Buy it... if you're eager for one of John Ottman's most intellectual efforts to combine brute, orchestral force and clever, troubling undercurrents.

Avoid it... if you seek music as elegantly grandiose as the score's famously dramatic title theme (as also heard on the composer's Cruel Intentions compilation).

Ottman

Apt Pupil: (John Ottman) One of the more obscure collaborations between director Bryan Singer and composer/editor John Ottman, Apt Pupil was adapted from the same collection of Stephen King novellas as Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. Its disturbing, contemporary tale involves a teenage boy who discovers that an elderly man who lives near him (named Dussander) is actually a Nazi SS officer in hiding. In return for keeping the old man's secret, the boy oddly forces him to recount the glory of the Third Reich. The two manipulate each other in a cat and mouse game of psychological enticement, with the film often fading back to scenes of 1941 horrors and exploring disturbing images involving torture and death. Ottman's specific involvement with the picture was first and foremost that of an editor, for it is this duty that Singer had employed of Ottman first. The project had proven difficult for Ottman given time constraints and a decision to take the editing process digital halfway through the endeavor. By the time Ottman reached the time to compose the score, his energy had been drained, and it was by the mere luck of a midnight thematic inspiration that the title theme for Apt Pupil was born. The score's role in the film would be even more complex than in any of Ottman's other sophisticated assignments. Not only did the dark and romantic elements dear to Ottman's heart play their parts, but the score would also have to elegantly raise the terror of the Holocaust in such a way as to seem almost attractive to casual ears. A militaristic edge was necessary for Dussander's glorious recollections, and an elevated magnitude of grandeur was called upon to explain the boy's (and the audience's) fascination with the man's life. Thus, Ottman's usual, often understated themes of clever complexity would have to be integrated into a scheme that could explode with power of historical depth when called upon. The intellectual horror in Apt Pupil was completely different from the stock, Urban Legends: Final Cut variety. To this end, Ottman's achievement for Apt Pupil is an admirable success.

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As is typically the case in all of his scores, Ottman's unique orchestral voice speaks with clarity no matter the genre he is writing for. The rich, harmonious touch with which he handles his creative instrumentation was unparalleled in Hollywood during the late 1990's, and this same style is clearly evident in this score. Several elements of music that were commonly accepted in Germany (or specifically by Nazi culture) at the time are embraced by Ottman for the environment of this work. The title theme is established in a waltz rhythm that dances both lightly and ominously throughout the score. During moments of heightened intensity, the waltz is replaced by a full-fledged militaristic march, complete with explosive snare performances. Ottman also utilizes the solo viola (or violin) as part of his waltz's theme. This solo string offers the tempting, hypnotic elegance to the Nazi lifestyle that Dussander portrays. A fuller string ensemble ranges from simple, harmonic statements to wild ramblings of dissonance. A deep choral mix further builds the male-dominated Nazi structure of power, and Ottman even inserts the effect of a tolling bell for a few significant accents. Perhaps the least effective creative touch in Apt Pupil is the forceful chant of "Extradite" (performed by Ottman and members of his crew) during the finale cue, with the underpowered vocals begging for more substance (or perhaps a touch of creative mixing in layers of wet sound to increase its depth). The highlight of the score, predictably, is the title theme, for which Ottman wastes no time pulling out all of the dramatic stops. With a churning, rhythmic progression similar to Howard Shore's The Fly, the massive Germanic theme pounds with ominous choral and brass thunder in "Main Titles." It is this theme that many listeners would claim was lifted in 2003 for use (and a poorly applied one at that) in Marco Beltrami's Terminator 3. One of the weaknesses of Apt Pupil, however, is that the same level of brute force is never realized within the rest of the score. For Ottman collectors, the out-of-print Apt Pupil album (which suffers from some track title errors) remains a striking addition to the collection, but most casual fans will be satisfied by the inclusion of the title theme on the composer's Cruel Intentions compilation two years later. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Ottman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.22 (in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.03 (in 17,523 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.