X-Men Origins: Wolverine by Harry Gregson-Williams (Review)

So, I was looking forward to this movie for one major reason. That reason was Harry Gregson-Williams. His last score release was nearly 1 year ago with Prince Caspian, which was an amazing score. John Powell was the last composer to leave his mark on this franchise, and when I heard Harry was taking the helm I got super excited.

I'll stop dancing around and get right to the point. This score is okay. It has it's moments and plenty of Harry's signatures layered throughout. He carries some percussion over from Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare and some vocals that remind me of Kingdom Of Heaven. It's a symphonic score layered with his signature electronics. I think the biggest thing I was disappointed about was that the score never really took off. It reaches a level and pretty much stays at it during the entire film. Surprisingly the film also lacks any major thematic or melodic material. There isn't a tune in the score that you can put your finger on and associate it to this score. So in that sense this score is floating around without a real identity. The best stuff here in my opinion is the music for Kayla, who is Wolverine's love interest who ends up getting killed. There are hints at some touching music there, but again the story leaves no room for it to blossom.

I can't really blame Harry for this one because honestly the movie was just plain awful. There wasn't anything in the film worth remembering and the writing is laughably bad. Everything seems rushed and the story is an utter mess. Harry composed this score knowing well that they would probably continue the franchise, but most likely with a different director and a different composer. In the end there a few pieces that are fun to listen to, but as a huge Gregson-Williams fan it didn't meet my expectations. The score never rises to stand on its own and it's lost within the picture. Looking forward to his score for The Taking Of Pelham 123, because when Harry and Tony Scott team up it never disappoints. Wolverine is a standard score for a less than stellar movie. The film was lucky enough to get this much effort out of Harry.