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The movie was for the most part really enjoyable and incredibly intense, and I’d recommend seeing it. However, the score is not one that I would buy. It’s Danny Elfman doing a score that really doesn’t seem suited for him, and sitting through the whole movie, knowing that he wrote the music makes it seem out of place. Mostly, as we pretty much all know, it’s all electronics and percussion that at times seems more like sound design than music. In that sense, I suppose it succeeds, but I really think that a more orchestral score could have benefited this film and made it less like others of the same type. The only cue that stood out to me was the one played during one of the car chases through the city, which is the track played on the home page of the movie’s official website. Otherwise, it’s indistinct percussion and a few less-impressive guitar selections during some of the somber moments and during the end credits. I’m definitely impressed more by the movie than the music, and for a film that Danny Elfman worked on, that’s slightly disappointing to me.
Well, this kind of writing probably requires a good deal of skill, but simply doesn’t make for a terribly good listening experience outside of the movie.
It’s a hard thing to remember that not all filmmusic is good on its own, which of course doesn’t mean that the composer f#@%ed up or was asleep at the switch, but it sympomatic of the movie needing that kind of music.
Has anyone ever heard of Amon Tobin?
The reason I ask is because the music on his CD “The Foley Room” is built around sound manipulation, and sound experiments and really got me interested in this type of music. The Kronos Quartet plays on one of the tracks. Also Osvaldo Golijov’s opera “Ainadamar” contains sound manipulation within the full vocal and orchestral patchwork.
I’m actually looking forward to the Kingdom score just to hear what Elfman can do in this vein.
Well, this reminds me of what happened few years ago with the scores for “INSTINCT” and “PROOF OF LIFE”. These were, to me, the biggest disappointment in elfman’s career. Action scores, with a lot of percussion, but without any strong thematic melodies…
I was even very disappointed with “A civil action” and “A simple plan”.
That was a very bad period because I really thought Elfman would never go back to his beautiful and magical works. Hopefully, I was wrong.
Anyway, I hope next year will be more intresting, because I really didn’t enjoy “Meet the Robinsons” and it seems like I won’t enjoy “kingdom” either…
I don’t care I still want to buy his score for this movie,eventhough I haven’t seen it yet. Plus I don’t have a problem with his electronic and synthesized scores. I enjoyed POTA and Hulk a great deal. I think that’s good he tries to step out of his comfort zone in movies like A Simple Plan, A Civil Action, Instinct,and Proof of Life. I’m still looking for the Proof of LIfe CD. I’m glad he tackled something like this instead of a PG or G rated movie for the past two years. The movie looks interesting as well.
I also liked “Hulk” and “Planet of the Apes,” and at first I thought “The Kingdom” would sound similar, but it didn’t. It honestly sounded like a Harry Gregson-Williams or John Powell score (thank goodness it didn’t sound like a Gustavo Santaolalla score). I can definitely understand why Elfman decided to tackle this project, as it’s a complete shift from the stuff he’s been doing for the past few years, and the movie is certainly provocative and intense. Now I’m just going to have to wait for his other works, and film-wise, we won’t hear from him again until “Hellboy 2” next JULY! Ahhh!!!
Good composers are the ones that are versatile. We all know and love the great thematic and melodic material he writes, but after a while even that can get old. Its good to listen to Elfman scores where he thinks outside the box and out of his comfort zone.
I was even very disappointed with “A civil action” and “A simple plan”.
Oh my God, A Simple Plan was a masterpiece.
I have all of Amon’s albums and he’s a fantastic musician/DJ. While his stuff can always work in action sequences I don’t know if he has the chops to add some dramatic layers to a film.
Ryan
actually Amon Tobin has scored a film, Taxidermia: a Hungarian film that I haven’t seen or heard the score to, but Wikipedia’s info on this film is:
Taxidermia is a 2006 film about three generations from Hungary, including a taxidermist, starting during the Second World War. The film is surreal in nature with dark comedy.
The director is György Pálfi. The film is a Hungary / Austria / France collaboration and the language is Hungarian. The film is based on short stories by Lajos Parti Nagy.
The film features music scored by electronic artist Amon Tobin. This is Amon’s first movie score, but not his first soundtrack.
Hasn’t he also done some game scoring as well?
If anyone has heard this, please let me know about it.
Thanks.
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