Buy it... if you generally find yourself enjoying the harmonious, uncomplicated action and sci-fi scores that ride the wave of the Remote Control/Hans Zimmer clone factory, a sound that Brian Tyler has competently emulated here and in his other recent works.

Avoid it... if the value of such scores as relatively mindless entertainment is outweighed by that perpetually nagging feeling that Tyler is too talented to be spending his career toiling in the muck of such generic fare.

Tyler

Battle: Los Angeles: (Brian Tyler) No matter how different alien invasion films try to be in their continuous attempts to strive for originality, it's funny how they always end up relying upon previous entries in the genre to explain their basic circumstances. In the case of Battle: Los Angeles, the aliens once again seek our planet's natural resources, but need to eliminate humanity for their convenience. And, of course, their superior technology is countered when humans examine one of them up close, learn how their technology works, and destroy the command ship(s) to render alien fighters defenseless or uncoordinated. If that sounds like Independence Day all over again, then you can understand why critics gave Battle: Los Angeles an appropriate dismissal. The 2011 film is a glorified video game experience with the feel of a recruitment pitch for the American Marines, seeking to tackle the topic from the serious perspective of the fighting men and women who struggle to protect their country while in disarray. It's hard to take topics like this seriously, however, when the script and its shooting is so sloppy, not to mention the fact that alien forces should never be so stupid as to once again try to invade the Earth with such piss poor command and control capabilities. These nasty creatures must have an equivalent of Sarah Palin running their armed forces to perpetually lose to such lowly human technology. None of these fallacies of logic kept money from changing hands between action aficionados and theatres, however, and Battle: Los Angeles generated substantial box office returns that in America alone exceeded its budget during its run on the big screens. Director Jonathan Liebesman had worked previously with composer Brian Tyler on multiple occasions, and the two extended that collaboration for an assignment on Battle: Los Angeles that is likely among Tyler's most substantial in scope and length. The amount of music spotted in the film is considerable, with very long cues extending uninterrupted over several major scenes (albeit often at lower levels in the overall sound mix).

Tyler has handled his fair share of war-related films in the past, and from Rambo to The Expendables, he's been progressively transforming his own compositional style into a sound that can't be described as anything other than an affiliate of the Remote Control/Hans Zimmer clone factory. It seems to be that if an executive or director seeks a reliable, somewhat more intelligent variation on the RC/Zimmer sound these days (at a reportedly more affordable price, too), then Tyler might be the best go-to guy. There is no doubt that Tyler's skill level remains well beyond the music you hear in Battle: Los Angeles (his knowledge of film music history and performance talents testify to that potential all the time), but it's hard to knock the guy for earning paychecks by grinding out effective action scores even if they don't provide the film music listener with anything substantially new. Like most Tyler action scores of the late 2000's, there are aspects of Battle: Los Angeles that impress and entertain while there are also detriments in the form of recycled concepts and questionable mastering. When considered in sum, such music is typically quite palatable but inevitably forgettable, effective but naggingly underachieving. The intent with which Tyler and Liebesman approached this score is clear. You won't hear typical orchestral action or science-fiction music along the lines of David Arnold's Independence Day here. There are few synchronization points and abrupt changes of direction within cues, causing the score to play over long periods in a consistent line. Additionally, there seems to be some overwrought heroism evident in the hymn-like themes in Battle: Los Angeles, and one could joke that the primary theme glorifies the endeavors of the Marines to the same rugged extent as Mark Isham's famous theme for the Army's abundant television commercials. Like John Rambo, the tired American military heroes here are deemed deserving of adagio treatment by Tyler, maintaining their stature through stoic sorrow rather than blaring, trumpet-led patriotism.

Aside from a few moments of dissonant screeching from synthetic elements throughout the score for Battle: Los Angeles, Tyler's approach is largely comprised of easy, simple shifts on a friendly harmonic scale. When you throw in the emphasis on the lower ranges of the orchestra with a choir, such techniques beg for comparison to the Hans Zimmer spin-off sound. Think about the primary thematic material from Rambo, strip away the exotic elements, beef up the scope of the remaining pieces, and you have an idea about what the entirety of the dramatic portions of Battle: Los Angeles sound like. While you hear counterpoint techniques and a few other bits of Tyler's previous writing in this melodramatic music, one can't help but be reminded far more strongly of Steve Jablonsky's music for the Transformers franchise. At 1:10 into "Evac," Tyler steals some inspiration from Jablonsky's typical string ostinato figures for the prior scores, and at the start of "Rebalance," the deep piano thuds under choral majesty once again recall that franchise's music. BT's highlights from Stealth are revisited in "Elegy." The Zimmer-related references in the score aren't always intuitive, however; at 1:40 into "For Home, Country, and Family," for instance, you hear a passage strikingly similar to the opening of Hannibal. The main theme has faint hints of Brad Fiedel's famous melody for The Terminator, too. Tyler enthusiasts will always find references to fragments of melodies from the enduring Children of Dune in practically all of his large-scale scores, and those do exist infrequently here as well. The relative lack of complexity in the lines of activity makes many of the cues of resolute bravado redundant, too, an issue complicated by yet another marathon album presentation for a Tyler score. Despite the initial intellectual concerns a veteran film score listener may have upon hearing that lengthy album for Battle: Los Angeles the first time, there is a definite upside to it. The consistency of the score's demeanor causes the presentation, with the exception of those few dissonant passages (reminiscent of Timeline), to pass by for over an hour with little variation from the feel-good, ball-busting attitude evident at the very start.

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So even if you can't dig the lack of originality in Battle: Los Angeles, at least it makes for a quite decent, mindless background experience. There are innumerous sequences of pure choral beauty as well, and someone could perhaps arrange these into a fantastic guilty-pleasure suite. Another distinct positive that needs a fair amount of recognition is Tyler's application of electric guitars to the score. There are a number of reasons why the instrument exists in this context, whether it involves the location, the thrill of the fight, the contemporary weaponry, or the target demographic in the theatre seats. But guitars can often wail away obnoxiously in scores like Battle: Los Angeles, and Tyler deserves major kudos for finding a way to integrate their tone into the mix in such a way as to be contributors rather than soloists. During some of the most impressive statements of the main theme, as in "Battle Los Angeles" and its separate "Hymn," he allows the instrument to quietly strum in the background and produce another line of depth to the standard orchestra. At other times, as in "Shelf Life" and "We Are Still Here," the guitar contributes quite coolness in a primary role. More up front, however, are Tyler's performances on percussion, not surprisingly, led by a brutal layer of snare rhythms throughout the score. The subtle combination of electronics and percussion often yields the personality of the alien forces, which don't seem to receive any theme of their own. Overall, Battle: Los Angeles is a solid entry in Tyler's career, but one that will require you to check your brain at the door. It is a clear companion piece for Matthew Margeson's music for Skyline from the prior year, another variation on the RC/Zimmer sound with highlights of equal interest and kind (Margeson actually had a role in the arrangement and programming of this Tyler score, to little surprise). One final sour note about this soundtrack has to be made in regards to the overbearing mix for the album. Once again, yet another score of this type has been cranked up in gain levels so high that you hear distortion during volume spikes (it's awful in "Evac" at 1:50, 2:05, and beyond). Thus, you get more muscle but less nuance, and what you gain in power is more than negated by the lack of a truly dynamic soundscape. Then again, anybody looking for nuance in this score is probably missing the point. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Brian Tyler reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.24 (in 22 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.11 (in 12,201 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.