Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen - The Score

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5 comentarios to “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen - The Score”

1.  Jon Broxton Says:
   

   I recently joked on a film music message board that I should simply recycle my review of Steve Jablonsky’s first Transformers score in order to pay homage to the sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I fully appreciate that sequel scores should maintain a certain thematic consistency with their predecessor, and predicted that in all likelihood Jablonsky would trot out the same tired power anthems and banal über-heroism that he saddled the first film with… but, really, it’s just going to be the same score again, right? Wrong. Somehow, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is actually worse.

   The Transformers movies are big, dumb fun, with little in the way of subtlety or nuance to hide the explosions and special effects and breathless action. In many ways, Jablonsky’s score is the musical equivalent of “big, dumb fun” - it’s loud, energetic, fast-paced, and has all the superficial heroism one comes to expect from summer blockbusters these days. My problem - as it has been throughout with scores of this type - is the total and utter lack of sophistication, depth, and innovation. To use a British colloquialism, it’s all mouth and no trousers, and to be frank I’m getting sick of it.

   All the ingredients are there: large orchestra, large choir, electronic enhancements, plus the recurrence of the main theme from the first film to signify the heroic Autobots. The opening cue, “Prime”, provides a nice re-statement of the main theme augmented by cooing vocals, and later cues such as “Infinite White”, “Tomb of the Princes” and “Matrix of Leadership” restate the material to satisfying effect, especially when the theme is accompanied by a choir. Unfortunately, Jablonsky abandons his themes for great chunks of the score - a surprising decision given their effectiveness first time around. The delightfully evil Decepticon theme, with its processed vocal effects and staccato rhythms, is almost totally absent (it appears briefly in “Heed Our Warning”), as is the soft guitar-driven theme that underscored the more tender moments between Sam and Mikaela.

   Several mid-album cues, notably “The Fallen” and “The Fallen’s Arrival”, just plod along aimlessly with low, grunting synth lines and pseudo-ethereal vocals. No matter the shallowness of the music, I never actually expected a Transformers score to be dull, but somehow Jablonsky manages to make this score unexpectedly boring for long periods of time. Even the action music, in cues like “Forest Battle”, seems curiously uninspired and insipid, as if Jablonsky was simply going through the motions. Maybe he realized that no-one would hear his music under all the whirring sound effects and metallic explosions anyway, and settled merely for writing sonic wallpaper.

   But the worst is yet to come. Much has been made of the fact that the popular rock band Linkin Park contributed additional score music to the film, most notably in the third cue “Nest”, which features extracts from a new Linkin Park composition called “New Divide”. Needless to say, the resulting collision of styles is utterly horrific: a harsh, grating, completely out-of-place debacle which is clearly nothing more than a marketing tool to sell crossover score albums to fans of the band.

   I guess I should just stop worrying about the state of summer blockbuster scores and continue exploring film music’s nether regions to find the best soundtracks of the day, because I’m clearly not going to be satisfied with any of the offerings from the major studio system. The time when Hollywood’s cornerstone projects would also produce the year’s top scores has now seemingly long gone, and one has to increasingly look to Britain, France, Japan, and the independent arenas to find musical satisfaction. There’s clearly a market for scores like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, otherwise directors like Michael Bay wouldn’t keep commissioning them, and mainstream consumers wouldn’t keep buying them in their hundreds of thousands, but I’m certainly not part of that audience, as I am no longer a 14 year old boy. If you enjoy the Remote Control sound, and enjoyed the first score, you are likely to find Jablonsky’s score similarly to your taste. For everyone else, you’re welcome to join me over there, where you’ll find me listening to Alexandre Desplat, Joe Hisaishi, Christopher Young, and all the other composers who actually write good music.
   Rating: 1 / 5

2.  S. Houtsma Says:
   

   First of all, let me tell you my disposition towards this; I thought the first Transformers movie was just OK, and I thought the latest one was pretty terrible. One of my gripes over the first movie was that the score sounded WAY too similar to earlier works of Jablonsky’s master, Hans Zimmer, such as Batman Begins and Pirates 2. Well it’s the same problem here, only back with a vengeance!
   
   I can understand if Jablonsky can sometimes sound similar to Zimmer. But not all the time. Heck, sometimes he just takes melodies straight out of Zimmers other works, alters them slightly, and puts them right in.
   
   People may say it’s amazing, but it’s just rehashed ideas and the biggest difference is that it’s LOUDER.
   
   But I must say the one thing that worked the best was the track NEST with the Linkin Park instrumentals. If they had kept that as the theme for the whole movie, they would have been set. Otherwise it’s just been there, done that.
   Rating: 2 / 5

3.  G. Kroener Says:
   

   What makes this score so worthless you ask?
   
   Well, let me tell you: its predecessor!

   If the first Transformers score could pass as a mildly arousing summer blockbuster clone for a quick and obvious ruckus, then this one, Transformers 2, is not even that.
   
   Because we have heard ALL of the damn “ideas” in the first one alrady. Basically, this is as bad as repetitive Remote Control music ever gets. Really.
   
   See, Steve Jablonsky made the grave error of persuading himself that his inital “ideas” and themes were acceptable enough to offer any room for development or, indeed, any variation at all.
   
   A cloned Remote Control score like this one has a predictable power anthem, which impresses once, from time to time, and then never again.
   
   If you take this only quality away, you end up with nothing but musical laxative. That is Transformers 2.

   I never thought I would say this, but Jablonsky violated the only rule I didn’t think anyone would ever touch: that when you buy a new CD, you should get something that passes as “new music”.

   You’d be better off listening to a 60 minute CD of random trailer music, that features far more originality and variation on known Remote Control fare than Jablonsky manages to inject into his own (barely) themes.

   Perhaps he didn’t think a sequel to such a crap movie would be made, and least of all that he’d be scoring it. You know what? Neither did I.
   Rating: 1 / 5

4.  elixxxer Says:
   

   I am frustrated. Frustrated that scores like this exist. Remote Control is pumping out just as many overly-synthesized, repetitive scores as ever in recent years. This score for Revenge of the Fallen has to be one of the worst, and they’re all mediocre at best. It is electronically obnoxious, constantly pelting you over the head with synthesized crashes, bass drums, low strings and perpetual ostinato…more or less like every other Zimmer, Jablonsky, Tyler, Smith, et al. score. Themes are scarce, the Decepticon theme from the first score is completely abandoned here and the Autobot cue presented with grandeur but basically unchanged. The ambiance that is presented is as generic as it is thoughtless. The instrumentation, the progression, the fanfare (or lack there of) is all more or less interchangable with every other recent Remote Control effort. The sound has been accepted by the mainstream, the popularity of the studio’s output is testament to that fact. However, movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are also accepted by the mainstream, proving that viewers and listeners are far too content with mediocrity, or in this case, garbage. While Giacchino’s excellent score for Star Trek struggles to maintain a 4-star rating on Amazon, this score will likely reach 4.5 and most of the Remote Control’s other works fare just as well or better. The continual popularity of such music and films will ensure that nothing better is ever produced. In defense of Jablonsky, would there really be any purpose in creating a complex and original score for a brainless movie like Transformers, most of which would likely go unheard below the explosions and metal-on-metal contact of the action on screen anyway? Probably not, but again, the perpetual mediocrity of music and films like this will not change until audiences demand more. This sound is so unbelievably tired, I suppose what we need is another Hans Zimmer to change the industry again.

   Now, if you are one of the many who thoroughly enjoy the sound associated with what Hans Zimmer and his minions have produced in the past, you can completely disregard my criticisms because 1)you don’t care or you’ve likely heard them before, and 2) you will like this score just the same.
   Rating: 1 / 5

5.  Andres Says:
   

   Well, this is an overall good score. Yet, it would have been excellent if it’s release would have been prior to Hans Zimmer’s King Arthur. “Prime’s” theme is too similar for my likings to Hans Zimmer’s theme played at the end of “Woad to Ruin” or “All of Them” from King Arthur.

   Really, I know that Steve Jablonsky was Zimmer’s apprentice, but it is because of Jablonsky’s lack of originality that I listened to this score and decided not to buy it, even though it’s fairly good (yet, King Arthur is way better). During these last months, the most notable original scores, in my opinion, have been: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Alexandre Desplat), Angels & Demons (Hans Zimmer), Terminator Salvation (Danny Elfman) and Up (Michael Giacchino).

   If you don’t have many works of Hans Zimmer, then by all means, buy this one. But if you are like me, who have almost every Zimmer score, the truly powerful parts of this soundtrack may sound too familiar to other soundtracks from your collection…

   I hope to hear more from Jablonsky, but I also hope that he finds his own style without trying too hard to sound like his mentor.
   Rating: 3 / 5

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