I finally was able to import a copy of Klaus Badelt’s score to L’immortel. L’immortel is a French film starring Jean Reno as a mobster who exacts his revenge on his former friend who shot him and left him for dead. The American title of the film is the less glamorous 22 Bullets.
Badelt handles the material expertly by creating great atmospheric underscore and using electronic percussion to create tension. He uses a solo piano to great emotional effect and once the score gets rolling it becomes a darker and more intense journey. The pulsing strings give a sense of urgency and keeps the adrenaline high without the score ever becoming a “loud” action score. What I love about the score is that it can be minimal like in the track “Birthday Killing” or action propelled like in “Motorcycle Chase” and still grasp you just the same within the context of the story.
The style is akin to Badelt’s previous work like The Recruit and Equilibrium. So if you enjoyed his work there I highly reccomend L’immortel. Another great part about the album is the way it was arranged with lots of classical opera pieces by Puccini. So the first chunk of the album has a couple of extracts from works like Tosca and La Bohème, which really are an integral part of the listening experience.
L’immortel is a fantastic score by Klaus Badelt that bleeds with his style and takes us on an intense and dark journey. The score is able to resonate a visceral intensity without bashing you over the head. As of this writing the score has not been released in the United States in any format, but I urge anyone willing to spend the extra money on shipping to import it from Amazon France. It’s a simple approach at scoring a familiar genre that leads to a surprisingly effective execution.
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