X-Men: The Last Stand (Original Motion Picture)

While Hollywood franchises often stick to one composer as a way to establish continuity, the three X-Men movies have gone to three different musicians. And yet, the sound has remained remarkably homogenous; in other words, if you enjoyed Michael Kamen and John Ottway's scores for the first and second installments, respectively, you'll get a kick out of what John Powell has come up with for the third. Though he adopted a more contemporary, electronic-inflected sound on actioners The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy, here Powell goes for the full symphonic treatment. What's most interesting is his use of a 45-member chorus, which is surprisingly varied. On "Jean and Logan," the choir delicately hovers above the strings, almost out of reach, but on "Rejection Is Never Easy," it weaves in and out in a rather spooky manner, and it unleashes at full blast on the CD's climax, "Phoenix Rises," a six-minute-plus opus that at times sounds like a weird cross between sacred music and Philip Glass. This is one of the best big-budget scores of the year. --Elisabeth Vincentelli