John Carter [Soundtrack]

I was pretty stoked to listen to this one. The film looks to be promising and now even more so, based on the quality of this film score by Michael Giacchino.

His latest effort that I can recall (M:I: 4) left my throat a little dry, but I had faith in him and embraced this score with open ears. For the most part, its pretty darned awesome.

It exudes a sense of otherworldliness not found in, say, even a score to an alien movie. At times the score truly takes you somewhere, and the longer length of some of the songs is barely noticed.

The opening track, A Thern for the worse, (Giacchino is again naming songs with his trademark sense of humor) sets the stage nicely for what will be the entire listening experience, though its not as good as the next track, Get Carter. Track 2 actually surprised me: its just a good, fun song, and it can easily be used to show Giacchino's level of growing talent here. The man is getting better at what he does, which is making good music.

Track 5, Sab than pursues the princess, is another favorite. Giacchino sounds like parts of Speed Racer, Mission Impossible 3, and Star Trek here, yet with enough of a new sound that John Carter is starting to musically take a shape of its own by this point. Track 6, The temple of Issus, presents us with more of that otherworldliness by way of mysterious choir, one that effectively sets the mood. This happens throughout the score.

Track 9, Carter they come carter they fall, starts as an action piece and shifts into something beautiful, a triumphant moment no doubt for our hero in the film. Number 11, A Thern warning, takes its time with strings and choir and sets the stage for the bigger, louder action to come.

That action comes in the following track, 12, titled The second biggest apes i've seen this month. I'm excited to see what is going on in the film at this point, since the music is quite epic. Giacchino pours a sense of panic and adrenaline into the action here, which helps with replay value for me. From here on out the score reaches its climax, the music taking sweeping turns with songs like The Right of Challenge, The Prize is Barsoom, and The Fight for Helium. By now John Carter's main theme is established, and though it isn't extremely memorable, it is no doubt emotional. Giacchino manages to play with it throughout, and by the end of the score it really takes center stage.

Track 18, Ten bitter years, rounds things off nicely and suggests a sequel is in order, perhaps? The last song, #19: John Carter of Mars, is the longest of the bunch, and acts as a musical playground for Giacchino. The themes get more room to breathe here, and the violin is very beautiful, in this enjoyable finish.

Giacchino paints his musical landscapes here with excellent results. This is a great film score, dynamic, sweeping, magical, and brutal when it needs to be. Michael Giacchino is really making a name for himself in the business, and his work on Disney's John Carter is yet another achievement under his belt.

One of the best film scores of 2012. Lets hope the movie does well; I'd love a sequel score!

Michael Giacchino not only aimed high with John Carter, he shot an absolute bullseye! Viewing this as a chance to create something no longer seen in this Remote Control-dominated era of Hollywood scores, he delivered the goods- John Carter is big as life, bold as anything, a little bit scary and a lot of fun. It stands tall as a true Swords & Sandals Epic type of score, the likes of which we haven't heard in far too long.

John Carter's theme is comprised of 11 notes: a-B/cdE-F/g-H/iJ-k. Giacchino gets a lot of mileage out of it, deploying it in various forms, a testament to its versatility. He states that his way of testing a theme is seeing if it can be turned into a jazz piece, a waltz or something classical. If it can be adapted, then he'll use it.

The scope of the John Carter score is Middle-Eastern, something that Giacchino described as simply the right feel for the piece. In an interview he cited Lawrence of Arabia as one of his inspirations for composing the score- a man out of his element in a world completely alien to him, slight pun intended. It also sounds like kind of a Jerry Goldsmith homage- similar in many places to Planet of the Apes with touches of The Mummy tossed in.

Another important influence on this score is the idea of having scene-specific themes- Giacchino remarked upon John Williams' work on Empire Strikes Back and the Indiana Jones series as to how each scene had its own musical identity. The score does have an episodic arc to it and you can always hear something different happening in each track, making for a real adventure through a musical landscape.

One of the best things about listening to this was the way Giacchino employed both the female chorus and Palestinian female soloist Azam Ali, whom he's worked with before. Whether as the centerpiece of the track or merely for emphasis the vocals lent the perfect amount of mysticism, emotion and gravity to the proceedings- always showing up at the right moment and staying just long enough. Check out the finale of The Fight for Helium for a great example of this.

Some highlights:
02- Get Carter: Starts right off by teasing with the opening strains of John Carter's motif before some daring string sweeps lead into the full theme on brass blended with middle strings, western-style. Descends into minimalism as it progresses before picking up the pace again. Wraps up with a mysterious female choral cue, which leads us to...

03- Gravity of the Situation: Begins with brief moments of string tension before switching seamlessly into a light, playful tune mostly built upon the JC motif. It starts with mid-strings and tinkling piano before sliding into solo harp before finishing up with a waltzing reprise of the theme.

04- Thark Side of Barsoom: Somber, introspective intro lulls you along for the first half of the track (presumably as Carter makes his way across the Martian landscape) but after the trombone blast about halfway through, you're in for a treat. At 1:51 the female choir rises up along with an odd mix of shakers, strings and horns bringing us the wonder of seeing a Martian city. The final twenty seconds invokes images of a street bazaar in a desert town. Very eclectic piece, but it ends up engaging you.

07- Zodanga Happened: Sounds like Giacchino was goofing around a little on this one. Opens with what can only be described as a riff on the 'Jaws' theme before the bass drum, cello and piano combo conjures up images of Charlton Heston escaping from his captors in the original Planet of the Apes. Vocalist Azam Ali appears in the midst of a brief flurry before everything winds back down again.

12- The Second Biggest Apes I've Seen This Month: Or as Giacchino himself described it, 'just bang on something.' Fast and furious, with so many instruments being hammered upon and layered atop each other the horns and strings are almost an afterthought here. This one'll definitely get your pulse going. Pure percussion pleasure.

14- The Prize is Barsoom: Best described as variations on a theme, it's the John Carter motif in different forms- vocal, high & mid-string, brass, etc- all overlapping and interacting with each other. And yes, this is the one where the chorus is chanting the names of Giacchino's children- and to great effect, I might add! It ends with a brass and choral flourish that John Williams would love! In many ways, this one's the opus of the score.

John Carter was one of the scores I'd had in my sights for awhile, and it doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Well, ok- I'm not a fan of the puns and wordplay used for the track titles, but that's about it. Though it's still early, John Carter is a frontrunner for one of the year's best. No doubt about it.

I have to say that Michael Giacchino ismy favorite soundtrack composer. To me he is up there with the likes of John Williams. His latest effort does not disappoint! John Carter is by far one of his strongest offerings, and I am now really excited to see this movie! This soundtrack is one of the most intense, epic scores I've heard in a while, yet it still is able to tell a story. Michael Giacchino has done it once again!