Soundtrack Review: 'Wanted'

Soundtracks Reviews

By Sue Klasky Aug 8, 2008, 12:32 GMT

"Wanted", directed by Timur Bekmambetov is loosely based on the comic novel limited series by Mark Millar. It stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, an accounts manager who does the same boring things every day. He takes anti-anxiety pills to cope, and one day while buying pills at a drug store, he meets Fox, (played by Jolie). She was sent to protect him from the man who has just murdered his father. Gibson is recruited in to a secret society of assassins, The Fraternity. Freeman plays Sloan, the head of the Fraternity. Veteran film composer Danny Elfman ("Beetlejuice," "The Nightmare Before Christmas") wrote the score for this movie. I was surprised with his opening track "The Little Things," which Elfman sings! I liked this tune the best of all the tracks. The rest are instrumental. Most of the tracks feature percussion and strings; and some electronic sounds. And the 15 pieces have the same musical feel that runs through all of them. After a while, it's a bit monotonous. Songs that made an impression, besides "The Little Things": "Welcome to the Fraternity" starts off slow and quiet, then gets loud with drums, then back to quiet. The music is dark, scary and ominous and performed on lots of violins. "Fox in Control" is authoritative music, with a lot of violins and drums. "Exterminator Beat" features an interesting electronic beat. Elfman's score sounds like it conveys the action in the film. He uses lots of sweeping layering of instruments and electronics such as in "Rats" and "Revenge." His fans will probably enjoy the CD. I just thought the score's tracks, except for the lead-off track, "The Little Things," all sounded too similar.