Customer Reviews

Wanted [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When we talk about music and reviews and such - we are doing nothing more than giving our opinions. And those are relative.
Personally, I think this was a great score, and the only track I really didn't care about was "The Little Things".
The CD contains the soundtrack of the "Wanted" movie, mostly orchestral songs, some of them I clearly remember from the movie. They are a nice mix of orchestra, electronics and chorus, adequate to the action of the movie.
Another great work by Danny Elfman, and essential for all of us, Elfman Fans. Don't be misguided by all the negative reviews here. This is a nice, solid orchestral work - memorable and fun.

This is NOT a Bad Score The Only negative point : A lot of Cues that we heard in the movie are missing on the Album...

BUT, this is not a Boring Elfman score.

A lot of Good tracks : Success Montage, Fox Story, Fraternity Suite, Breaking the Code and Fate

''The Little Things'' song by Elfman is enjoyable !!!


Welcome back Danny !!!

First of all, it's not fair to this album for all those people who are complaining that they can't just buy 'The Little Things'. The reviews here are supposed to encompass the ENTIRE album, not just one song. Just cause you can't get one song by itself doesn't mean this album deserves one star.

Anyhow, this is a pretty good Elfman soundtrack. Not his best, but certainly not bad either. If you like film music, and certainly if you like Elfman, get this score! :)

It's great to have Danny Elfman return to the action movie! His score mit to the crazy action of the film very well. Any fan of his and/or film scores will enjoy this cd!!

*** This is NOT a VARIOUS ARTISTS SOUNDTRACK from the awesome movie!
It is the ACTUAL MOVIE SCORE (instrumental background music of the movie) by Danny Elfman. Includes his new song "The Little Things" as the 1st track but this is the ONLY song on the CD! ***

An actual soundtrack version CD should exist, the end credits of the movie list all of the songs and it says "soundtrack available" but I'm still looking to find it.

[Note to GAMERS: The bonus disc version of the Wanted DVD has hidden player mode codes to the upcoming Wanted game which comes out in March '09.]

This soundtrack is reminiscent of Danny Elfman's earlier work in "Batman." However, as any Elfman fan realizes, he is beginning to add more spice and creativity to his music as evidenced in "Meet the Robinsons" and here in "Wanted." This is definitely a must-have for Elfman fans, as well as for those who enjoy action-movie scores. Even if one has not yet seen the film, the music still conveys the various moments of discovery, decision, and intensity.

Wanted is the American directorial debut of Timur Bekmambetov, the Kazakh director of the cult Russian-language science fiction action hits Night Watch and Day Watch. The film stars James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, an office drone cube-jockey who lives a life of never-ending day-to-day tedium. However, everything is turned upside down when Wesley meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), a sexy assassin, who recruits Wesley into `The Fraternity', an ages-old brotherhood of assassins.

Bekmambetov's film is a flashy, glitzy, souped-up action flick, completely unlike anything one would expect from a filmmaker from the former Soviet Union, and although the film was not a groundbreaking box office success, it more than illustrates the way in which the language of cinema is becoming less and less separated. For the film's music, Bekmambetov turned to Danny Elfman, who hasn't really composed an out-and-out action score like this since Mission Impossible back in 1996 (his comic book work on Spider-Man notwithstanding). His composing style has clearly changed since that time; I didn't care for Mission Impossible at all, but Wanted is a delight: a loud, pumping work which proves that a score like this can be both entertaining and intelligently constructed.

Firstly, the opening song - "The Little Things" - is quite fantastic. Written and performed by Elfman, with help from 21 composer David Sardy, it's quite possibly the best movie song I have heard in several years. Elfman hasn't written an original rock song in quite a while (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory notwithstanding), and it's clear that talents he honed with Oingo Boingo in the 1980s, and which brought him to the attention of Tim Burton in the first place, have not left him.

The interesting thing about the score proper is that, although it sounds like and Elfman score, with all the little musical tics and familiar compositional hallmarks Elfman has, but it's presented in a wholly new way. It's the sign of a good composer when he can continually sound like himself, and have a distinct musical personality, but still manage to seem fresh and invigorating. Elfman has been doing this for several years now - the results have not always been completely successful, but the effort cannot be underestimated.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, perhaps due to the director's heritage, there is something is a Russian flavor to some of the music. The opening "Success Montage" features a long-lined string theme with a Slavic flavor, a steady, propulsive percussion undercurrent, and a lively, chattery orchestral accompaniment that makes for compelling listening. Similarly, the "Fraternity Suite" opens with some liturgical chanting straight out of the Orthodox church, which is underpinned by subtle throat-singers which again allude to Bekmambetov's Kazakhness.

"Wesley's Office Life" plays like an homage to all Elfman's musical heroes and contemporaries, beginning with a slightly misleading techno tempo, but eventually going on to embrace the slashing string writing of Bernard Herrmann, and the creatively bubbly dissonance of Don Davis's Matrix scores, while working in the four-note motif from the opening song into the underbelly of the piece, intelligently linking the two elements together.

The action music, when it truly kicks into gear, is quite fierce in its intensity. "Fox in Control" has a sense of insistent urgency in its churning string ostinatos and pseudo-retro blatting brasses; "Exterminator Beat", with its percolating groove, sounds like the kind of thing Lalo Schifrin might have written if he were the king of the 2000s rather than the 1970s; the vivid and tumultuous "Rats" mixes Fox's ostinato with the Slavic theme under a wild action motif to superb effect, and continues the flavor on into "The Train".

At the other end of the scale, "Fox's Story" and "Fox's Decision" have a lovely, soothing vocal element, and some entrancing Indian/Middle Eastern instrumental textures (sitars, perhaps) which cast a beguiling sheen of mystery over Angelina Jolie's sultry loveliness. "Fox's Decision" swells into a wonderfully majestic finale, before concluding on a slightly downbeat note in "Fate", which once again sees Elfman embracing his new found love of popular minimalism.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Wanted is the fact that, despite the fact that film is basically a summer popcorn flick, Elfman's score does not treat it as such. The cleverness of the score's construction belies its simple inspiration, and Elfman's steadfast refusal to `dumb down' the high standards he has set for himself in recent years is commendable. Highly recommended.

This soundtrack is to my mind Elfman's best work ever. Listening to the CD with my earphones it became a piece of classical music. It is so beautiful that I kept repeating the whole CD over and over. I also love "Little Things" which is a hit by itself, but of a different genre.

I don't understand the negative reviews at all. It's a brilliant piece of work and I can't recommend it highly enough. For lovers of soundtracks or Prokofiev alike, it's a stunner.

I've only reviewed one other work as I rarely have time to do this, but i just had to put in my two cents here.

Wanted would not be the simply 'awesome' film it is without Elfman's score: by the end of the movie when you hear the prominent main success theme again, already it brings a sense of nostalgia derived from the opening (on the first watch!). "The Little Things", a recording with Danny Elfman singing himself (not since Jack in the Nightmare Before Christmas that I've seen/heard/know of), adds a certain edge to the silky orchestral score that accompanies each and every scene. "The Train", "Fox In Control" & "Exterminator Beat" highlight the most exciting material, where "Success Montage", "Fox's Decision" & "Welcome to the Fraternity" are more subtle and erudite. However much of the bulk of the tracks in between memorable themes feel like 'filler' material where nothing interesting is going on. I noticed the better tunes were elaborated upon in the video game adaption "Weapons Of Fate", however I can't seem to find any official release of this material and doubt there was. Four stars because being on the short side this soundtrack could have included more of the better prevalent sequences, never mind repetition. Generally each interesting theme is only heard once or twice, resulting in little or no variation - which was NOT the case in the film itself.

One of the most critical tracks is missing. In case you're interested .. Every Day Is Exactly the Same .. Nine Inch Nails .. With Teeth..