1 |
Opening
Titles |
2 |
Fingerling's
Childhood |
3 |
Suicide
Blonde |
4 |
Ned |
5 |
11:12pm |
6 |
Finishing the Book |
| 7 |
Laura Tollins |
8 |
Room
23 |
9 |
Atonement |
SOUNDTRACK REVIEW:
There
are movie soundtracks that stand well on its own, and then
there are some music scores that work better only if you have
watched the film. Harry Gregson-Williams’ composition
for Joel Schumacher’s latest work belongs to the latter
category.
Opening
the 45-minute is “Opening Titles”, which creeps
up to your senses with its building tension amidst the electronic
synthesizers. The visuals that went along with this piece
of music are a myriad of statements that are related to the
number 23.
See,
giving you that piece of information helps you to appreciate
the music better already.
The
rest of the album does not feature any standout tracks, so
don’t go looking for any. The two contrasting atmospheres
created in this soundtrack are that of dreary anxiety (“Laura
Tollins”) and soothing calm (“Atonement”).
The former is characterized by rushed synthesizers while the
latter is typified by slow-moving strings.
In the 9-minute long “Finishing the Book”, the
casual listener will probably be impatient with the gradual
buildup of desolation and drabness. But if we were to tell
you that this piece of music is accompanied by visuals of
Jim Carrey’s character getting compulsively obsessed
with the number 23, you’d better appreciate the lengthy
track.
Gregson-Williams
is best known for his action scores for movies like Sinbad:
Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005).
While this album may not be his best work yet, it is still
worth a listen for its electronic-heavy approach to score
a mystery thriller.
If
you had to watch the movie to appreciate this score better,
the next step would be to convince yourself to actually sit
through the critically-panned picture.
SOUNDTRACK RATING:
 
Recommended Track: (1) Opening Titles
Review
by John Li
|
