X-Men

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

I saw Michael Kamen always as a composer that supported the movie with this exceptional but perfect fit of a movie score, yet on album they became half the interesting listening experiences and nothing that captured that same feel. The various scores like Lethal Weapon (1 through 4), Die Hard (1 through 3) and others confirmed this, and X-Men isn't the exception in the list. The movie, a cult phenomenon of its own has stirred up the interest quite effectively, and even the non fans of the comic book (including me though I have seen several episodes of the series) enjoyed it quite well. And when you look at the contribution of Michael Kamen, he has inserted the original and almost comic book personality to it. You can not deny that the score amused you inside the movie's context, for what it achieves to do and after several listens inside the movie you actually like it a lot. The problem are the things when you take them away from their context. As we started to wonder what on earth the score would be like, you at least question the main theme of the superheroes, and X-Men receives its main theme, not bold, nor pure spine tingling but cool, effective (and in some ways it has similarities with the theme of the series on TV).

On score it receives really no attention whatsoever, I mean apart from the small interpretations this one isn't getting the bombastic treatment, except at the end of the movie, meaning not found on the disc. We do hear several leitmotifs, one especially for Mystique. You'll know when you will hear it. The main X-Men theme gets its first version during 'Ambush', and the Mystique theme starts 'Magneto's Lair'. 'Cerebro' is one of the tracks that works so well inside the movie but has some weird sound effects mixed in the back, god knows what they are or represent but I sure hope that they will not bug other persons also. It isn't loud but when you concentrate on it, it bothers one way or another. The better moments of both the X-Men theme 'The X-Jet' or action moments 'Final Showdown' represent the better musical moments of Michael Kamen's action interpretations, I didn't really adore 'Magneto Stand Off' or 'The Statue of Liberty' but it works in the movie. The best track is sure to become 'Logan and Rogue', offering the best emotional moments of the score, deserved to have more punch like it received in the movie.

I was also disappointed that the theme didn't receive its final opportunity, I knew the End Credits were missing but I kinda hoped for the short but great burst of the main theme at the end of the movie. Decca did its best with musical choices but they really had to include the End Suite, forming a perfect combination of all the themes of the movie. The score picks the interest up right were the movie left off, and any cult fan will go for the full examination of both score and movie. Together they form the perfect match, alone the music feels and listens half the worthy listen. I didn't expect miracles but I felt that the music lost its value. Also the sudden stop and continuing of the tracks bothered me, sometimes you think that the track has stopped before it continues with another thirty seconds. Michael Kamen isn't the usual big thematic score composer, he isn't the one that will add that spark of pure wonder into his scores, and mostly they feel half the interest on CD. But his short leitmotifs (especially for Roger in the Lethal Weapon series) and here for Mystique deliver much more meaning and in a way guilty fun to the picture. Orchestral it doesn't pack the punch a la big other comic book soundtracks, but it feels and listens pure X-Men, bound to please the fans for all the time and a solid if what disappointing feeling at the end for casual fans.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Death Camp (3.01)

2. Ambush (3.23)

3. Mutant School (3.45)

4. Magneto's Lair (4.57)

5. Cerebro (2.08)

6. Train (2.34)

7. Magneto Stand Off (2.57)

8. The X-Jet (3.45)

9. Museum Fight (2.19)

10. The Statue Of Liberty (2.35)

11. Final Showdown (2.27)

12. Logan And Rogue (5.57)

Total Length: 40.29

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Michael Kamen ===