Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,146
Written 5/21/21
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Buy it... if you really, really, really want to put yourself in the
mood to kill somebody.
Avoid it... if your sunny disposition cannot reconcile how a score
of churning low string menace, brainless percussion, and gloomy,
synthetic atmospherics could make anyone feel fulfilled.
Wrath of Man: (Chris Benstead) If anyone wants to
know why gun violence in the United States is out of control, then start
pondering movies like Guy Ritchie's 2021 kill-fest Wrath of Man.
In this remake of a 2004 French action flick, actor Jason Statham is a
crime boss who goes undercover as an armored vehicle driver to draw out
the truth about the execution of his son by another group of criminals.
His past and purpose is slowly revealed as he proves his prowess at
executing other human beings, and by placing himself as the next target
of the group that murdered his son, he can wipe out the whole lot of
them. That is, if the villains don't dispatch each other first. It
suffices to say that damn near every character in the plot has a slit
throat or bullet holes awaiting them. Revenge thrillers don't come any
more predictable than this, Wrath of Man seeking to thrive upon
Statham's "man of few words" personality and the stylized killing
scenes. Sadly, audiences absorbed this depressing movie in great
quantities, seemingly content to watch these bad people do really bad
things. It's astonishing that amongst all the challenges of a pandemic
that has adversely affected so many lives, viewers still want to watch a
movie that portrays society as even worse than we think it is. But hey,
gruesome killing in an urban environment must be good sport, and it
keeps Statham from filing for unemployment checks. Richie continues his
collaboration with composer Chris Benstead for Wrath of Man; the
two had first worked together in 2019 on the unlikely pair of The
Gentlemen and the remake of Aladdin. Benstead's involvement
in adaptation work on both the latter film and 2017's Beauty and the
Beast with Alan Menken is totally unrelated to anything heard in
Wrath of Man. More relevant is his history as an acclaimed sound
mixer, taking the music of others and experimenting with its application
in projects like Gravity. Not surprisingly, Wrath of Man
is the type of movie that seems well-matched for a sound design sort of
score, but Benstead doesn't go the route of outright manipulation for
the assignment. Instead, he wrote and recorded an oppressive but
substantially organic atmospheric bombardment that ruins your sunny mood
with a combination of unpleasant, mostly low-register string
instruments, percussion, and synthetic groaning, occasionally allowing
other elements a cameo. It's music for thinking about killing, planning
about killing, and then going about killing.
Benstead's affinity for performing the cello likely
inspired the low string dominance of
Wrath of Man. Those seeking
sparsely menacing tones from double basses and cello will love the
growling impact they have on this score. The composer applies these
players in so many despondent techniques in the work that the "how can
make these instruments sound angry" methodology becomes almost humorous
by the end. The passages of vengeful intensity are supplied angry,
rhythmic low strings while moments of stewing conversational conspiracy
are supplied less angry, rhythmic low strings. Scenes of any minimal
affection are also supplied angry, rhythmic low strings to some degree.
The all-on killing cues are approached with slapping percussion, and the
eventual triumphant executions are treated with some brass accents.
Otherwise, it's the low strings and brooding synthetics. Benstead
applies one rhythmic motif throughout the entire work for the main
character's single-minded mission. This deep, cyclical formation
consists of either 6 or 7 notes and is exposed immediately in "Coffee
Frother," where its churning progression shifts slightly by its end. A
fuller melody on higher strings is revealed in "Wrath of Man," and this
more varied material returns with some dramatic effect in "Bullet
Executions," "The Victor," and the end of "Liver Lungs Spleen Heart"
even though different characters with disparate goals are doing the
killing in those climactic scenes. In between, the measured tones of the
theme's dominant, low rhythmic churning persist in "Dangerous Job,"
"Dark Fucking Spirit," and "Idolised You," by which time it's reduced to
a more agonized solo. Its power is reduced again in "Porn Factory,"
joined by prickly percussion in "120 Million," and shifted to a vaguely
more hopeful, shorter variant in "The Inside Man." The true resolution
of the theme in "Liver Lungs Spleen Heart" is not necessarily the fuller
identity at the end but rather the slower cello and double bass
treatment leading up to the execution. At not a single point in the
score is there any pleasantness or true relief from the doomed despair
of the experience. Looking for an ounce of warmth in the score? You're
shit out of luck. That's the point of the film, of course, but even with
this personality accounted for, Benstead only provides minimal evolution
of his ideas from start to end. There's little intelligence in the work,
only performance attitude mixed in with bleak atmospherics. The
percussion and synthetics are particularly brainless. Without more
varied inflection explored in the churning low string theme before the
last cues, the score confirms the film's basic purpose: putting already
hapless people in the mood to watch unrealistic and pointless killing.
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- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on Album: *
- Overall: **
