Movie Music Musings: The Matrix Trilogy Part 3

Composer Don Davis was told to make the music for Matrix Revolutions bigger than anything he had done before. Davis took this to heart and steered his final score for the trilogy toward an operatic epic scale. The highlights of this score are enormous choral delights, and the action music goes for an overwhelming sound as opposed to the more dense and intricate work of the first film.

The techno influence is also downplayed from its role in Reloaded. Juno Reactor did contribute to three tracks of the score, but this primarily Davis’ show. Much like his original score to The Matrix Davis does use some electronics, but he keeps them in the background, adding to scenes, primarily with Agent Smith and his burbling electronic signature.

While the Matrix motif is heard in the score, it is less prominent here, with most of the big action set pieces of the middle of the score using lots of percussion to blaze away at your ears. It is all very dense stuff, but the scale is much bigger and open than the previous scores. It approaches Lord of the Rings levels of grandeur in places.

The other key piece of Matrix Revelations is a final tragic statement of Neo and Trinity’s love in the track Trinity Definitely (a play on the first track of The Matrix called Trinity Infinity). This cue gives us the best statement of this love theme, but Davis tinges it with sadness, one of the few times in the series where this type of emotion is delved musically.

The real reason to seek out this score is for the music Davis crafted for the final third of the film. Here Neo faces Agent Smith one last time, and these tracks are right up there with John Williams Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in the ability to capture an apocalyptic battle of titans. The highlight cue of Matrix Revolutions is Neodammerung a battle cue using Davis trademark matrix style, choir chanting in Sanskrit and pure bombast. Everything comes together in this massive piece and it is a real treat.

Davis then heads into the finale allowing the music to reach a triumphant and melodic conclusion. It is satisfying to hear this after nearly three albums of dissonance and conflict. The final moments of For Neo are a wonderful end to the series.

But Juno Reactor steps in one last time to combine with Davis for the end title track Navras. It is a propulsive and dance worthy reimaging of Neodammerung with clearer statements for the choir and a ton of power behind it. The Matrix Revolutions ends on this high note.

Score fans were treated to a solid album release with the film with a generous CD clocking in at nearly 64 minutes of music. Some of the most aggressive and bombastic Battle of Zion music is missing, but all the key tracks are there. La-La Land delivered a complete version of the score in 2014. It gives a fleshed out vision of the score, as well as some exciting alternate takes that highlight Davis’ amazing orchestral work.

Don Davis’ accomplished work on The Matrix trilogy is something that needs to be revisited by film music fans, and film fans in general. He introduced a new language to film music, and collaborated to create an amazing and effective fusion of electronic dance music styles with orchestra. These scores are unique in their own way, and yet build on one another and create a sonic world and story that evolves over the course of the films. Even if you aren’t a fan of the movies themselves the music will grab you with its unique approach.

For many film music fans, scores of the modern era are in a bit of a stale stasis, with the Zimmer sound dominating all large budget genre and action films. It’s a shame that Davis’ style didn’t take off, and at least provide an alternate vision of what a film score could do. The music to The Matrix is nearly 15 years old at this point, but it sounds so fresh compared to the big budget scores we hear today. It appears that only in video game music has Don Davis’ work inspired. Check out this track from the game Remember Me, and hear some major influence from The Matrix.  

Movie Music Musings: The Matrix Trilogy Part 2

I mentioned in my musings on the score for The Matrix that the techno music made the biggest impression on fans of the film. I won’t say that Don Davis’ work was ignored, because his signature Matrix motif is very recognizable. But his dense tension and action music is the kind that supports the visuals but not in an obvious thematic way. While this was an innovative direction for film scores of the time, it was only the beginning. With The Matrix Reloaded he was going to switch things up a bit.

While The Matrix was primarily a horror and suspense score, Reloaded plays much more like an action film score. The pure horror moments are replaced with a more triumphant sound for the Zion sequences, and fleshing out of the love theme for Neo and Trinity.

The biggest change comes in the form of Don Davis teaming up with techno music artists like Rob Dougan and Juno Reactor. This fusion works wonders during the action scenes, adding electronic driving pulses to Davis dense style. The final result takes the trilogy’s music to an entirely different level, one that is much more accessible in some ways.

For me there are two highlights for the electronic and orchestral combo in Reloaded. The first is the Burly Brawl where Davis and Juno Reactor score the fight between Neo and the infinite Agent Smiths. The music starts out aggressive, almost like a battle between the orchestra and the electronics. It builds and builds and builds into a frenzy of insanity.

My favorite cue is the techno heavy Mona Lisa Overdrive, which accompanies the intense freeway chase in the film. Here Juno Reactor dominates the music creating a dance worthy piece that works Don Davis’ orchestral sound, and warps it. The track is relentless, building a bit with each battle, but then returning to a constant motion. It’s one of my favorite tracks from the whole series and from the 00s in particular.

Thos looking for pure Davis material will find some really great stuff with the moments between Neo and Trinity, and a bit more melodic interludes when the heroes confront the Merovingian. But Reloaded is a score this is all about the action tracks, and the techno fusion.

For film score fans, Matrix Reloaded was an odd release. In 2003 at the time the film came out, a two-disc album was released. The first disc included mostly songs used and inspired by the film. But also had some of Rob Dougan’s contributions Furious Angels and Dread Rock, both are worthy additions. The second CD contained the score and Juno Reactor and Don Davis material. But most of the Davis only material was relegated to a 17-minute suite at the end. It was OK, but not a great representation of the album.

La-La Land came to the rescue in 2013 with a new two-disc set of the complete score. All of Davis’ material is included, as well as all the key music from Juno Reactor and Rob Dougan. The only thing missing was Dread Rock, but you get some interesting alternate versions of tracks and source music.

In a way Matrix Reloaded is the most fun and energetic music of the series. It provides a solid sample of Davis’ approach to the concept, and the techno pieces are a perfect fit. The final entry would go in yet another direction.

Movie Music Musings: The Matrix Trilogy Part 1

Let’s travel back to the 1990s era of film music. The biggest film and film score of the decade was Titanic and James Horner was at the top of his game providing scores for other big films like Braveheart, Legends of the Fall and Apollo 13.  Hans Zimmer was perfecting his action sound that would dominate the next couple decades. But in the 90s he was giving us great scores like The Lion King, The Thin Red Line, and The Rock. David Arnold was blowing us away with explosive scores to Stargate, Independence Day and Tomorrow Never Dies. Jerry Goldsmith was cranking out the scores as diverse as Star Trek: First Contact, First Knight, Congo and L.A. Confidential. Of course you had John Williams who was hard at work with scores like Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Amastad. But all of us film geeks were waiting for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. And that is just a sampling, but you get the idea.

Out of nowhere came the score to The Matrix and it was like none of these other scores. It was like no other film score: period. The closest you could come would be some of the more experimental scores from the 1960s and 1970s, like Goldsmith’s score to Planet of the Apes or Rosenman’s score to Fantastic Voyage. But even that comparison doesn’t really work, because The Matrix uses much more modern electronics and styles. It sounds a bit like the work of Eliot Goldenthal (who created the wonderful score to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and some of the key music in Heat). Still composer Don Davis gave this score a unique sound.

Davis wasn’t new to the film score business, but he often worked behind the scenes as an orchestrator, and had composed for television on a number of occasions. In this case the directors (the Wachoski brothers) gave Davis creative freedom, only asking that The Matrix not sound like any other current blockbuster film score.

The 1990s were heavily influenced by Williams’ impact in the 1980s, with big themes and orchestral action carrying the day. Electronics were falling out of favor for the most part (Zimmer being the big exception). So Davis chose to score The Matrix using primarily dissonance, layers of sounds that conflict and yet work together, and electronics that seem to seethe under the score. Davis warps some of the orchestral sounds, especially when “reality” is warped in the film. He also uses a bit of choral accompaniment to add punch to key scenes.

There are a few motifs in the film. There is the familiar theme for the Matrix itself, heard in opening credits (and in the same place in all the sequels). Davis will pull this battle of two discordant notes out whenever the Matrix was being manipulated. There is a electronic burbling used when Agent Smith is on the screen, a very unsettling sound. Finally there is a hint of a love theme that would mature over the next two sequels.

The score to The Matrix plays more like a suspense and horror score. Davis creates tension and unease in the music by layering dissonant music and building it up. The first half of the score is dominated by this intricate and disturbing music. Later on when the action material kicks in, the music becomes dense and furious. The result is not traditionally bombastic but powerful and not in the overtly masculine way that Zimmer pioneered.  I love the track Ontological Shock. It shows off the action writing, the Matrix moments and a bit of bombast as our heroes rescue Morpheus from Agent Smith’s clutches.

Davis wasn’t responsible for any of the techno music use in The Matrix. Since his work was so dissonant, most people remember only the techno tracks used in the film. This is a bit of a shame, because the score is a real gem, standing alone at the end of the 90s.

Varese Sarabande released a very short score only album at the time of the films release. It clocked in at 30 minutes but was missing some of the more intense music from the end, as well as the music when Neo learns and executes his Kung Fu. There was also a song compilation CD, which I could talk about… but I won’t. Instead I’ll mention that in 2008, Varase Sarabande released a limited edition of the complete score to the Matrix clocking in at a healthy 78 minutes. Yeah, it’s a bit of an overkill as a complete listen, but a very nice hour long edit can be made from this version and it gives you a nice taste of Davis’ intricate work.

But this wasn't the end of the series of Don Davis' wonderful music. He would continue to evolve this unique sound in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions.