MovieScore Media gets tangled up in the world of high-tech espionage with the Danish tech thriller Hacker, scored by composer Uno Helmersson. Co-written and directed by Poul Berg, the film follows thirteen-year-old Benjamin, who discovers that his mother didn't die in an accident as he was led to believe. The trail points to high-ranking officials in the Danish Secret Service, and he is told to trust no one as he starts his perilous journey to find out the truth...

Uno Helmersson's score for Hacker is intense and tech oriented, as you'd expect given the movie's premise. Whether or not you enjoy these 24 tracks (1 hr, 08 min, 12 sec) is very much dependant on whether or not you're a fan of modern atmospheric action scores.

While it does have its reflective, melancholic moment ('No One to Trust'), the majority of the music is seat-of-your-pants thriller/action based.

Discussing the music, Helmersson says: "The score made for Hacker is really a non-stop music escapé. It follows Benjamin, the main character, being hunted, trying to find his mom and never knowing who he can trust. The punch line for this film was 'a Bourne Identity for kids'. So the music travels between hunting, action and emotional movements."

While, on balance, I did enjoy this score, I have to admit that it didn't leave that much of an impression on me. There was little in the way of memorable themes, and a lot of the music sounded too familiar to other scores that have come before.

6

Darren Rea