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Scoring close to 100 films and winning two Academy Awards
for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings,
Howard Shore is one of the major names working in film composing
at the moment. His work for A History of Violence sees
him, once again, collaborating with David Cronenberg...
Howard
Shore has always been a composer I've been fond of. I first
heard his music when I saw the 1986 version of The
Fly.
To
this day, my favourite of Shore's scores is for the 1988 movie
Dead Ringers (which was released on a compilation
album of David Cronenberg/Shore movies. But it
was probably his soundtrack to 1991's Silence
of the Lambs that saw him finally receive the
recognition he rightly deserved. And Silva
Screen's Music
From the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
showcased highlights from the three Lord of the Rings
movies, which, on the whole, was a fair representation of
the music from all three movies.
Now,
I have to admit that I haven't actually seen A History
of Violence, so I've no idea whether Shore's music did
the film justice. However, what I can say is that as a stand
alone album this work is pretty flat. I know the original
graphic novels very well, and this music certainly didn't
seem to do the story justice.
Could
it be that Shore is losing his touch? It seems odd that after
the wonderful score he did for Peter Jackson's The Lord
of the Rings movies that his score for King Kong
has been quietly dropped for reasons neither the composer
nor director want to comment on.
The
first track on A History of Violence is not promising
of things to come. It sounds like the orchestra is warming
up before a big performance. The rest of the album only raises
it's head about average. The biggest problem is that the tracks
are all bland. There are no recognisable themes, or moments
of passion. It's just bland wall to wall background music
- like the type you'd expect in a cheap restaurant.
Even
the final track, Ending, is dull and emotionless. In
fact, the only tracks of any real merit hark back to Shore's
earlier work - Nice Gate has a distinct Silence
of the Lambs flavour.
Sadly,
for a movie that is based on a graphic novel series with so
much soul, it's a shame that Shore's soundtrack lacks any.
Darren
Rea
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