James Newton Howard provides the score for Will Smith's latest movie After Earth. In Earth's near future, an environmental cataclysm forces the human race to abandon their world in search of a new home. Mankind finally settles on a new world they call Nova Prime. One thousand years later, General Cypher Raige and his teenage son crashland their spaceship on Earth, now a planet with dangerously low oxygen levels, after they are caught in a meteor shower. The son must save his dying father by trekking alone across the hostile terrain...

James Newton Howard's score for After Earth is a bit of a disappointment. It doesn't even come close to some of his noteworthy soundtracks (I am Legend; Salt; Snow White & The Huntsman and Unbreakable). I listened to this on and off for over a week, probably listening to it about 20 times, but I only really found three tracks of interest (all of which had the same theme running through them): 'Pack Your Bags'; 'Ghosting'; and 'I Wanna Work With Mom'.

On a side note, I couldn't help noticing that the one interesting theme in this score sounded very similar to a segment in Daniel Pemberton's score for The Awakening. If you're nerdy, like me, listen to the opening of 'Oh, Coccinelle - Deep Breaths'. It's not identical, but very similar.

The album contains 28 tracks and lasts for 57 min, 20 sec. Sadly, I couldn't help feel this was a wasted opportunity. Those that are fans of Newton Howard's breathtakingly beautiful themes will be more than a little disappointed.

5

Darren Rea