Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you appreciate Hans Zimmer's very consistent styles for the usage of choir, strings and synthesizer. Avoid it... if you'd rather hear music for the sacred feminine that doesn't sound like Crimson Tide and Batman Begins. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Da Vinci Code: (Hans Zimmer) Oh pious Vatican and thy minions of religious dupery, why art thou so dumb? One would think that after centuries of repelling attacks from evil non-believers, the Vatican would have learned by now that announcing a boycott on a book or a film simply blesses the target with free publicity and even greater riches. But right on cue, the word has come from the highest echelons of the center of Christian holiness that the new film adaptation of Dan Brown's extraordinarily popular novel The Da Vinci Code is not quite as holy as desired. In fact, it's downright blasphemous, and why not? Brown's interpretation of religious history takes speculation about Jesus contrary to Christian conversion tactics of the past 1,700 years and arranges those challenging ideas into a fine murder mystery. Brown succeeded in conveying the intricate complexities of religious theory and history to the masses by disguising it as a phenomenally engaging chase story, and Ron Howard's much anticipated film version of the story is expected to win enormous earnings at the box office and stand well-positioned during the next awards season. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the book is Brown's ability to weave so many complexities of religious history into the story while making the "gotcha" parts accessible to almost any reader. Many novels spin a web of such layers and hope that the reader can decipher half of them by the end. Whether or not your faith can stomach the proposals in The Da Vinci Code depends on how open-minded you are, but even the most vocal critics of the facts (or pseudo-facts) in the story can recognize Brown's masterful ingenuity in arranging them in brilliant fashion. So brilliant, not coincidentally, that he won in a court of law when sued by rival authors over the underlying premise of the history in the tale. Composing the music for Howard's 2006 film would require an equal level of intelligence in writing, and Hans Zimmer toiled considerably with this assignment. After such successful collaborations with James Horner and Thomas Newman over his acclaimed career, Howard reached back to his Backdraft collaborator for this challenge. For Backdraft, Zimmer had created an enduring musical identity for the masculine world of urban firefighting, and few of his scores have fit their films so well. By the indications in the credits for the score, it would seem that Hans Zimmer has tackled The Da Vinci Code much on his own, a rarity these days for the composer, though it's likely that one of the dozen assistants from previous efforts contributed ideas to the process. The result of his efforts is a score easily recognizable as a Zimmer effort, employing many of the same classically-inspired, overly dramatic chord progressions familiar to his previous dramas. His instrumentation is conservative in its employment as well, utilizing a symphony seemingly short on brass, but aided by his trademark synthesizers and a significant choral presence. In an extension on the melodramatic results heard in his effective Hannibal score, Zimmer injects The Da Vinci Code with a heavy dose of majesty and power. Especially in the latter half of the score, crescendos of magnificence rarely heard in Zimmer's career rattle the walls with harmonic resonance. The best of these moments of awe should be credited to the chorus, which exists in both the higher ethereal female ranges and the deep chanting male depths that resurrect the broad scope of Crimson Tide. Zimmer's thematic development is subtle at every turn, never pronouncing its presents in obvious fashion despite Zimmer's loyalty to it throughout the score. The most enjoyable performances of theme easily exist at the opening and closing of the album; as a title theme of sorts, the primary idea is extended with fantastic results in the discovery cue, "Chevaliers de Sangreal," with Zimmer's concert piece for The Da Vinci Code expanding the theme into a churning string, choir, and synthesizer piece in a performance among the best four minutes of the composer's career. A secondary theme introduces itself with weighty string performances in "Fructus Gravis" and pours on the religious chord progressions without hesitation in that and "Daniel's 9th Cipher," where a solo woodwind is dominated by the same strings. A third thematic idea is delicately performed in solo piano and music box tones at the outset of "The Citrine Cross" and in the middle of "Rose of Arimathea." Whether these themes and motifs represent the different locations, characters, or the three distinct storylines that eventually merge that the story's end remains unknown. There is magic to be heard in Zimmer's score for The Da Vinci Code, with individual moments of beauty that make the album worth every penny. Most of these cues incorporate the choir, with the ensemble joined by solo female voice (for the concept of the sacred feminine, let's hope!) with haunting effect in "Poisoned Chalice" and "Rose of Arimathea." The story has its fair share of majestic moments of discovery (so that's where it is... yeah!), and Zimmer responds with some very simple, but gratifying blasts of male and female voices in simplistic tonal progressions. He handles the moments of horror (religious assassinations.... yeah!) or outright suspense (religious executioners chasing innocent civilians.... yeah!) with either sudden liturgical explosions from the choir, as heard during the gruesome discovery in the latter half of "Dies Mercurii I Martius," a droning crescendo of reverberating bass as in "The Paschal Spiral," or the frenetic string scherzo in latter half of "Fructus Gravis." An extension of this wild string piece highlights the action cue "Beneath Alrischa." One of the more interesting overall aspects of Zimmer's score, however, is its restrained tempos from start to finish. The composition progresses very slowly, consistently returning to its respectfully restrained pacing after each charge of action or suspense. Related to that curiously deliberate movement is the lack of substantial tension in the work; for a story with killings, constant chases, and heightened intellectual passion, Zimmer's work seems oddly directed towards only the overarching discovery in the story. This quest for religious enlightenment is nailed for the most part by Zimmer, but the ride he takes you on for the duration of the album is far less exciting the story of The Da Vinci Code itself. But in and of itself, the music for the film will be a delightful reprise of the bone-chilling moments from Hannibal, a score that has significant influence on individual cues in The Da Vinci Code. A few minutes into "The Citrine Cross," a descending choral and string motif introduced in Hannibal is heard here, but obviously without Anthony Hopkins' voice-overs. The motif reaches a crescendo in "The Citrine Cross" that almost resembles a high range distortion of the female voices in the choir. As Zimmer typically does these days, however, he leaves several questions unanswered. One of the more intriguing debates film score fans could have about The Da Vinci Code is its tendency to regurgitate "Zimmerisms" with the same frequency that James Horner detractors would have debated endlessly had Horner teamed once again with Howard for this project. Zimmer stays very close to his comfort zone in The Da Vinci Code, a project that, more than anything else recently in his career, begged for an expansion of his horizons. The instrumentation is predictable, with Zimmer replacing the presence of brass with his own synthesizers. And while the construct of a cue such as "Chevaliers de Sangreal" lends itself well to Zimmer's synthetic string and brass samples, when you combine it with the adult chorus you hear just too much Crimson Tide to satisfy you in this entirely different genre of film. Similarly obvious are the medium-range churnings of strings both above and below the primary theme that are saturated with styles from Batman Begins. Additionally, the score's overall effect on the listener, even after five or six listens to the album, will lack enough creativity to sustain any interest outside of the three or four very strong cues near the end of the score. A few days after you hear the score several times repeatedly, you likely won't recall a specific motif in your head (and if you can, then you're truly a die-hard Zimmer fan). The slow tempo to the score contributes to this disengagement, as does the predictability of the choral use and the lackadaisical chord progressions of Zimmer's themes (the title shares similarities to everyone's favorite, Trevor Jones' Last of the Mohicans, not to mention the rhythmic string origins that always seem to come from the "Elk Hunt" cue from that score). Memorability seems at a loss. A disappointment in instrumental creativity also hinders The Da Vinci Code, aside from the unfortunate substitution of synthesizers for brass, as happened in Gladiator too (if you hear the City of Prague Philharmonic or other group perform that score, you'll note how much better a full brass presence compliments Zimmer's style). The percussion section seems devoid of much influence on the score either, which is also curious given the section's capability of setting a stronger pace for a fast-moving story. Drums are utilized, but the timpani range is often overshadowed by a droning mix of real or synthetic bass strings that Zimmer often uses to infuse his work with power. Once again, the "Chevaliers de Sangreal" cue comes to mind, with the real percussion drowned out by synthetic rhythm samples and the bass strings. Effective metallic percussion seems completely lost on Zimmer here, with the one cymbal crash (the only one in the whole score?) in the cue badly muted, and Zimmer's usual tolling bell and clanging effects undermixed as well. These elements, when balanced with the rest of the ensemble, produced fine results in Crimson Tide, but are poorly executed here. It should be mentioned that Zimmer employs a tolling bell in "Rose of Arimathea" as the ending punctuation to a dramatic cue, and it's easy to wish that Zimmer had dipped further into that barrel of instrumental creativity elsewhere. Also necessary to mention is the contribution of composer Richard Harvey, who not only conducted the score, but also wrote the outstanding choral piece "Kyrie for the Magdalene" that is heard in the film (on a side note: given the quality of Harvey's other works, he likely would have been capable of scoring this entire project brilliantly had he been given the opportunity). Unfortunately not included in the picture is Zimmer's enticingly lyrical "Salvete Virgines" choral cue that easily distinguishes itself from the remainder of the score and solves the low percussion mix that plagues the full ensemble pieces. Because the story of The Da Vinci Code is so well loved, and opinions on its greatness can often be overblown, Zimmer has unfortunately set himself up for a rash of criticism along the "could have" and "should have" lines from listeners. His score suffices at nearly every turn, flirting on excellence in places, but for what stories is a sufficient score acceptable? Given the expectations, the overall effect of his music here is ultimately underwhelming, due in part to slow development, monotonous sequences, conservative instrumentation, simplistic themes, and a questionable recording mix. But if you accept those aspects of the music as parts of Zimmer's palette to begin with, and you would enjoy a melting pot of motifs, rhythms, and instrumentation from Batman Begins, Hannibal, The Thin Red Line, and Crimson Tide, then The Da Vinci Code will succeed for you. To say that could be greatly insulting of Zimmer's talents, but a project like The Da Vinci Code exposes the best and worst of composers. It separates the men from the boys. And even with all his ducks in a row and the wind at his back, Zimmer has produced a score for The Da Vinci Code that stands a head above the boys, but a step below the men. The reason for this tough criticism once again touches upon the problematic nature of Zimmer's approach to Batman Begins. He has shown a tendency to adapt poorly to situations that call for extreme creativity, writing music that pulls the subject matter closer to his own comfort zone rather than throwing his talents completely into the realm of the subject matter. Alas, we get music for the sacred feminine that sounds like Crimson Tide. It would be difficult to say if James Horner could have done any better. But you can't help but imagine what Thomas Newman, John Williams, or Elliot Goldenthal could have written for The Da Vinci Code. In a world of secret messages and endless layers of meaning, Zimmer hasn't yet proven that he can match such composers in intellectual approaches to such a genre. His resume doesn't include Newman's Angels in America or any of the challenging textural ideas that would have made Goldenthal such a delicious choice for The Da Vinci Code. Luckily, the film's story is so strong that it won't need the score to support it, and Zimmer's music is, at the very least, inoffensive. On album, apart from any idea of the film it accompanies, we hear some of Zimmer's best material in years. Sometimes even the best inspiration can be misdirected, though, and Zimmer is dangerously close to Vangelis territory in these regards.
Music as Heard on Album: **** Overall: *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 68:03
* not contained in film All artwork and sound clips from The Da Vinci Code are Copyright © 2006, Decca/Universal. 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 5/5/06, updated 5/7/06. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2006-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. There is a hidden message in this review. |
