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Avatar: (James Horner) Every filmmaker strives to
someday create the next "cinematic event," but James Cameron has a
proven ability to focus years of his attention into achieving just such
success. Conceived of in the mid-1990's by Cameron was the premise of
Avatar, yet technological advancements in film only allowed him
to begin tackling the topic in the following decade. True to his
self-professed "king of the world" stature, Cameron wrote, directed,
shot, and, in some cases, edited the resulting blockbuster himself,
emboldened by a budget well over $300 million and the powerful marketing
efforts of 20th Century Fox. Not only did Cameron plan on pushing CGI
animation to levels only explored on the surface by Peter Jackson's
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he would attempt to master a
3D technology that had always previously caused difficulty with screen
darkness. His story is clearly modeled after recent American history,
telling of the corporate exploitation of a far away world in the
interests of mining its minerals to help save a hopelessly polluted
Earth. Humans' interactions with the people of Pandora, the Na'vi, begin
peacefully but eventually resort to forceful military relocation.
Parallels between the Na'vi and Native Americans are unmistakable, not
to mention a few connections to America's war in Iraq in the 2000's and
ongoing environmental issues. Beyond all the innovation in the rendering
of Pandora's setting and creatures, as well as the purely gung-ho
American displays of Marines in action (on that note, does America's
military represent all of Earth in 2154?),
Avatar is a
Titanic-like love story resulting between the two leads despite
an obvious culture clash. When one of the Marines' Na'vi-like avatars
(meant to infiltrate the indigenous population) is helmed by necessity
by a paraplegic ex-Marine named Jake, he is saved by a surprisingly
sensual and tough Na'vi woman, with whom he learns about the people's
culture and (not so surprisingly) switches allegiances. By telling the
conclusive battle between Na'vi and humans through the perspective of
these leads, Cameron achieves the same balance between heart and
destruction that kept audiences coming to
Titanic a dozen years
earlier.
Despite early skeptical buzz, responses to
Avatar
by major critics were overwhelmingly positive, many claiming it to be
the best film of 2009. Not only is the 2 hour, 40 minute running time
merited, but the 3D rendering is effective. It successfully attained all
of the "game-changing" descriptors that Cameron was seeking, sneaking
his political agenda into relevance within a romantic science fiction
narrative. Also the recipient of much attention once again was composer
James Horner, for whom
Titanic remains an endless stream of
income and his only source of Academy Award statues to date. With that
project having patched up whatever lingering confrontational issues
Horner and Cameron had experienced early in their careers (
Aliens
wasn't a pleasant assignment for Horner by any means), the composer
voluntarily devoted a full eighteen months to
Avatar, beginning
work on the score just after finishing
The Boy in the Striped
Pajamas in early 2008 and toiling from early to late every day on
perfecting each cue for Cameron's epic. "I'll have to recover from that
and get my head out of
Avatar," Horner joked late in the process.
He recognized immediately that the scale of this score would need to
eclipse everything else in his career, likening the difference between
Avatar and previous assignments to hi-definition and a mono
cassette. He insisted upon basing the score's foundation upon a
traditional orchestral environment. "I had long discussions with Jim
[Cameron] and we decided that mainstream audiences were not ready for an
avant garde experience," Horner recalls. "They don't listen to avant
garde music and
Avatar is not an art film. The score needed to be
grounded. That's where the world's ear is." On the other hand, Horner
was at liberty to bring all of the various ethnic elements he had
utilized throughout his career into one massive collaborative mix for
Avatar, and it was not unusual for one ten-minute cue to contain
performances by ten different ensembles. Editing and mixing
Avatar was therefore as challenging as all of the inevitable
rewrites that Horner was required to provide for Cameron's own changing
edits of the picture. "Sometimes we don't see eye to eye on a cue but I
always do it again," he said. "I have no problems rewriting." When
considering all of specialty instruments collected for
Avatar,
though, some of which invented specifically for this recording, you can
understand why Horner set aside so much time for only this task.
While there are some relatively unique sounds employed by
Horner for
Avatar, the score remains a "best of" collection of
all of the composer's most eccentric organic and synthetic techniques
through the years. As you might expect, the root of Horner's
jungle-inspired material (led by native flutes, pan pipes, and watery
keyboarding) derives all the way from
Where the River Runs Black
and
Vibes in the 1980's to
Apocalypto more recently, and
the primal children's choral variations on that same sound were arguably
best summarized by
Mighty Joe Young. Much of the more serene
aspect of
Avatar reaches back to
The Spitfire Grill,
especially with the extensive employment of a whistle to represent the
magic of the forest. Lovely fiddle solos are pulled from
Legends of
the Fall. The electronic side of
Avatar comes in two forms,
the soothing melodic grace of processed choral effects a la
Titanic and the groaning, deep menace ranging from
Vibes
to
Courage Under Fire. The piano also spans the same emotional
range, performing Horner's stereotypical descending figures to inspire
curiosity in parts while crashing in the lower ranges during moments of
fright (without the usually reliable timpani for the effect). Brass play
a more predictable role, the trumpets called upon once again for
Horner's famous four-note motif of danger. Cymbal tapping and sparkling
piano from
A Beautiful Mind continue. Outside of a recurring,
plucked string effect, the mixing of a variety of unprocessed solo
voices in
Avatar is perhaps its most strikingly original element.
Unlike the dreamy environment created by Sissel's new age style of
performances for
Titanic, Horner uses tones from a choir boy to
operatic female adult to ensure a more organic feel to their
contribution. Perhaps some of this employment was inspired by Howard
Shore in his
The Lord of the Ring scores, and the product here is
no less beautiful in parts. The varying vocal accents invented by Horner
aren't entirely original (they remind of the composer's early imitation
of Jerry Goldsmith in really old works like
Deadly Blessing, as
well as
Thunderheart and James Newton Howard's more creative
music); the high children's vocals for the Na'vi are reminiscent of
Mighty Joe Young, though they more precisely emulate the popular
"Adiemus" recordings usually associated with vocalist Mariam Stockley in
the late 1990's. The sakauhachi flute, the prototypical Horner favorite
and a lovely instrument, puffs in rhythm and wails away at times in a
supporting role.
So while Horner may claim that a significant amount of
effort went into the creative employment of unusual instrumentation with
which to accent the familiar orchestral foundation for a mainstream
blockbuster,
Avatar has very few moments in which the texture of
the music will surprise you. Instead, Horner manages to impress with the
fact that he has collected so many of the instrumental "colours" (as he
calls it) that have represented his career and massaged them into one
score. Thankfully, he doesn't try to insert many Irish or Scottish tones
into
Avatar; only a snippet of bagpipe is to be heard in
"Shutting Down Grace's Lab." Absent are the acoustic guitars from the
Zorro scores and, despite some hints, the extensive tapping of
snare and electronic circuit imitations of
Apollo 13. Otherwise,
every major, memorable instrumental usage by Horner is heard repeatedly
in
Avatar. Thus, in terms of texture, it will be a comforting
experience for most Horner enthusiasts. The same situation applies when
examining the thematic constructs that he faithfully develops for
Avatar. There exist five recurring themes of note in the score,
though only three will likely leave a lasting impression on the listener
of the soundtrack album. Each of these themes is derived in part (or
almost in sum) from a previous Horner score, and if you're bothered by
the composer's habit of cannibalizing his own themes (a technique
predictably cited as a detriment in James Berardinelli's review of
Avatar), then you could be in for a bumpy ride here. Some of the
re-use in
Avatar is subtle enough that only the texture of the
performances will reveal the inspiration, though at other times the
progressions are so obviously lifted that even a dedicated Horner
apologist will roll his eyes. You'll hear full blown themes and
fragmentary progressions in
Avatar that you will immediately
recognize from
The Four Feathers,
Glory,
Willow,
Titanic, and
Legends of the Fall. Why Horner seems so
inept at conjuring unique chord progressions for his themes is truly
baffling, but fortunately his ideas are generally able to be manipulated
so well that they suit the emotional needs of multiple contexts. As
such, few non-soundtrack collectors in the mainstream will be sitting
around scratching their heads over this issue (Berardinelli actually
mistakenly compared this score to
Star Trek II and
Aliens,
neither of which having anything much in common musically with
Avatar), and Horner at least saves his most unique idea in this
score for the film's primary theme.
When confronted by a film of the stature and length of
Avatar, it's almost impossible to give a truly rounded assessment
of its score based on its first album release. Horner selected 78
minutes of music generally representative of the film's narrative for
the Fox product, but well more than twice that amount of material exists
(if you include all of the recordings eventually thrown out late in the
editing process). The album gives you a pretty good feel of what Horner
was trying to accomplish for
Avatar, but it is a known fact that
superior material was left off of the product. With this restriction in
mind, remember that this review of the score's major themes concentrates
on only the major cues chosen for the album. One of the intriguing
aspects of Horner's work here is that despite his obvious re-use issues,
he does take his themes and manipulate them extensively throughout the
score (almost to unrecognizable forms that utilize only the same base
chord progressions at staggered tempos), so any dissatisfaction or
confusion caused by the treatment of a theme on album is likely to be
answered by a more complete release of the music in the form of a
possible subsequent album. More about this situation will be discussed
in the assignment of an overall rating to
Avatar at the end of
the review, but it's important to illuminate this issue prior to
starting a blow-by-blow analysis of Horner's themes for the score. The
album only allows three of those themes to develop naturally over the
course of its length, with the two others never really congealing or
restrained to just a portion of the release (whereas a fuller album
could reveal additional applications). There is also, of course, the pop
song to contend with in
Avatar. Horner had to convince Cameron to
use the Celine Dion song at the end of
Titanic (recording it in
secret and then thrusting it upon the director) and he would pitch the
same kind of song to the director once again. "There is over three hours
of music in the movie and I needed something that would keep people in
their seats for the end credits," Horner explains. "Another orchestral
piece would not do that. I wanted to end the film on something
personal." By basing the song on the love theme from the score, he thus
emphasized that idea as the primary representative of the entire work.
Horner reminds, "I approach things very emotionally. I'm always pushing
that side of a story." Perhaps it is no surprise that the romantic side
of the score will far overshadow the appeal of the action side for many
listeners.
Not only does the title theme of
Avatar represent
the growing bond between Jake's avatar and Neytiri, his Na'vi savior and
advocate, but it also conveys the enthusiasm that the paraplegic
experiences with his newfound sense of freedom. It's a discovery theme
of the most harmonically appealing kind, built upon an elementary, but
satisfying series of four chord progressions that are a simplified
variation (in the third of the four shifts) on the secondary phrase of
Horner's
Titanic love theme. This progression is omnipresent in
the score, heard in some form or another in each of the thirteen score
tracks on the initial album, and it this idea that provides
Avatar with its most spectacular melodic highlights.
Interestingly, these four shifts are only part of a much larger, more
elegant theme that is rather short-changed on the album. To get a good
sense of this theme in its entirety, you have to pay close attention to
the Leona Lewis song's progressions; the singer takes artistic liberties
with Horner's theme in "I See You" and thus, along with the
post-processed sound that messes with the reverb of the performance,
almost ruins the otherwise beautiful theme. But you'll note that while
the chorus section of the song is indeed the well-established four-chord
progression, the remainder of the theme is as compelling if not more so.
The only instance when you get to hear this theme in full in the score
on album is in "Becoming One of 'The People'," which opens with a
gorgeous solo boy's voice conveying the entirety of the theme twice over
light percussive rhythms, soothing harp and strings, and eventually
children's choir. If you're looking to nail down the full identity of
the score's heart and soul, start with the opening of this cue. The
idea's development comes much earlier than Jake's discovery of the
Na'vi, however, for Horner foreshadows the theme significantly. In the
muscular turmoil of the string ostinatos in the middle of "'You Don't
Dream in Cryo...'," Horner introduces the theme at 3:20 and carries its
baseline thereafter. A related, strictly rising variant on the four
progressions, with plucked strings and choir, is another hint at 1:45 in
"Jake Enters His Avatar World," an effective transitional cue that is
followed by a minute of native percussive rhythms and another minute of
exciting but relatively humble performances of the theme. It slowly
meanders in the background on violins from 0:38 to 4:45 in "Pure Spirits
of the Forest," before a pretty, heightened woodwind and synth version
is interrupted by darker material.
The score really begins to take flight in "The
Bioluminescence of the Night," the textures and harmony of the three
Na'vi themes extensively conveyed with unhindered harmony over the
subsequent 20 minutes. The discovery/love theme extends from soft
woodwinds at 0:37 to watery percussion and choir at 1:53 (this is where
Howard's
Waterworld comparisons come in) and a surprisingly warm
violin solo at 2:41. As mentioned before, this primary theme is
highlighted by "Becoming One of 'The People'/Becoming One With Neytiri,"
the first three minutes of the cue the best instrumental representation
of the melodic structures in the song. Rambling piano accompaniment from
A Beautiful Mind and the lofty whistle from
The Spitfire
Grill atop the ensemble accompany the theme on more substantive
strings at 2:33 and return in the fifth minute of the cue. Tender solo
woodwind performances of the theme at 5:54 lead to another swell of
choral and string beauty at the end of the track. In both "Climbing Up
'Iknimaya - The Path to Heaven'" and "Jake's First Flight," Horner uses
the discovery/love theme as interlude to a secondary ascension theme; in
the first cue, it exists with vibrant choral accents over percussion and
bass strings at 1:33 and in the latter cue it receives 40 seconds of
lush keyboarding, vocal accents, and percussion at 0:59. While the
chanted Na'vi-language accents (usually two-syllable) are refreshing,
the bass string rising and falling to key in the first of the two cues
is an all-to-familiar technique dating back to scores like
Gorky
Park and
Red Heat. As the music turns decidedly darker, this
theme is the one most frequently manipulated into expressions of worry
or panic against dissonant brass. It's tortured at 0:44, 0:58, and 2:06
into "Scorched Earth" in ways that will remind of the
Titanic
sinking scenes; the final minute of that cue actually twists the
secondary phrases of that theme as well. The theme brings a brief moment
of relief in its accelerated synth and percussion performance at 1:33
into "Quaritch." It's intentionally mangled at 0:30 into "The
Destruction of Hometree" and thrust into terror at 2:03 into that cue.
Only slight lamentation in the base four chords can be heard at 0:25
into "Shutting Down Grace's Lab." As reality sets in further, the theme
is barely referenced in the first 20 seconds of "Gathering All the Na'vi
Clans for Battle" and is relegated to a lonely solo vocal at 8:56 into
"War" that extends into the secondary phrases of the theme with great
sorrow. The theme's degeneration as
Avatar loses its romantic
fantasy atmosphere and reaches its necessary confrontation is
heartbreaking.
The other two major Na'vi themes are a bit more
troublesome in the Horner re-use category. The first is the Na'vi
culture theme, which resembles the primary
The Four Feathers
identity and, to a lesser extent, the
Legends of the Fall love
theme. This idea becomes increasing prevalent as the score matures,
eventually closing it out on a somber note. Before it is expressed first
in full in the middle of "Becoming One of 'The People'," Horner previews
it in fragmentary roles. Plaintiff solo voice at 1:15 into "'You Don't
Dream in Cryo...'" and faint woodwinds 30 seconds into "Jake Enters His
Avatar World" lead to a secondary phrase (of very typical Horner
fashion) on native flute at 1:32 in "The Bioluminescence of the Night."
Nestled in between memorable performances of the main discovery/romance
theme in "Becoming One of 'The People'," the Na'vi culture theme
flourishes from 3:08 to 3:54, the full ensemble joined by whistle in the
highest ranges and dramatic cymbal crescendos. The theme goes on hiatus
until the conclusive battle cues, first in subdued, troubled fragments
at 5:26 in "The Destruction of Hometree" (under the usual danger motif)
and then in further fragments on native woodwind at 1:06 into "Shutting
Down Grace's Lab." It generates momentum throughout the first half of
"Gathering All the Na'vi Clans for Battle" before reaching its full
climax with ensemble and choir at 3:31 into that cue. The manipulation
of the theme in "War" is very adept, following a Na'vi battle theme at
0:51 and eventually merging with it. After a dramatic and massive
statement at 6:08 into "War," the Na'vi culture theme continues to
inform the remainder of the cue, eventually reaching both contemplative
strings and defiant brass counterpoint in the last two minutes. The
aforementioned Na'vi battle theme is the third significant piece of the
thematic puzzle for the species, best described as a
Willow-like
trumpet call to action. An intriguing foreshadowing of the theme at 2:57
into "The Bioluminescence of the Night" is perhaps the most unusual
presentation of the theme within the context of
Avatar, though
its free-floating sensibilities of
Titanic likeness here are
blatant re-use by the composer. A noble brass preview at 1:35 into
"Scorched Earth" yields the full theme at 2:17, complete with dual
choral hits. Whenever you hear parts of
Avatar that remind you of
Willow (or Horner's muscular action writing stance of a harmonic
nature that had previously extended all the way through
The Legend of
Zorro), you're likely hearing part of the Na'vi battle theme.
That heroic battle call for the Na'vi is most extensively
explored in "The Destruction of Hometree," aided by deep choral fright
and plaintiff sakauhachi flute blasts. Launched with militaristic snare
and brass progressions at 1:32 (and again at 2:45) into that cue, a
deliberate and dramatic version of the battle theme at 3:37 leads to low
choral melodramatics. The singing ensemble performs the theme in
similarly slower tempo at 4:33 as well. The (indeed) haunting
vocalizations of "Shutting Down Grace's Lab" imitate the theme's
progressions in a layering much like
Thunderheart (without
stating the actual theme). It is applied as fragmentary counterpoint to
the culture theme at 2:45 into "Gathering All the Na'vi Clans for
Battle." In the conclusive "War," the Na'vi battle theme answers the
humans' military theme at 0:51 and merges with the culture theme
thereafter. The massive choral rhythm at 3:37 into "War," similar to the
Fort Wagner sequence in
Glory and complete with banging chimes,
is this theme's final statement, albeit in such bloated form that it's
difficult to recognize. It is in this cue that the humans' military
theme is most dominant, opening the cue with bravado and dominating the
native accents. Additional brass statements of the theme persist on
brass at 1:54 into the cue. The theme's progressions are previewed over
a snare rhythm briefly at 4:15 into "'You Don't Dream in Cryo...'."
Interestingly, Horner uses the format of three rising notes in the minor
key on deep brass to represent everything frightening in the score, and
this choice extends to the enormous pounding at 5:27 into "Pure Spirits
of the Forest" (over mechanized groaning). Perhaps it should come as no
surprise that all beasts, living or mechanical, represent the same
inherent danger. The final theme in
Avatar is one for ascension
that exists only in the middle portion of the soundtrack's album. Horner
has stolen pieces of his evocative main theme for
Glory several
times through the years, but never as completely as he does here. After
thirty seconds in "Climbing Up 'Iknimaya - The Path to Heaven'," the
theme is repeated several times on children's choir and percussion in
the cue (using the discovery/love theme as an interlude). The same
formula is repeated after half a minute in "Jake's First Flight," though
the latter cue allows it one mostly orchestral performance at the 2:24
mark. After these cues relating to Jake's official assimilation into
Na'vi culture, the theme, at least on album, disappears, making it
Glory's one truly distracting contribution to these specific
tracks.
A few other motifs run through
Avatar, many of
them equally familiar to any Horner collector. The presence of the
four-note motif of danger, a stalwart since Horner's earliest action
material, is disappointing, but at least there's no ambiguity about its
purpose at this point. It becomes a frequent contributor from the latter
half of "Scorched Earth" onward. As in
The Boy in the Striped
Pajamas, he tones it back to the performance of a single trumpet to
solemnly denote danger past, a neat touch. Another typical Horner
technique on display in
Avatar is the three-note "rise and fall"
motif, famous from the opening and closing choral performances in
Willow; it's Horner method of enhancing minor-key fantasy with an
awing swell of major (as at 4:40 into "Becoming One of 'The
People'/Becoming One With Neytiri"), though minor-key variant of this
tested idea pops up in the action material as well. Additionally, a
Na'vi defiance call (a pair of hits by vocalists and percussion) is
utilized often. This motif resembles the many times Horner has used a
pair of banging metallic objects (such as an anvil) in previous works.
Here, it's a convenient way to get the Na'vi language into the score
without much structural effort. At 3:51 into "Scorched Earth" and
extending into "Quaritch," these hits (now with the clanging metal)
extend past simple
Mighty Joe Young territory and breathe
forceful life into their defiance. First minute of "The Bioluminescence
of the Night" relies heavily upon the other two major motifs, both
aiding in the brilliance of the softer Na'vi music. An alternating high
flute/whistle figure returns from
The Spitfire Grill (returning
at 1:00 into "Becoming One of 'The People'" and continuing in many of
the main theme's performances), sometimes stretched into lower registers
and quietly tailing off as in
Braveheart. It's slowed down and
lowered on brass in "Becoming One of 'The People'" at 1:50. Also, a
descending piano counterpoint figure containing pairs of notes is almost
omnipresent in "The Bioluminescence of the Night," sometimes four to six
notes in their joined fall and sometimes continuing as long as
necessary. This idea percolates during most of the score's most
sensitive moments. Horner eventually twists it into a figure of
resolution for brass, descending to key in ways reminiscent of
Enemy
at the Gates. Avid Horner collectors can probably find several more
familiar pieces from older scores here and there in
Avatar, on
top of the many instrumental applications that, despite Horner's
testimony to suggest otherwise, are comfortable to his tastes, including
the tones of the six vocal soloists.
A couple of unique motific moments do debut in
Avatar, times at which Horner's references to his older scores
are so thin that they seem to suggest a novel approach to a scene. Among
these is an incredible Celtic-like interlude for female vocalist
(Lisbeth Scott, perhaps?) at the end of "Jake's First Flight," cleverly
using fragments of both the discovery and culture themes while blending
their pieces into something fresh. Another relatively unique moment
comes about four minutes into "Gathering All the Na'vi Clans for
Battle," during which you'll swear that Cameron used Hans Zimmer's
Pirates of the Caribbean as a temp track. The use of East Indian
vocals in "Shutting Down Grace's Lab" is a clear reminder of Rahat
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's performances in
The Four Feathers, albeit
much softer. These singular offerings are in no way enough to compensate
for the fact that almost the whole of Horner's work for
Avatar is
derived in some form or another from his previous efforts. For the
composer's longtime collectors, the re-use phenomenon has been an issue
going back to the mid-1980's, so few can claim that
Avatar is any
different in these regards. Some mainstream listeners may hear
similarities in tone and progression to
Titanic during the
discovery/romance theme (and song), and that was probably Horner's
intent. If you believe in the strength of the ingredients, though, as
well as the composer's talent for applying them expertly for the
necessary emotional impact of a scene, then
Avatar will
undoubtedly impress you. Horner certainly has a touch for capturing the
spirit of any given scene despite the fact that he uses the same
techniques and instruments to do it nearly every time. The clear
difference with
Avatar, though, is that he reaches back to so
many of those ingredients for one score. Unlike his successful scores
for the
Zorro franchise, which are a triumph of originality in
Horner's career because of a few contributions of ethnic flair,
Avatar goes out on countless branches simultaneously. In
comparing his choices to Cameron's, he said, "We both like to, as he
puts it, walk on a branch and hear it creak. We both like that feeling
of being way out on a limb. We both like to take chances." That said,
the
Avatar score's greatest gamble is its posture as a "greatest
hits" collection of Horner's career sounds, an attribute likely to raise
the ire of any detractor of the composer's methodology. Some might say
that hearing all of the Hornerisms in one place at one time qualifies
the result as transcendent or radically new.
In sum, it's been difficult determining what overall
rating to give this score. The minimum it deserves is four stars; there
is no justification for going lower than that, because despite any
concerns over the re-use, the assembly of the parts for this truly epic
cinematic event makes for a formidable product. Sure, Horner's forcing
of themes from
The Four Feathers and
Glory into obvious
roles in
Avatar is awkward (and a continued disappointment), but
for those without those CDs on their shelves, does it really make that
much of a difference in a context such as this? If you compare
Avatar to the other scores of 2009, there's really nothing that
can touch it in terms of ambition. This is a powerhouse of a score that
ranks among the most diverse and thoughtful in Horner's career, poised
to make the kind of waves last caused by Howard Shore's
The Lord of
the Rings music. Horner's development and especially manipulation of
his themes for
Avatar is extremely intelligent, addressing each
circumstance with the kind of precision in alteration heard last in
Shore's famous trilogy. Perhaps no better example of this technique
exists than the cue "Into the Na'vi World," a 90-second teaser that was
available as a preview on the score's official website. All three of the
score's major themes exist in slightly masked form in this cue. It opens
with the main discovery/romance theme under the plucked string accents
and over a strong bed of percussion, but the progression, in its
enthusiasm, has been given a few extra notes over its four base shifts.
It is followed at the halfway mark by fragments of the culture theme on
large-scale brass and strings, concluding with the battle theme on brass
and pairs of the Na'vi defiance call in unison. It's a spectacular
recording that is not available on the album release (and considered by
some fans to be a "bonus cue"), and if this is the kind of material that
didn't make the album, then what else awaits the ears of film
score enthusiasts? Horner claims to have put the same level of passion
and detail into all three hours of music for
Avatar, so even if
you find the commercial album lacking, the score likely has much more to
offer. The twenty minutes of Na'vi material in the middle of that
limited album, as well as the rowdy action rhythms and solemn conclusion
to "War," counter a mundane song and re-use issues to return Horner to
five-star status. That rating represents the entire recording, though,
one that will hopefully be commercially released someday, because you
have to give Horner the benefit of the doubt when he says, "This film
has been all of that and more."
***** Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
| Bias Check: | For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.13 (in 98 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.25
(in 184,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes two production photos of Horner conducting the score and
working with Cameron in the studio, as well as a list of performers and a note from
the composer that mainly thanks his collaborators. Some of the text on the packaging
is unnecessarily small and of poor contrast with the background color, making the
notes and credits difficult to read.
