Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,638
Written 8/9/08
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Buy it... if you're such a devoted fan of the franchise that even a
faint whisper of what once made the episodic Mark Snow scores so
attractive will suffice for nostalgic purposes.
Avoid it... if you were hoping that Snow would, outside of the last
moments of the score, neatly wrap the music for the franchise into a
coherent and impressive package.
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| Snow |
The X-Files: I Want to Believe: (Mark Snow) Oh, so
very, very sad. It's painful to see such a great franchise die like
this. Six years too late and languishing at the box office, The
X-Files: I Want to Believe is a ghostly reminder of better times for
FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Creator Chris Carter's awkward
resurrection of the franchise has even devoted fans of the concept
scratching their heads, wondering why such a lousy script, one that
largely ignores the show's narrative, was chosen for this film.
Expectations have always been high when a story from this franchise is
developed; the show's history on television thrived on solid writing,
intriguing mysteries, and a developing chemistry between the two leads,
all of which is absent in The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Stuck
in the middle of this mess is composer Mark Snow, whose contribution to
the 202 television episodes and previous motion picture have always
maintained a consistent level of quality, even in the music's more
ambient incarnations. The show's soundtracks began to adopt a more
dramatically harmonic stance by the final four years, especially in the
eighth season. For the most part, Snow uses The X-Files: I Want to
Believe to continue that trend, with the composer balancing the
darker, expected ambient droning with lovely, though still underplayed
melodies for both the leading couple and other situations in the film.
Fans of Snow's really hard-edged music for the early seasons of "The
X-Files" will find plenty of material to their liking here (due to a
very long album release), and those searching for the kind of beautiful
solace heard in the episodes "Within" and "Without" from the opening of
the eighth season will hear an extension of the haunted female vocals
here as well. There are even a few passages pulled from the score for
The X-Files: Fight the Future. Perhaps the most disappointing
aspect of Snow's work here is the relatively small role for the
franchise's title theme, as well as an inability to tie up all the loose
ends he introduces and create a sturdy, overarching identity for the
film. The lack of the title theme is somewhat forgivable, since this
film really doesn't deal with the alien conspiracy elements of the show,
but the lack of cohesiveness in the work restrains it to only average
ranks.
Starting with the familiar elements first, Snow's
famous title theme never receives a full performance on the film's
album. In fact, only fragments of the theme's easily recognizable
opening six-note progression are used until the final cue, "Home Again."
Even here, the use is fleeting, and Snow sends off the last moments of
the score with one last, surprisingly pleasant whistled phrase from the
theme. Otherwise, the only continuity you hear in
The X-Files: I Want
to Believe exists in the general stylistic similarities of the
brooding atmosphere and the cue "The Trip to DC," which adapts the
"Crossroads" cue from the previous film score and gives it a far more
robust orchestral ostinato to carry its impressive progressions. This
vigorous orchestral stature is only heard in this cue, "Foot Chase," and
the opening "Moonrise," which is an extreme disappointment given its
aggressive attitude in performance. Two new themes are introduced.
First, Mulder and Scully receive a love theme, heard on solemn piano and
woodwinds in "Good Luck" and more extensively in "Home Again." The
character of a sick boy in the film receives an even more tender theme
in "Ybara the Strange/Waterboard" and "The Surgery." The latter cue
offers the theme in a beautiful combination of solo cello and boy's
vocals. The female vocals, starting in "Father Joe" and continuing
through the last cue, are a more recognizable element from the show, and
are splendid in each of their uses. Otherwise, the remainder of the
score leaves little to get excited about. There is a healthy dose of
slashing and crashing, as well as several cues of extended minimalistic
droning. Boring cues like "The Preparation" and "The Axe Post" are
useless outside of the context of the film and are proof that the album
for
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is indeed too long. Another
difficulty with the album is the inclusion of the three wretched songs
at the end. They have no stylistic connection to Snow's score and appeal
to a completely different audience. Hearing Snow mangle his theme in the
first of these three tracks is irritating, especially when the theme
wasn't too creatively integrated into the actual underscore. Overall,
there are three outstanding cues in this score ("The Trip to DC," "The
Surgery," and "Home Again"), but otherwise it's not even very effective
for nostalgic purposes, just like the film. A wasted opportunity all
around.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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