Renovatio Records' music cycle of scores for ocean-themed films continues with Pacific Rim! The 2013 science-fiction monster film, directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi and Ron Perlman is set in a future in which Earth is at war with the Kaiju, colossal sea monsters that have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To fight these monsters, humanity has created the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid mechas controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link. While the script may be shaped like an average "humanity unites to fight extinction" tale, it cannot be denied that Del Toro's film is a feast for the eyes, with stunning visual effects and nail-biting action sequences. After all, what's not to like when a giant robot uses an oil tanker as a baseball bat to hit a massive monster?!
Much of the film's enjoyment is due to its pounding score put together by Remote Control Productions veteran composer Ramin Djawadi, who was brought by Del Toro based on his work for Game of Thrones. Initially, film music enthusiasts may think that this is just another noisy blend of orchestra and electronics, but fortunately, Djawadi provided much more intelligence for this entry than for similarly conceived film projects. Of course, you'll find lots of synths and samples, and even the infamous Horn of Doom every once in a while, but Djawadi has taken the time to develop very enjoyable thematic material for many characters and situations, not to mention that the orchestra for this score consisted of over 100 musicians, including a Russian choir! The dominant idea for Pacific Rim is a rock guitar riff (awesomely executed by Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello) that sets the mood for the heroic main theme, first heard in its enterity in the cue "Gipsy Danger" and closing the score in the form of an end credits suite. This theme receives several treatments throughout the score, namely as the main driver for the action music, sometimes in the form of calm and solemn guitar solos (hear the cue "Raleigh", for instance), and in certain occasions as an adventurous yet nostalgic piece for humanity's fight against the creatures, best summarized in the cue "Cancelling the Apocalypse". But that's not all! The Kaijus themselves receive a threating motif in low brass that will certainly rock your house, best heard at the beginning of the rumbling cue "Leatherback Brawl". You'll also find a lovely and tender yet gloomy piece for the main female character, Mako Mori, which features the vocals of Priscilla Ahn ("Mako's Theme"). And besides all of these main ideas, Djawadi has also developed themes for several secondary characters, like a horn elegy motif for the dying Marshall Stacker Pentecost ("Last Man Standing"), a bouncy electronic theme for comic-relief Dr. Newton Geiszler ("The Bone Slums"), and a smoth ethnic blues-like piece for black marketer Hannibal Chau ("Finding Hannibal Chau"). Surrounding all of these highly enjoyable themes, you'll get tons of action music, which are quite distinct on its own. In a key fighting sequence ("Thundercloud Formation"), for example, Djawadi employs a Russian male choir for a Russian Jaeger as it joins the brawl between a Kaiju and a Chinese Jaeger, the latter represented by frenetic chants and taiko drummings. The result is a pounding non-stop action cue that will have you on the edge of your seat!
The score was released as an album in 2013 by WaterTower Music. While it effectively summarized some of the best parts of Djawadi’s score, the tracks were not in chronological order and presented in the form of very short cues entangled in a somewhat disrupting listening experience. This new presentation put together by Renovatio Records not only includes unreleased music but also organizes the cues in a much more fluent and cohesive progression that actually evokes the movie’s story and will hopefully make you appreciate Djawadi’s efforts even more.
Many film score
traditionalists may label Pacific Rim as just another entry in a lengthy series
of electric guitar-driven scores influenced by Hans Zimmer's mannerisms.
However, Djawadi has thrown a remarkable amount of thematic development into
the mix, constructing what may be the best score of his career so far. Go loud
or go extinct!
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