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Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of shady business man Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart)... The soundtrack to The Rum Diary is a jazz-based score which won't appeal to everyone. While it was interesting to hear Christopher Young compose these jazz tracks, as I'm not a huge fan of the genre I generally didn't enjoy the score - and it's certainly not one I'll want to listen to again. However, technically it's pretty flawless and for fans of this style of music I'm sure it will go down a treat. There was just a couple of instances where the saxophone playing was a little raspy - this is most noticeable on the track 'Chenault', where the sound becomes too distracting. 4 Darren Rea |
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