(Soundtrack) Quantum of Solace

Our Rating: 3.5
Music by: David Arnold

David Arnold really hit his melodic best with Casino Royale. He had really waltzed into John Barry territory with tracks like City of Lovers and Vesper. But, in Quantum of Solace, we see (actually, hear) Arnold doing what he does best-heavily percussive, off-kilter-at-first action cues. In fact, some of the cues appear to be really random and unmelodious on first listen. But then, after repeated listening, themes start emerging amongst all the mayhem. What first seems like one rambling mess, turns into something divine. Especially, after watching the movie, and seeing how well the soundtrack fits it. The way the music's been performed, it complements Daniel Craig's ruthlessness really well. The orchestra pulls hard on the strings, blows hard into the brass, beats the drums black and blue, thus giving the soundtrack a rather edgy, gritty and driven feel.
The album starts off with Time to Get Out, one of the better tracks. Snippets from the Bond theme are mixed with driving percussion to deliver a nice, foot tapping action cue to accompany the amazingly good car chase seen right at the start of the film. This is continued right into The Palio, which gives us more of the same, albeit, in a more frentic manner. The tension of the Palio foot-chase can actually be revisited while listening to this track. Bond in Haiti is a rather dense, but lilting track. On screen, it works well in providing the necessary ambience, but on disc, its 37 second runtime is 37 seconds too long. Sadly, the album contains more of such incidental, crappy tracks in Talamone and Bolivian Taxi Ride. Such 'title card' tracks (in that they are effecive in just conveying what country Bond is at the moment) were better done on the Casino Royale soundtrack.
Pursuit at Port Au Prince is a nice little action piece, but I suspect that 10 years down the line, it'll seem very jaded. The extensive use of electric guitars and repetitve drums firmly cement this track as belonging to this year, as opposed to the timeliness of traditional orchestral music. But, the track is rounded up in a very flamboyant and Bond-like manner, with a rendition of the 'pre-Bond' Bond theme from Casino Royale, which merges into the traditional Bond theme really well. Field Trip also features these two renditions, and is one of the Bond-est tracks on the album.
Night at the Opera features the Dominic Greene theme, which we first heard in Greene & Camille in full glory, performed on an orchestral harp, with army marching band like percussion driving it nicely along.
The better moments of the album come when the Vesper theme from Casino Royale is reprised, like in What's Keeping You Awake, Forgive Yourself and I Never Left. They instill some humanity into Bond's character and help us in understanding what exactly is driving him along. And, let's just face it, the Vesper theme WAS really amazing!
Target Terminated is a generic action cue played out during the aerial dogfight. It effectively combines heavy percussion with fragments reprised from the action cues from Casino Royale, specially the ending, which is a faithful copy of the ending of African Rundown.
By far the coolest reprise of the Bond theme comes in Oil Fields. The track starts off extremely dark and tense, and then about midway through it, we get to hear a rather determined and driven reprise of the theme. In its 2:30 runtime, the track conveys just how much of a bulldog Bond really has become. Gone are the days of the sleek yet hammy Bond, Craig's Bond is going to get his way by hook or by crook.
Sadly, after this, none of the track quite match up, with nothing of note in the next 5 tracks (including the theme song, Another Way to Die) except another reprise of the Bond theme at the end of Perla De Las Dunas. The reprise starts of very softly, gradually gaining volume and momentum, till its rather mute ending.
All in all, this album, though a good compilation of action cues (like the movie it accompanies), doesn't quite match up to its predecessor (again, like the movie it accompanies). Buy it only if you're an avid David Arnold fan...

---

Post Comments Feed

(Soundtrack) The Dark Knight

Our Rating: 4
SoundtrackNet Critic: 3.5
SoundtrackNet Users: 4.5

---

Music by: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard

Okay, I'll be frank. I'm sick and tired of Zimmer and movie soundtracks-after a while every score starts to sound the same. Having said that, the only reason why I heard this soundtrack was because I thought that the soundtrack might give some clues about the movie. I mean, I've been waiting for this flick for a really long time, and with so little information available about it, I had to resort to trawling the soundtrack for clues about the movie!The soundtrack begins on a really irritating note with Why So Serious? which, obviously, contains Joker's theme. Not a very good start to the whole listening experience, but towards the end of the track, we hear the Joker's theme as a counter-weight to the two-note Batman motif. The brass swells up and you expect the Batman motif to be played, but the second (descending) note in this motif is a different note, thus establishing (musically) the fact that Joker and Batman are same in a lot of ways, but still different, two sides of the same coin...
I'm Not a Hero introduces us to the theme that Zimmer and Howard wrote for the previous movie, but didn't use it then. There's nothing heroic about the theme, it's more about Batman introspecting and generally feeling burdened with the task at hand. Infact, much of the score is all based on the same thought, with just the last 3-4 tracks establishing Batman as lashing out against the chaos around him and trying valiantly to bring order back to Gotham city. I'm Not a Hero also contains some reprises from Batman Begins, tracks which were used in the movie, but not included on the album. These reprises, though pleasing to hear, reek a bit too much of techno beats. Infact, that is one major grouse I have against Zimmer and Howard-the reprises all have David Arnold-isque techno beats.
Harvey Two-Face, as the name suggests, is the suite for Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Just like the Joker theme was the counter-weight of the Batman theme, Dent's theme is the counter-weight of Bruce Wayne's theme from Batman Begins. Infact, both start of in the same way, but while Dent's theme becomes optimistic after that, Wayne's theme plunges into pity, remorse and introspection. This suite greatly fleshes out Dent's character-it embodies optimism, the 'whiteness' of Dent, and his sense of purpose, and is carried on in Blood on My Hands.
Aggressive Expansion starts off with a really pleasing reprise of the orchestral swell from Barbastella. Again, the orchestra pounds away the Batman theme in full glory. It then adds on more reprises, often adding more weight to the themes. The reprises continue with Always a Catch, which has Nycteris in an almost unaltered form.
Like a Dog Chasing Cars, And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad, Agent of Chaos, Introduce a Little Anarchy and Watch the World Burn, though not action cues in the traditional percussion pounding way, can be nothing but those. These epically performed tracks exude the sense that Batman is trying to bring order to the anarchy unleashed by the Joker. These tracks contain bits of Molossus, the new Batman theme (performed valiantly/heroically) and the Joker theme, all inter-mixed in real foot tapping fashion, and if these tracks are anything to go by, the movie's going to be really really epic in scale!
A Dark Knight is the longest track of the disc, clocking in at more than 16 minutes. It isn't fast enough to be an action cue, and I can't see any way how there can be a 16 minute track for introspective scenes. So, the only conclusion I can draw is that something really special is going to happen in the finale of the movie. The track also suggests thus, swinging between heroic and introspective with utmost ease. The 16 minutes fly by and the album is wrapped up on a nice note with the two note pounding Batman theme, followed by a really muted rendition of the Joker theme.All in all, this album is something really grand and entertaining. What is interesting to see is that while the Batman theme has many variations, right from introspective to tragic to valiant to down right heroic, the Joker theme is always played just the way it's fist heard right at the beginning. The weird little theme, though irritating at first, really captures the essence of the Joker very well. All the tracks are worth mention and this album, like the movie, is something really special....

---

Post Comments Feed

(Soundtrack) Batman Begins

Our Rating: 4
SoundtrackNet Critic: 4
SoundtrackNet Users: 4.5

---

Music by: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
Additional Music by: Ramin Djawadi and Mel Wesson

Many fans complained about the deviation from the original Danny Elfman score in this reboot of the Batman franchise. While Elfman's score for Batman and Batman Returns was majestic and as proclaimed by Elfman fans, genius, for this reboot, acclaimed composers Hans Zimmer (Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Rock, The Da Vinci Code) and James Newton Howard (King Kong, The Village) collaborate and completely change the music of Batman. Gone are the gothic and (at times) silly Elfman-esque themes. They are replaced by themes which could truly become the voice of the future Batman movies.
I've always maintained that music is the actual voice of the film-even masterfully shot scenes require good music to actually lift them up from the mundane. But this score, it left me totally speechless. It not just becomes the voice of the movie, but also of Batman. The tragic yet heroic tone of the music is a welcome departure from the more action oriented writing of Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin). For the first time, someone's actually gone inside Batman's head and realized that it ain't all about the action, instead, it's more about the character and what drives him than the action (which doesn't, for a moment take anything away from the fact that the album features some pretty good action cues too).
The album begins with Vespertilio-a percussive piece that uses rhythmic pounds to simulate the effect of a giant bat flapping its wings (or, as a friend pointed out, an approaching storm), which are repeated quite often in the album. Midway through the cue, a two note rising and descending motif takes over. This is the central theme and the best use of it is around the 4-minute mark in Barbestalla, when by mixing it with percussion and a full orchestra, Zimmer and Howard create a sudden and unexpected uplifting theme.
The album also features some cues that could so easily have fit into a horror movie (and thus, blend superbly with Batman Begins' central theme of fear). Whispers and dark ambient textures are used well in Artibeus and Tadarida to create an atmosphere of fear.
The action writing makes its first appearance in Myotis, a fast paced track that ends nicely on an emotional note, introducing us to Batman's main theme. Antrozous is also a pretty decent track, starting out on soft, tension creating track before degenerating into an overdrawn (yet enjoyable at times) cue. It was better represented in the movie, but for some strange reason, the good bits didn't make it into the album.
Hands down the best track on the album is Molossus. Once it starts, it never quits (often running in my head for a day or two after listening to it!!). The orchestra really rises to Zimmer's writing to give us the best rendition of the Batman theme in a long long time. Set to coincide with the freeway chase, this track too is better represented in the film (but is awesome on the album too!!).
The emotional and tender writing is undoubtedly Newton Howard. The sweeping treble melodies and the stringy approach create one rising melody after the other. While Zimmer's basses became the voice of Batman, Howard's strings became the voice of Bruce Wayne. They not only made us feel for Wayne, but also understand what actually drives him. The alleyway cue (when Wayne's parents are shot to death) could so easily have resulted in melodramatic writing by a novice (which would most probably have completely put the listener off), but Howard chooses a much more restrained approach to create something really moving. Eptesicus, Corynorhinus, Barbastella and Macrotus feature some of the best tender bits in a long time, and are definitely worth a listen.
To wrap it all up, I'd say that even though a lot of good cues were dropped from the album and some were cut short, and this might not be as much fun as Elfman's albums, this album is definitely a better piece of writing. While Elfman seldom wrote for Wayne, Zimmer and Howard created stirring cues for him too. And, the action bits are pure genius. More importantly, the score complements Nolan's vision flawlessly, thus uplifting this movie from the mundane, and into a masterpiece.

---

Post Comments Feed

(Soundtrack) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

---

Our Rating: 3.5
SoundtrackNet Critic: 4.5
SoundtrackNet Users: 4.5

---

Music By: Hans Zimmer

The Curse of the Black Pearl (by Klaus Badelt, in collaboration with Hans Zimmer) was fun, Dead Man's Chest (by Hans Zimmer) was silly, and now with World's End, Zimmer rounds off his Pirates' bounty of soundscapes with a mega flourish-not always gripping, but mostly flourishy, silly and yes, with the swashbuckling swagger so important in a Jack Sparrow film. If ye liked the old themes from the Pirates movies, be warned, there aren't many reprises of those. Heck, even the Jack Sparrow theme from Dead Man's Chest makes just fleeting appearances in its original form. Forget about the Klaus Badelt themes, you really need to be alert to pick them up in I Don't Think Now Is The Best Time and Drink Up Me Hearties. But having said that, these reprises are quite pleasing. Surprisingly, the Tia Dalma theme from Dead Man's Chest gets more time than Jack Sparrow.
Moving on to original music written for this movie, Zimmer basically wrote two extremely lengthy themes-the Pirates Theme (based on the song Hoist the Colours) and the Love Theme. These, he broke up and wove them really well into the almost every cue. Personally, I found the Love Theme to be more heroic and flourishy than the Pirates Theme. Funny, considering that this was a Pirates movie, not a romantic caper. But, this theme lent the flick a certain grandeur and scale, missing from the first two movies. But then again, maybe this film is really about the love between Will and Elizabeth. Certainly fits in with the surprise ending, that you can see coming just before the climax.
The album starts with Hoist the Colours, which I think is a traditional pirate/seaman's song (but since I was too lazy to actually check this up, I might well be wrong...), and seeing its use in the film, I get goosebumps each time I listen to it. This gets reprised a number of times, without the vocals. We then move on to Singapore, a pretty decent track which incorporates the East India Company/Beckett theme from Dead Man's Chest with the theme for the new pirate character, Sao Feng. Multiple Jacks and the Brethren Court are equally silly tracks, having an "off", out of tune rendition of Jack Sparrow. Seeing that they are for an extremely silly, self centred and moronic bunch of pirates, they actually do make sense in the movie and, on the soundtrack, they can be used to irritate someone, much like the Willy Wonka track from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
I Don't Think Now Is The Best Time is the big action piece of the movie. Big, in terms of orchestration and length. At 10:46, it's a wee bit too long. But then, it has good reprises of many of major and minor themes from the previous two movies and, woven exquisitely in to all this is the grand Love Theme. In the movie, it plays out during the climactic fight sequence (which, by the way, is very funny), it is quite brisk. Playing for most of its 10 minute running time, underneath the main orchestra, is a moving line, much in the style of Zimmer's Da Vinci Code. It certainly adds a bit of extra motion to the whole track.
Drink Up Me Hearties rounds off the album with re-orchestrated He's A Pirate theme from Curse of the Black Pearl (which, Dead Man's Chest so sorely lacked). This blossoms into a beautiful rendition of the Love Theme, performed strongly in an epic manner. It comes to a close with final orchestral swell, and the album comes to an end.
Problems with the score: the lack of the reprises, and its slow/choiry tracks (the ones where the Tia Dalma theme gets inordinately long reprises). But mostly, one track: Parlay. WHAT THE HECK IS AN ELECTRIC GUITAR DOING IN A PIRATE MOVIE!?!!! And that too, in such a thinly veiled manner. It's a western influenced track, an ode to Ennio Morricone, but still, you can't just so blatantly have an electric guitar in a movie set so clearly in the pre electricity era. Dead Man's Chest also had something like this-what everyone mistook to be electric guitars in the Kracken theme. Instead, it turned out to be a regular orchestra pumped out through a guitar amp. Besides the point. What I really mean is that that track used the electric amp effect so well. While in this, when I first heard it, I thought that something was wrong with PVR's audio system, that music from some other movie was being played. And then, the dialogues begun, and horror, horror, I realized that that trashy piece of populist writing was indeed Zimmer's, and that too, for this movie only.
Well, mostly the soundtrack was a pleasant listening experience, Parlay notwithstanding. Certainly not the best Zimmer effort, but quite good. It brought the swashbuckling pirates element (which really was missing in the first two soundtracks) into this franchise, and for that I'd recommend this soundtrack. That, and the amazing Love Theme....

---

Post Comments Feed