X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Composed by John Powell
The second X-Men movie had teased telekinetic Jean Grey’s transition into the incredibly powerful Phoenix. Fans highly anticipated an adaptation of one of the comics’ greatest storytelling. Then Bryan Singer, who had been managing the franchise, ditched it when he got the chance to direct Superman Returns. Brett Rattner took his place and turned out a passable, but underwhelming sequel. The movie is closer to 100 minutes than two hours, a mistake when it heavily expands the cast of characters (and consequently gives a couple of them very unsatisfying pay-offs). The movie sees Jean Grey return as Phoenix. Though she wields much more power, her mental state is unstable and she’s convinced to join Magneto’s now much larger Brotherhood of Mutants. As if this isn’t bad enough, a scientist has developed a “cure” which can remove the X-gene from mutants and render them normal. The movie’s main problem is that it adapts one of the most epic stories from the comics and renders it small-scale, as Phoenix never comes close to dishing out the mayhem she did in the original tale (her moment of crossing the line is vaporizing a house instead of a planet, for example).
When Singer left, he took regular editing and composing buddy John Ottman with him. John Powell, one of the more successful graduates of Hans Zimmers’ Media Ventures, stepped into his place. As Ottman did with Michael Kamen’s work on the first film, Powell jettisoned his predecessor’s themes. While this continued to undermine the musical continuity, the end result is pretty worth it. Powell avoids the flaws of Kamen and Ottman’s entries, which had unrecognizable or underrepresented themes and stretches of tedium. The themes for this score are obvious and repeated, and there is nary a dull moment. Where Powell excels above the other composers is his action pieces. Kamen and Ottman failed to create true action highlights. Powell, on the other hand, goes all-out in this area, creating multiple layers of frenetic action with liberal quotes of the themes. Powell’s non-action music also manages to grip the listener’s attention, with obvious sustained thematic statements and interesting instrumentation for the moodier underscore.
Powell’s new X-Men theme (introduced amidst swirling woodwinds in “20 Years Ago”) is of course heroic, but has a lot more dash than his predecessors. It has slower moments, too, where it represents the optimistic vision of the X-School (“The Funeral” and “The Last Stand”). Powell definitely outshines Kamen and Ottman with his theme for Magneto and the Brotherhood (debuting in “The Church of Magneto”). It’s not terribly complex, but is much more noticeable. It really stands out in “Building Bridges” and “Shock and No Oars” where Magneto performs an incredible feat with his magnetic powers. It really adds to the excitement as the final battle draws near.
The star of the soundtrack, as with Ottman’s X2, is Phoenix’s theme. Ottman’s theme could have done with more appearances, but Powell’s replacement is just as good. Despite Jean Grey’s slips into villainy throughout the film, it never gets into villainous territory, representing instead the wonder of her power. If she does something particularly evil Powell strays away from the theme for sinister choir. There is a B-theme for Phoenix as well that plays in the middle fight and the climax, a pounding rhythmic piece that underscores the full unleashing of her powers. In its first appearance it climaxes with some heavenly choir for a character death (“Dark Phoenix’s Tragedy” and “Farewell to X”). In its return it builds into a choral outburst of the primary Phoenix theme as Wolverine has to make a fateful decision (‘Phoenix Rises”).
The movie sports two other themes. The more notable of these is the Angel theme. Angel is a mutant with white wings who actually does barely anything in the movie, yet Powell couldn’t seem to resist giving him a soaring fanfare. The theme also emerges for scenes that need emotional heft, but would not fit the X-Men or Phoenix themes, such as in the tender “Skating on the Pond”). The B-phrase, a simple construct, sometimes appears separately or in support of the Phoenix theme. The military has its own identity, a heroic piece that really only appears a couple times (it appears around 1:45 in “Cure Wars”).
The original album is a bit odd in its construction. Taking a page out of Hans Zimmer’s book, Powell has his tracks segue in and out of each other, but to more excessive lengths. In fact one could create a much shorter tracklisting if they merged the segueing tracks together. Some bits are odd, such as the 30-second “Massacre” which is just a small chunk of a larger action cue. Powell’s intention was probably to enable listeners to get to parts they really like, which I suppose is not a bad idea (think of the massive tracks on the complete Star Wars scores, where one has to press the fast-forward button to get to their favorite cues within larger pieces like “Battle of Hoth”).
The album kicks off with “20 Years Ago,” a nice opening that imbues a sense of wonder and harmony. “Bathroom Titles” puts the new main theme on full display. “The Church of Magneto, Raven is My Slave Name” introduces the new villain theme alongside plucking strings. It takes on a more militant tone with percussion at 1:17. “Meet Leech, Then Off to the Lake” is another dual-cue piece. “Meet Leech” leads to the Angel theme at 0:44, not in heroic mode, but a softer fashion as we’re introduced to a mutant child that enables the anti-mutation injection. After this it’s “Then Off the Lake” with the X-Men theme playing urgently prior to rising suspense.
This segues right into “Whirlpool of Love.” Rising strings build into a choral outburst. Wonder takes over, giving us the Phoenix Theme (0:37) amidst fluttering woodwinds. This is a tremendous moment that encapsulates the resurrection of Jean Grey. The theme reprises at 1:49, only to be interrupted by terrifying choir. “Examining Jean” focuses on electronic-laced ambience. “Dark Phoenix” continues the ambience, but with more emphasis on choir. “Angel’s Cure” is more ambience, but this time it leads to the first heroic flourish of the Angel theme (1:38).
About thirty seconds into “Jean and Logan” the Phoenix theme appears softly on choir. Powell keeps the choir going into some dark and mystical romance material. “Dark Phoenix Awakes” adds electronics to the mix, the romance slowly giving way to uneasy ambience. “Rejection is Never Easy” is the third track for this cue. The choir is sinister now, also cutting off an iteration of the Phoenix theme.
“Magneto Plots” is the start of another cut-up cue. Magneto’s theme of course takes a large role in this track. “Entering the House” builds up tension, slow choir, tinkling percussion, and swirling ambient strings. Another choral line, this one like a chant, joins in. “Dark Phoenix’s Tragedy” is the first full-fledged action track and introduces Phoenix’s B-theme. “Farewell to X” is a short moment of heavenly choir. “The Funeral” is a somber piece that utilizes the Angel theme and a sad yet hopeful version of the X-Men theme. “Skating on the Pond” actually manages to bring in some off-season Christmas magic.
“Cure Wars” bounces around as Magneto’s latest campaign gets underway. The best moment is the introduction of the Military theme, which in turns transitions into a lamenting refrain of the Angel theme. “Fight in the Woods” centers on the action and drama at the Brotherhood of Mutants’ mobilization site. As Wolverine infiltrates the camp, the X-Men and Magneto themes spar. At 1:48 in “Fight in the Woods,” Phoenix’s theme makes a dramatic statement to accompany a Magneto speech before the suspense and action continues. “St. Lupus Day” is the preparation track for the heroes with expectant iterations of the X-Men march and more of the Angel theme.
“Building Bridges” builds up with snare drums and Magneto’s theme as the master of magnetism begins his greatest feat. “Shock and No Oars” continues the cue with epic choir thrown in. The battle proper begins in “Attack on Alcatraz.” Magneto’s theme actually sounds heroic as the Brotherhood charges the cure facility. At 1:12 the Military theme makes a brief statement when the soldiers on Alcatraz get some good hits in. Though the X-Men are not in the battle yet, their theme weaves in with pounding brass. After the 2:30 mark and the Magneto theme, the track quiets down, only to rise with the X-Men theme and appearance of the titular heroes. The theme repeats with emotional reflection, then again when the heroes begin to kick some ass.
After the brief “Mutant Massacre” it’s “The Battle of the Cure,” another great action track. There’s so much going on that I’ll just skip to the 2:40 mark in my description. There’s some rising heroism, which is suddenly caught off by a sinister rhythm. Then tragic strings appear, as well as a similarly tragic variation of Magneto’s theme. This seems to signal the end of the danger, but Phoenix’s theme make an appearance around the four minute mark and the action is back on.
This segues right into “Phoenix Rises.” The choir is at its apocalyptic work. Pounding clangs and trumpet flares help out, leading into Phoenix’s B-theme. The primary Phoenix theme comes out on choir (2:28). The choral motif from “Farewell to X” returns, followed by tragic blasts. “The Last Stand” is a wonderful endcap for this score. The X-Men theme plays peacefully, as does Angel’s theme. The peaceful version of the X-Men plays again, this time rising into Angel’s fanfare. At the three minute mark we get a somber interlude with Magneto’s theme. The X-Men march blasts forth (3:24) and a little later there’s a final reprise of Phoenix’s theme, this time with an awesome rock beat.
X-Men: The Last Stand is an awesome X-Men score and probably the best. It’s unremittingly engaging with strong and oft-quoted themes and frenetic, sustained action. It completely avoids the pitfall of Michael Kamen and John Ottman’s works, which had good moments bridged by unmemorable filler. It’s a shame that John Powell doesn’t get more work in big-budget sci-fi flicks. His music here was easily the best part of this film.
Final Rating: 9/10
Tracklisting
- 20 Years Ago (1:10)
- Bathroom Titles (1:09)
- The Church of Magneto, Raven is My Slave Name (2:40)
- Meet Leech, Then Off the to the Lake (2:37)
- Whirlpool of Love (2:04)
- Examining Jean (1:12)
- Dark Phoenix (1:28)
- Angel’s Cure (2:34)
- Jean and Logan (1:39)
- Dark Phoenix Awakes (1:45)
- Rejection is Never Easy (1:09)
- Magneto Plots (2:05)
- Entering the House (1:18)
- Dark Phoenix’s Tragedy (3:18)
- Farewell to X (0:30)
- The Funeral (2:52)
- Skating on the Pond (1:12)
- Cure Wars (2:57)
- Fight in the Woods (3:06)
- Lupus Day (3:03)
- Building Bridges (1:16)
- Shock and No Oars (1:15)
- Attack on Alcatraz (4:36)
- Massacre (0:31)
- The Battle of the Cure (4:20)
- Phoenix Rises (6:29)
- The Last Stand (5:29)
raymondusrex 