X-Men: DOFP - John Ottman's Evolution

I was highly anticipating this movie.  Ever since the first buzz from the comic movie websites, I felt like DOFP was going to be not only THE X-men movie, but maybe even THE comic book movie.  I truly feel that it deserves this title, though I'm sure many would disagree with all the other superhero flicks coming out that are outstanding; Avengers and The Dark Knight Series to single out a few, and all with pretty damn good music too.

They are almost all good.  But there is a special place for X-Men movies.  Like many, my first acquaintances with said mutants was through comics, cartoons and video games.  The story line was and still is compelling and oddly relevant to modern society.  It had arisen from an era of peoples struggling for basic civil rights and fighting persecution, even in their own government.  Granted, real history hasn't involved disenfranchised people wielding superpowers, but stories like X-Men make learning real concepts and quandaries entertaining, for kids and adults alike.  The comic and cartoon got to me the most when I was young.  I remember real emotion and drama in the old Fox X-Men: The Animated Series and harassing comic book store owners for stuff they didn't have.  People used to complain about the cartoon's animation, but I thought it was perfect and faithful to the narrative and aesthetic style of the comic books that spawned its stories.

I have enjoyed all movies involving characters from the X-Men comics, but it was hard to make a decision on which film had the best score.  Michael Kamen's string themes were so fused to the original X-Men movie that its hard to imagine anything else for that first installment.  John Ottman's scoring of X2, was certainly good, but I still hadn't heard themes and leitmotifs that really summed up the spirit of the genre, story and original medium.  Powell's X-Men 3 score had its moments, no doubt, but the X-Men franchise was sadly another film series without the same composer going throughout.  And if you are one of the negative three people that actually reads my blog, you'd probably know (or not) that said continuity problems are, what I think,the biggest disappointment to all lovers of film score.

Henry Jackman did the best job with First Class.  The movie had distinct, discernible character themes and had the echo of the video game and cartoon music, which was an homage to fans of the other media X-Men were in. Hell, it was an homage to every kid that group in the 90's with a comic collection and Sega Genesis.  Magneto's theme, particularly struck me as almost like a boss battle in some console game, and I found that very cool.  Even the training montages were adorned like that sound that gets you pumped while you wait for the game to load.  I was hoping Jackman would come back to score DOFP, but it wasn't him.

Bryan Singer, the guy who I now fully respect to handle this franchise, decided to go back to John Ottman.  A part of me was upset because I wanted to hear what I heard in First Class again, and on steroids, like the action in the movie itself.  I had remembered that Ottman was also an editor of X2 and that still didn't take away from the nostalgic music Jackman provided.  Well, needless to say,  I am glad now. Ottman provided an amazing score. It fully captures both the musical essence of the comic book reader's world and fuses it with the seriousness and suspense necessary in order to make superheros come to vivid life. To make not only the fantasy realistic, but to make the fantasy real.

I want to tell you about how the tracks from the scenes in the future are apocalyptic, like that of the Terminator series but also have a sense of epic magic that you can't help be in awe of.  I also want to tell you that, as he is my favorite character,  Magneto had a distinctive and powerful theme that ran throughout the film and even had elements of Jackman's themes within.  There's so much I want to tell you about this album and its tracks, but I think I'll let Ottman tell you himself.  Clips like this give people an inkling of the work that goes into the music they take for grant, and that we appreciate so much.

Below this clip are my favorite tracks from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Listen and comment.  And feel the superhuman vibe...





"Time's Up"

"Hat Rescue"

"I Have Faith in You - Goodbyes"
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