really is a nice touch despite how common it has become
in these circumstances, and it shines best when paired with a high wind,
as in the opening cue. The ultra-high choral layering, such as in the
main Diana theme on brass at 2:55 into "Pain, Loss & Love," is perhaps
the best referencing of the vintage Rabin fantasy mode. The score's
extended melodic crescendos are the Jablonsky connection, the ultra-cool
conveyance of the three-note theme variation occupying whole chunks of
"No Man's Land" and "Lightning Strikes" with a love interest theme that
borrows those progressions along with the instrumentation from
Children of Dune. The overall narrative of the score is actually
pretty decent, the Diana theme concentrated early, her Zimmer fight
identity and the mediocre material for the German villains doing battle
in the middle, the family-oriented, two-note thematic phrases shifting
into menacing territory for Ares late in "The God of War," and the trio
of "We Are All to Blame," "Hell Hath No Fury," and "Lightning Strikes"
forcing the melodramatic love theme into brassy, heroic duty. The brass
finale of "Hell Hath No Fury," maintaining electronic ambience
underneath the otherwise orchestral expression of tragedy, is really
quite compelling despite its simplistic, overwrought demeanor. The
bookending of Diana's theme in "Trafalgar Celebration" is also well
handled.
Overall, it's easy to get the impression that these
Remote Control composers were faced with a really challenging assignment
with
Wonder Woman, and they may have accomplished the best they
could given studio expectations and Zimmer's shadow still looming over
them. There are nuggets to be found throughout the score for franchise
enthusiasts, including allusions to the Wayne Enterprises identities at
1:10 into "Amazons of Themyscira," an unnecessary but neat reference.
The broadly basic, tonally satisfying expressions of Media Ventures
heritage were maybe deemed appropriate for a female hero, and there's
something sad about that, but it makes for an album that can be edited
together into a solidly entertaining, albeit brainless listening
experience. While most of the work is accessible to a fault, portions of
it do need exorcised, starting with the really poor representation of
the German villains in "Ludendorff, Enough!" and "Fausta," no real
identity established for them. Maybe the composers were offering them
generic tones because they actually aren't Ares incarnate, but if
Gregson-Williams and team are going to pilfer the best of their
heritage, why not throw more ominous
Crimson Tide choral and
electronic ambience into those scenes? Likewise, the "Action Reaction"
end credits recording is an embarrassment, loosely based upon the fight
theme's underlying rhythm but rambling on like an aimless remix without
stating any of the franchise themes clearly. You do, however, hear some
blatant, near-ripping from Brad Fiedel's iconic
The Terminator
rhythm at 3:12. Do these composers think we're too dense to laugh at
this? Did they fail to notice it themselves? Let's hope it was a "Your
clothes. Give them to me." in-joke of some kind. The middle of the end
credits sequence uses the Sia song "To Be Human," which is nowhere near
as unstoppable as her other movie-inserted hits, before reverting back
to the anthem of the first three minutes of "No Man's Land." As
expected, there is some music missing from the album, including all the
era's source insertions in the middle third of the film, but given how
generic this material presents itself to be, how many people can
legitimately complain? It's difficult not to think back to
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and pledge to reference
Wonder Woman whenever you need a more inspirational or soothing
Remote Control fix, because at least the recording offers its endlessly
churning cellos and brass melodies without a care in the world. One must
wonder what the orchestral musicians think of this drivel when they're
in the studio. Would they rather be performing Elliot Goldenthal
constructs? As a listener, sit back and just imagine what Debbie Wiseman
could have done with this concept. Cue the intelligence!
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- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on Album: ****
- Overall: ***
The insert includes extensive credits and a note about the score from the director.