1 |
Beowulf
Main Title |
2 |
First
Grendel Attack |
3 |
Gently
As She Goes (performed by Robin Wright-Penn) |
4 |
What
We Need Is A Hero |
5 |
I'm
Here To Kill Your Monster |
6 |
I Did Not Win The Race |
| 7 |
A Hero Comes Home (performed by Robin Wright-Penn) |
8 |
Second
Grendel Attack |
9 |
I Am Beowulf |
10 |
King Beowulf |
11 |
He
Has A Story To Tell |
12 |
Full
Of Fine Promises |
13 |
Beowulf
Slays The Beast |
14 |
He
Was The Best Of Us |
15 |
The
Ministry of Magic |
16 |
The
Sacking of Trelawny |
17 |
The
Final Seduction |
18 |
A
Hero Comes Home (End Credit Version)(performed by Idina
Menzel) |
SOUNDTRACK REVIEW:
The last time Oscar-nominated composer Alan Silvestri scored
the music for Stephen Sommers’s The Mummy Returns (2001);
he left this reviewer gasping for air after listening to the
adrenaline-charged soundtrack. Some six years later, after
listening to Silvestri’s score for Robert Zemeckis’s
animated feature based on the one of the oldest tales in the
English language, this reviewer is once again left out of
breath by the bombastic music.
From the
moment this 46-minute album starts playing, it tightly grips
you and does not let go. The thumping electronic beats and
the testosterone-heavy male chorus in “Beowulf Main
Title” is an indication of how brazenly unabashed the
music for this action movie is going to be. Whether it’s
the “First Grendel Attack” or the “Second
Grendel Attack”, the pulsating energy is evidently over-the-top.
Not that this is a bad thing, because the soundtrack does
capture your attention by the minute.
There
are two especially gentle cues in the album though. Sung by
Robin Wright-Penn who voices Queen Wealthow in the movie,
“Gently As She Goes” and “A Hero Comes Home”
are tenderly accompanied by the harp, which makes the actress’s
soothing voice sound extra calming and comforting. This is
contrasted with Idina Menzel’s (the charismatic girlfriend
in the recent Enchanted who also sings in Broadway shows like
Rent and Wicked) performance of the song during the end credits,
which brings with it a different contemporary feel. The modern
arrangement of this tune is apparent amidst Menzel’s
soaring vocals, which are somewhat sultrily seductive.
And
speaking of seduction, another highlight in this soundtrack
has to be the seduction theme during scenes where Grendel’s
mother personified by a naked Angelina Jolie (don’t
get excited, it’s an animated movie, remember?) rises
from the water pool. “The Seduction” is another
non-bombastic cue in the album that achieves a different feel
– the mysteriously dangerous ambiance is obvious from
the creepy yet enticing instrumentations. It’s no wonder
Beowulf was seduced.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (10) The Seduction
Review
by John Li
|
