Just got this on iTunes this morning. It's basically HEART OF THE SEA 2. Massively disappointing.
Often these vitriol propaganda movies allow for opulent scores, but clearly the filmmakers here wanted a "serious" approach and the music's mostly atmospheric, vaguely "ethnic" rumbling and brooding with the expected bells and whistles and totally sans any inspiration.
Bizarrely, it seem THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION was used as temp in the early portions - Note the echoey piano (!?) and shifting low strings in the second half of "It's Finished", a la the theme associated with Shawshank prison.
Only in one moment of high string ecstasy lasting just a few bars in "The Ascension" do we 'hear' Banos at all.
"Let's Fish", "The Ascension", "Farewell" and "I'll Never Be the Same" at least use the high strings for a little bit of loftiness amidst the pounding generic modern drums, but it all feels like too little and too late... And it's just not memorable really.
And the action music is of the Grade D "Hollywood McAction Scoring Inc." variety throughout.
The flute and clarinet solos heard later in the score are almost shocking given what precedes it in the hour of music beforehand.
Let's hope Banos pulls a Frederic Talgorn and leaves Hollywood soon, so he can get back to writing great music in his homeland. This is a sore waste of his vast talents.
Let's hope Banos pulls a Frederic Talgorn and leaves Hollywood soon, so he can get back to writing great music in his homeland. This is a sore waste of his vast talents.
Sad, but true. And I fear the same thing for Fernando Velázquez.
Agree with Bobbengan. I didn't get very far into this score because it sounded like typical modern score. Does it get better elsewhere?
The last few cues offer a little redemption (See what I did there?), but it's too little and too late. Not worth your time. It's exhaustively long to boot.
