After previous attempts at bringing them to the big screen have largely failed, wouldn’t you know it would be the fantastic fourth attempt that would finally pay off. Joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is probably the best-received film in said universe for quite some time, audiences thrilling at the adventures of Mr Fantastic, Mrs Fantastic and the other two Fantastics. They couldn’t have found a better composer for the film than Michael Giacchino, a Marvel veteran and one of the finest film composers of his generation.
Very long-term readers may remember that in the olden days (before WordPress), when I used to type up my reviews in an HTML template, I would include a “headline” for the review which I would try to imbue with my trademark, razor-sharp wit, fancying myself as a film music version of Evelyn Waugh. (For whatever reason my WordPress continually deteriorates and has now reached the point where the “visual editor” just doesn’t work at all for me, so I’m back to writing reviews in HTML templates – but have not reintroduced the witty headlines.) I mention this because, while I rarely remember anything that happened more than five years ago, I very vividly remember how much I was anticipating John Ottman’s score for the 2005 movie to come out. I was desperately hoping that it would be either really good or really bad – so my witty headline could either be (try to contain yourselves) “Fantastic Four – Fantastic Score!” or “Fantastic Four Score’s a Bore” – I feel either one of these headlines would have been considered a pivotal moment in the history of film music criticism. Unfortunately, it turned out that it was neither brilliant nor awful, so I was left unable to use either of those two headlines.
Anyway, to the matter at hand – all I can say is “Fantastic Four – Fantastic Score!” Giacchino’s written some of the MCU’s best music and this may just be his best Marvel score yet – it’s got so much going for it. There’s a beautifully-constructed musical narrative, a great set of themes, a sense of fun running throughout – it’s just a pleasure to listen to it. Again and again and again. And (to make four) again! We have here a confluence of a composer who knows what a great comic book score should sound like, working for a director who knows what a great comic book score should sound like. So here we go – here are four fantastic things about the fantastic score for The Fantastic Four…
The first fantastic thing is the main theme. This is not just a “theme” as the word is often applied almost apologetically to 21st century film music. This is a THEME! It’s great big, giant in fact, instantly memorable, it’s heroic and it’s exciting, and it ends with a choir shouting “FAN-TAS-TIC-FOUR” very loudly. What more could you want!? Now – there have been other great themes in the Marvel series – quite a few of them I think. Some of those have been written by Michael Giacchino (I think his Doctor Strange is perhaps the best one of all). But this one isn’t a piece held back for the main-on-end sequence, providing satisfaction to James Southall of the United Kingdom (that’s me) and a few hundred other film score geeks – this one is front and central to the whole score. It’s everywhere and it’s so BIG in the way it’s used – blasting out at every opportune moment. Having the choir sing the title is a bold move – there are some notorious examples of this in the past that are, shall we say, not entirely beloved by the cognoscenti – but the pure cheese of it is just brilliantly satisfying to me.
I love being pretentious as much as anyone and will often find myself going on about the intellectual quality of subtly alluding towards a theme but holding it back until it’s “earned” or whatever, but let’s face it, I’m 47 and the reason people aged 47 who love film music love film music is because of Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Back to the Future and Star Trek and so on. And one thing I will say about the scores for those films is that the themes were not subtle or held back or “earned”. They were front and central. Precisely where a theme for a certain type of film – and an heroic comic book adventure is certainly that type of film – is supposed to be.
The “concert version” of the theme opens the album, but it’s all over the place – in lullaby form in “Pregnancy Testing 1, 2, 3” – rousingly covering the montage sequence “Fantastic Four, First Cue” – at the backbone of the brilliant, brilliant “Out to Launch”, Giacchino’s version of the same thing in Apollo 13 – the slow-building, mega-satisfying “Span-tastic Voyage” – the sweet “Don’t Sue the Baby!” – the swirling “Without Further Adieu” – the rousing finale “Fantastic Four to be Reckoned With” – and the exceptional, chilled-out postlude “Tripping the Lights Fantastic”.
People know the movie’s theme before they even see the movie. And not just people like us, who listen to soundtracks to films we’ve never seen – normal people too!
This leads me to the second fantastic thing: it’s still about the first one, but is a separate point (I promise). Every piece of marketing of this movie has included Giacchino’s theme for it. He wrote it ages ago, it even made a surprise appearance in a concert almost a year before the movie’s release – he conducted an orchestra playing it at the premiere. Every tv spot, every cinema trailer – there’s the theme. How wonderful that is, for a film music fan, to see that. I can’t even remember the last time it happened. Almost certainly not this century. Now that strategy only works if the theme is actually good, so you have to have confidence that it is in order to do this – and it’s surely paying off. People know the movie’s theme before they even see the movie. And not just people like us, who listen to soundtracks to films we’ve never seen – normal people too! I love it.
What’s the third thing, I hear you ask? Well, there’s not just one great theme here. There’s also the material for the villains, Galactus and his helper, the Silver Surfer. You can hear a suite of the Galactus/Silver Surfer material in the piece “The Galactus/Silver Surfer Suite” (ah, Giacchino and his crazy track titles) and this is great – the Galactus theme is another great big one, full of villainous sturm-und-drang – there’s more than a hint of another veteran Marvel composer, Alan Silvestri, in evidence; the Silver Surfer theme more positive and heroic, and presented in full technicolour.
Even better though are some of the uses of this material in the body of the score itself (once again – the juicy stuff isn’t just saved for the end titles). The Silver Surfer material appears early, in “Herald Today, Gone Tomorrow” where it’s so bright and colourful and delightful; and in “A Galactus Case of the Munchies” and “Bowel Before Me”, the Galactus theme too. Choir all over it – actually singing stuff (perhaps a made-up language), not just the “ooh” and “aah” style. “The Bridges of Silver Surfer County” is bold, memorable, quite wonderful. “A Walk on the City” is so big and bold – my fellow writer Jon Broxton said it had a hint of Ifukube about it, and I can’t find a way of saying the same thing without appearing to have just copied him, so I’ll say that he is completely right.
The fourth fantastic thing: something I often say about my favourite film score albums, actually. The narrative structure is a joy to behold. You can listen to this music and know exactly what is going on – George Lucas always used to say that John Williams was telling the story of Star Wars more than anything else was – that’s what’s going on here, too. You don’t need to see the film to know what the plot is, such is the strength of Giacchino’s narrative. Now that’s not always what you want in a film score, but similar to my comments about the theme – it is what you want in a comic book movie. The world’s bad enough right now, I want to be entertained, I want goodies and baddies and good, clean fun. And it’s that spirit which is so wonderfully reflected in this music.
I must be clear that I’m not saying all the Marvel scores are terrible and finally, here’s a good one. There are lots of good ones. But this is a really good one. It’s probably the best one. It’s got everything you want in a great comic book movie score. I haven’t mentioned the crystal clear, dynamic recording, which is another real feather to its bow. It’s just so satisfying – everything about it. Especially that main theme. All together: FAN-TAS-TIC-FOUR!
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