Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you desire twenty minutes of standard but satisfying James Newton Howard techniques that will serve, once the highlights are arranged into a suite, as an entertaining extension of The Last Airbender. Avoid it... if the occasional melodic portions of this work, ranging from intimate and tender piano to full-blooded fantasy awe with chorus, are not frequent enough to compensate for the much greater quantity of challenging, primordial textures for the many suspense sequences. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
After Earth: (James Newton Howard) It's understandable for any father to attempt to use his influence in an industry to secure a future for his son, but in the case of Will Smith using his story and production of the 2013 science fiction film After Earth to promote the career of his son, you have to wonder if the idea didn't backfire terribly. The plot of the movie has always revolved around a father-son bonding experience while stranded in the wild, but the setting was at some point in the pre-production process shifted from current times to Earth 1,000 years from now, by which time humanity had fled the planet for greener pastures. When Will Smith, in the role of a military officer tasked with protecting humanity's new home world, crashes on Earth with his son, the aforementioned Jaden Smith, they have to overcome beasts of the wild and the concept of fear to retrieve enough pieces of their ship to signal home. By enduring this survival experience, one defined by encounters with creatures that have thrived on Earth (as well as one nasty alien along for the ride on their ship), the two are able to reconcile their choppy past. Bringing the story to life is none other than director M. Night Shyamalan, whose own career since the mid-2000's has been marked by artistic failures that have done surprisingly well at the box office. Despite sinking over $200 million into the production and marketing of After Earth, Sony expressed disappointment in their return, the critical lashing applied to the film perhaps catching up to Shyamalan as audiences lose interest in his more conventional work. The acting performances were particularly slaughtered by critics, the younger Smith pounded for his lack of expressiveness. With the film languishing as a result, one of the few saving graces of the production is the continued collaboration between the director and composer James Newton Howard. Two of their three previous outings together yielded fantastic results that stood in the top five of their respective years, Lady in the Water and The Last Airbender proving that Howard is more than willing to overachieve for flawed cinematic projects, yielding in-demand albums of that music. The approach the composer took to After Earth isn't significantly different from The Last Airbender, a similar balance of orchestra, chorus, and specialty percussion employed for the newer assignment. Unfortunately, the same level of inspiration heard in The Last Airbender is lacking in the 2013 entry, the melodrama is toned back with shorter melodic statements and a reduced choral presence. Howard shows many glimpses of the fantastic material and rendering he has provided before but also succumbs to generalized primordial tones for much of the interior of the score. The bulk of the generic suspense and chase music in the lengthy middle portions of After Earth has caused a surprising amount of discontent (or ambivalence) with the score within the score-collecting community. In fact, this work really isn't as non-descript as many have claimed it to be, and when you compare it to its more synthetic peers, this recording has more than enough bright spots to entertain a listener willing to compile 20 to 25 minutes of solid music from its album. It is pure Howard in its style, the highlights very reminiscent of The Last Airbender but lacking the grandiose stature of the predecessor. The score can be divided into several largely segregated parts: the nobility of the future and elder Smith's character, the tenderness of family represented by the son, the outright, ballsy action sequences, and then the remaining 60%, which relies upon screeching, wailing, and primal string, percussion, and woodwind techniques to represent the exotic atmosphere of the future Earth. This last, dominant portion is the reason for dissatisfaction over the score's somewhat generic posture; there is nothing particularly refreshing or even listenable about these portions, and they do drag on for long periods. The textures are interesting but not engaging enough to function on album. On the upside, however, the other three sections of the score for After Earth all present above average execution of friendly, harmonious ideas that, even if they are also somewhat mundane in the Howard canon, are pleasing to the ears. The concept's main theme rotates through the realms of awe, discovery, and redemption, encompassing the minimally noble, militaristic element while also addressing the larger melodrama of the premise. Heard in "The History of Man," "I'm Not Advancing You," "The Tail," and "After Earth," this thematic material is fleshed out with the robust form of the average Remote Control score but without muddying, synthesized enforcement of the base region. The organic tone of the sequence of determination in the middle of "The Tail" achieves everything an average RC score strives for but fails to provide with sincerity. A secondary theme for the son and the family as a whole is a hidden highlight of After Earth, punctuating moments of vulnerability and resolution during the bonding experience with special attention to lovely piano performances. The solo work in the score is advertised as being anchored by a cello, and while that instrument does make some poignant contributions to a softly melodramatic moment of trauma in "Abort Mission" and with accentuated gravity in "See the Peak," it cannot compare with the impact of the piano. This standard instrument of the nuclear family is utilized in fragments throughout "The History of Man" and "I'm Not Advancing You" (a nice choice given that you don't regularly hear it in the sci-fi context) before shining during several later cues. In "Safety in the Hog Hole," Howard allows the piano a pretty restful interlude with harp at the start, vaguely like The Village in tone, and a similar performance continues with somber but pretty tones in "Saved by the Bird." The "Ghosting" cue ends with an absolutely heartbreaking thematic performance by the instrument as well. The final portion of After Earth worth noting is the more organized action and chasing material that is not overwhelmed by the distracting and uncomfortable primal layers. Three in particular are standouts: the latter half of "Baboons" (which features rousing, strong rhythms with piano, percussion, and strings), "Run to the Falls" (somewhat boilerplate Howard writing, but still strong), and "Ghosting" (featuring stirring and conclusive confrontation sequences). Most of the obvious performances of the themes and associated easy pleasures are consolidated into the opening four and closing three cues as presented on the score-only album. But mixed in the challenging middle portions are very satisfying moments that beg for rearrangement into a 20-minute presentation that could be easily appended to a similar arrangement of The Last Airbender. The recording quality is superb, each section well balanced and the bass realm kept in check. The album's short tracks are a bit deceptive because many of them separate the same, longer cue into pieces for accessibility. Overall, After Earth is a robust Howard effort that could potentially go unnoticed by those dismissing the film. It's standard fare, and a lack of a global sense of tragedy for the fate of Earth is an issue. The primal textures do grate in an environment that tries at the same time to be a touching father and son bonding score. But all of that said, give this one a chance and rearrange it as needed. Howard enthusiasts will be especially pleased with the resulting suite. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 57:20
All artwork and sound clips from After Earth are Copyright © 2013, Sony Classical. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/12/13, updated 6/12/13. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
