thepremier's Full Review: Star Trek [2009] by Original Soundtrack
Star Trek: Music From the Motion Picture Michael Giacchino 2009
"I grew up listening to all of that great [Trek] music, and that's part of what inspired me to do what I'm doing [...] You just go in scared. You just hope you do your best. It's one of those things where the film will tell me what to do." - Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino is to J.J. Abrahms what Danny Elfman is to Tim Burton, two oddly creative minds who seem to be very much in sync with each other as they execute their visions. He is rapidly becoming my new favorite score composer. His energetic, evocative and emotional melodies in much of his work blend percussion, brass, and conscientious use of wind and string all while keeping things engaging, meaningful, and fun. My first true impression and affection for him came not from his work in Alias, Lost, or Mission Impossible III but from the fantastic Pixar hit The Incredibles, where his jazzy, big-band sounds and sassy horn motifs that bordered on the cheesy and the cornball - truly compounded my enjoyment of the movie immensely.
Giacchino here, is presented with the same challenges that everyone involved with this movie had to face and overcome - how to take this well established space opera and make it new, fresh, and meaningful without either impersonating or completely disregarding the original and still keep it true to the spirit. I dare say that the sweeping melody created by him rivals the legendary themes of Courage and Goldsmith, for I found, and continue to find myself humming it at the most random times.
This melody/fanfare is heard as the opening track "Star Trek" during which the Paramount, Spyglass, and Bad Robot logos appear. This theme is the bread and butter around which Giacchino creates his audio buffet for the heroism and bravery of our central characters, as well as the underlying spirit of Starfleet and the Federation. In it's most bold, brassy, and loudest renditions, it is used for the proud, noble U.S.S. Enterprise's jaw dropping debut scene in space (Track 5: "Enterprising Young Men"). This fanfare also features prominently in Track 12: "That New Car Smell", Track 11: "Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns", Track 12: "Back From Black", and well as the "End Credits".
Giacchino displays excellent talent at balancing the needs for crafting music for white-knuckle action scenes while creating somber and at times alien atmospheres. "Nailin' the Kelvin" is a particularly bombastic piece of chaotic blasts of horns and percussion as the U.S.S. Kelvin is ambushed in a battle it cannot hope to win against Nero's ship, the Narada - this epic piece is immediately followed by the piece "Labor of Love", a double entendre of the tragic sacrifice James T. Kirk's father made to save his crew and his pregnant wife - and of Winona Kirk as she ends up going into labor on the escape shuttle. I admit that the ethereal and the quiet elegance of this piece juxtaposed with the final moments of George Kirk struggling valiantly to buy his crew precious seconds to escape brought me to tears.
In the track, "Hella Bar Talk", Giacchino creates a subtle yet stirring and forceful backdrop to the scene in which Christopher Pike sort of assumes a new father figure in Kirk's life and becomes even a tad bit militaristic as Kirk decides to enlist in Starfleet.
"Nice to Meld You" is an interesting little micro film score all in one piece, because it is played as future Spock mind melds with Kirk to give us a flashback (flashforward?) into the events that brought him into the past and what needs to be done to stop Nero.
Finally, Giacchino went to great lenghts to give Nero the requisite amount of malice and sinisterness because as a villain he was not completely developed on screen as he could have been. A 40 member choir and distorted recordings give the Romulans a magnitude of danger not scene in movie form, the piece "Nero Death Experience" is an awesome testament to the rage of Nero and the immense power of his ship. Another way of looking at it is that this piece dd to Nero what "Duel of the Fates" did for Star Wars Episode 1 - drastically amplifying the epic and danger involved. "Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns", "Nero Sighted" in which the Enterprise and crew barely escape, and especially "Nero Death Experience" which is the final showdown between Enterprise and Narada are also thrilling and soaring pieces to listen to.
What was missing from the released score were the truly otherworldly sounds Giacchino used to explore Spock's Vulcan heritage. An instrument so alien to Western ears, the Chinese erhu, an elegant stringed instrument, successfully gave those scenes a distinctively foreign atmosphere. There is just a minute or so of it in the track "That New Car Smell".
Finally, "To Boldy Go" and "End Credits" bring back tremendous feelings of nostalgia as Giacchino puts his own wildly entertaining spin on Alexander Courage's "Where No Man Has Gone Before" theme using a powerful choir and well placed percussion.
In closing, Michael Giacchino has truly succeeded in putting to music the daring and new beginning to a series so many people love dearly. The musical score, much like the movie, mirror each other in the sense that the film was extremely fast paced - at times the editing felt more like a music video than a movie. The score reflects this, as the cues are relatively brief, the emotion and the moments of tenseness are just long enough without being overkill but sometimes, we would just like it if the moment were to linger on a bit longer.
I do not have a crystal ball, so I do not know whether Paramount will offer Abrams the chance to do another Trek movie - but if they do - and he accepts - we know that the brilliant, fun, and lively music of Michael Giacchino is sure to follow.
Complete Track Listing. Notice Giacchino's continued love of puns and creative titling.
1. "Star Trek" 2. "Nailin' the Kelvin" 3. "Labor of Love" 4. "Hella Bar Talk" 5. "Enterprising Young Men" 6. "Nero Sighted" 7. "Nice to Meld You" 8. "Run and Shoot Offense" 9. "Does it Still McFly?" 10. "Nero Death Experience" 11. "Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns" 12. "Back From Black" 13. "That New Car Smell" 14. "To Boldly Go" 15. "End Credits"
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