 |
|
| View Mode |
| Regular | Headlines |
|
| All times are
PT (Pacific Time), U.S.A.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| CD Review: War of the Worlds |
| Posted By: Jeff Bond on July 17, 2005 - 10:00 PM |
CD Review: War of the Worlds
by Jeff Bond
War of the Worlds *** 1/2
JOHN WILLIAMS
Sony Classical B0004568-02
15 tracks - 61:34
2005 is going to go down as a strange year for geeks. It saw the
ostensible end of their two most beloved ongoing franchises: Star Trek and Star Wars, and an eerily poetic
synergy in the release of Revenge of
the Sith, the last Star Wars
film, just prior to Steven Spielberg's take on War of the Worlds. Both films
represent the dark flipside of the two movies that launched the sci fi
blockbuster boom in 1977: Sith
showed the tragic underpinnings of the original Star Wars while War of the Worlds is Spielberg's Close Encounters turned on its head
(in 1977, after decades of paranoid sci-fi visions, Star Wars and CE3K knocked people out with their
unheard of optimism).
For John Williams, now well into his seventies, to score these two
epics back to back must have been a bone-crushing assignment, and
debate has raged online about the evolution of Williams' style since he
first exploded into the role of world's most popular film composer on
the strength of his scores to Jaws,
Star Wars and CE3K. Williams was always known for
his memorable themes and a showman's approach to individual cues, but
in recent years his approach has been more holistic and, arguably,
mature, while being less showy. That leaves some fans bemoaning the
lack of set pieces and dynamic themes in Williams' recent works, and
the people in that camp will find plenty of ammo for their argument in War of the Worlds.
The album opens and closes with narration by Morgan Freeman, quoting
the opening of H.G.Welles' novel and, oddly, the reverent closing of
George Pal's 1953 movie, which hails the slaying of Earth's Martian
invaders by bacteria, "the littlest things that God in His Wisdom put
upon the Earth." Freeman's a great actor but this won't go down as one
of his best readings. Williams' job on War of the Worlds is to unnerve the
viewer and enhance Spielberg's atmosphere of dread and chaos, and his
music accomplishes that goal handily. Coming so quickly on the heels of
his Revenge of the Sith
score, it's not surprising that there's a little bit of crossover here.
The first action cue, "Escape from the City," has a hint of Sith's
"General Grievous" (actually written for Obi-Wan's big lizard mount) as
well as a little of Minority Report's
nervous, buzzing "Everybody Runs" string writing. Busy, rambunctious
rhythms and hammering brass abound in most of the score's action cues,
from "The Intersection Scene" and "The Ferry Scene" to the even more
frenetic "The Attack on the Car," which recalls Williams' heavy,
percussive sound from his Land of
the Giants/disaster movie days.
Despite the movie's focus on a family's tribulations, Williams keeps
much of his score emotionally remote, with piano writing in cues like
"Ray and Rachel" and "The Separation of the Family" that wanders into A.I. territory without conjuring up
that score's lyrical sense of melody. The first sweeping emotion is
felt in "Refugee Status," (one of several album tracks not used in the
film) which has a little bit of the feel of Williams' elegiac scoring
of the "Order 66" montage from Sith.
The closest Williams gets to a theme-driven cue is "The Return to
Boston" -- here the score takes the proactive approach of the movie's
characters with some of Williams' characteristically driven,
militaristic writing, with echoes of Saving
Private Ryan and Nixon
emerging as brass tones for the first time depart from the low end of
the scale. Even the composer's "Epilogue," remains lonely, with trumpet
writing reminiscent of some of the quieter moments of Williams' first Star Wars scores or "For Mina"
from his 1979 Dracula.
Like Sith, the War of the Worlds album functions
best as a whole, and it's interesting that the composer largely chooses
to avoid the temptation to underscore the routing of humanity here with
a wailing choir, leaving that epic sensibility to the fantasy of Star Wars. Despite its sci-fi
premise, Spielberg's aim in War of
the Worlds is an unsettling reality, and Williams score provides
just enough orchestral angst to get the job done.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Today in Film Score History:
April 18 |
|
| Alois Melichar born (1896) |
|
| Andrew Powell born (1949) |
|
| Buxton Orr born (1924) |
|
| Dave Grusin begins recording his score for The Goonies (1985) |
|
| Ed Plumb died (1958) |
|
| Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Players (1979) |
|
| John Debney records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Progress” (1993) |
|
| Kings Row released in theaters (1942) |
|
| Maurice Jarre wins his second Oscar, for Dr. Zhivago's score; presumably decides to stick with this David Lean kid (1966) |
|
| Mike Leander died (1996) |
|
| Mike Vickers born (1941) |
|
| Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score to The King's Thief (1955) |
|
| Miklos Rozsa born (1907) |
|
| Recording sessions begin for Marco Beltrami’s score for Red Eye (2005) |
|
| Robert O. Ragland died (2012) |
|
| Tony Mottola born (1918) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
