Soundtrack Review: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
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This is a review of the motion picture score Underworld: Rise of the Lycans by Paul Haslinger.
“Underdeveloped and underachieving. Those are two words I would use to describe this soundtrack.”
Paul Haslinger who did the previous score in the Underworld series replaced Marco Beltrami and although it was mostly grinding stone sounds it was surprisingly soothing and nice. This time he has more work on his hands as the lycans are coming, or rising as the case may be. I fully expect it to be a few themes in here and also more action. Will it be more ambient grinding stone sounds or will Paul Haslinger do an all-out action score fit for the Underworld universe?
Track List
- The Rise Of The Lycans (***)
- Lucian And Sonja’s Love Theme (****)
- The Arrow Attack (****)
- The Most Precious Thing To My Heart (***)
- The Wolve’s Den (****)
- Lucian To The Rescue (***)
- Court Battle Suite (***)
- Sonja’s Trial And Execution (***)
- Storming The Castle (***)
- Per Aspera Ad Astra (****)
- The Rise Of The Lycans (Precious Cargo Remix) (***)
Mostly Ambient
A short film score that runs just above 36 minutes, and there’s no reason for expecting any more. The latest movie in the Underworld series has lost its main star Kate Beckinsale, but keeps Paul Haslinger in the composer’s chair based on the work he did last time. Like I mentioned in the intro, it was barely music last time with ambient noises and grinding stone, yet didn’t sound bad at all. Surely he couldn’t do it with the rise of the lycans? I can answer that right now, it is definitely no grinding stones, but it remains mostly ambient.
Ambience can be nice, but I did expect something else to be honest. After the fireworks Haslinger produced for Death Race last year, I was expecting a lot more action, but what I got was some very frustrating hours listening to this score. The action cues in this soundtrack are extremely underdeveloped and I think it’s because of the weird sounds he put in there at random with the action itself as more of a bi-product. It was clearly a lack of great action cues when I watched the movie, but that’s more to do with the choices the direcotr made than the music produced by Mr. Haslinger.
Could Use a Strong Theme
Let me rant about the themes in this movie or the lack thereof. Some scores are great without a distinctive theme, but Underworld: Rise of the Lycans could definitely use a strong theme. There are lots of possibilities for themes, but the only one really present is the main theme ‘The Rise of the Lycans‘. In the beginning of that cue, Haslinger is definitely on to something, but the overshadowing of percussion and perceived grandness ruins it for me. The second cue ‘Lucan and Sonja’s Love Theme’ should indicate a theme of some kind, but it’s just ambient sounds with a single note of the piano pressed down at strategic places. It’s a nice cue, in fact some of the best on this score, but hardly qualifies as a theme in my book. When Paul Haslinger does an ambient/noisy score like this, a strong theme is a must, whether it’s a love theme, heroic theme or a revenge theme. What a missed opportunity!
The action, as I’ve mentioned before, is there, but it’s really not as powerful as I would like. It’s just percussion and noise upon percussion and noise. ‘The Arrow Attack’ is the a decent action cue on the score which has an attempt at some clever action scoring with the occasional string being used as stabbing sounds. ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’ is the best action cue and the overall best cue on the Underworld: Rise of the Lycans score. It has elements of fast paced action and slower ambient sections in between. This should really have been Paul Haslinger’s baseline when he composed this score and made sure nothing goes below the quality of that cue.
Unfortunately, most composers I have spoken to are under the heavy supervision of the director and if they don’t do what the director says they’re gone.
Conclusion
Underdeveloped and underachieving. Those are two words I would use to describe this soundtrack. It’s a shame I can’t give this film score a better rating, but it doesn’t deserve anything more. It fails as an action score because there just isn’t any reason to care about the constant noise overshadowing Paul Haslinger’s true talents as an action composer. Come on directors! Use the talent where it is! It also fails miserably in the love section as the movie is essentially a love story in a horror setting. Paul Haslinger’s work are usually of a very high standard and I am not worried at all for the future as I’m sure he will work with the right directors again pretty soon.
Listen to Underworld: Rise of the Lycans by Paul Haslinger below:
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[...] “Underdeveloped and underachieving. Those are two words I would use to describe this soundtrack.” – Jørn Tillnes, Soundtrackgeek [...]