Valkyrie

Director Bryan Singer tackled flying superheroes and con men in his career. In 2008 he took on a large challenge, a film about a failed assasination attempt on Adolf Hitler. The movie was almost fully historically correct and was met with praise, but one of the most interesting aspects was John Ottman's score. Having worked with Singer before, Ottman knew exactly what ground to tread but surprisingly came out with a powerful, and heavily emotional score that may have been one of the most underrated in his career.

Almost immediately Ottman jumps into the score with the powerful 'They'll Remember You' (also featuring The Rundfunker Berlin). The song is very powerful and emotional, making great use of the orchestra and choir. As the score progresses, alot of the music becomes more tension filled. 'What's This Really all about' and 'A Place To Change feature great uses of percussion and flaring brass. One interesting thing to note is the mettallic motif used whenever Hitler is present. 'March 13th Attempt' and 'Getting The Signature' feature more synth and noise as opposed to the usual orchestra/percussion featured in the music.

Halfway into the album Ottman introduces a secondary theme to the film. It's a 4 note orchestral motif that appears in full form in 'The Way It Should Go'. Alot of the mounting tension is portrayed less with orchestra and more with synth. Therein lies the main problem with the score. Ottman occasionally abandons conventional orchestral methods and replaces it with Electronics. 'Important Call' is the best example as it features almost no orchestral sounds. Fortunately, Ottman rounds this out with the orchestral music. 'Operation Valkyrie', 'Seconds Lost', and 'I'm Sorry' feature some of the most beautiful music written. Another interesting little track is 'Midnight Waltz', which fairly self explanatory. The album rounds out perfectly with 'Operation Terminated' and 'Long Live Sacred Germany', two emotional tracks that end off the film.

The film Valkyrie portrays the failed assasination attempts on Hitler fairly darkly, showing how the plan came so close to suceeding and ended up failing at the last minute. Ottman's score portrays this perfectly. At times the score is dark and moody, using synth. Other times it is intense, using more percussion. Alot of times, Ottman uses beautiful orchestrations to capture the more emotional aspects of the film. While the score may not be perfect, it shows just what John Ottman can do when given a project like Valkyrie.