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Conducted by:
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Nicholas Dodd
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Release Date:
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June 4th, 2002
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a pleasant, though suspenseful, underscore from
David Arnold that exists in style halfway between Stargate and
Changing Lanes.
Avoid it... if Arnold's orchestral bombast is only that which you
desire.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Enough: (David Arnold) In his post-2000 scores, David
Arnold is becoming less and less of the composer that fans fell in love with
in the mid-1990's. As part of his effort to break out of his type-cast
assignments relating to orchestral bombast, Arnold scored the Michael Apted
film Enough. The plot offers some of the same drama and suspense
elements that you can expect from Apted, whose collaborations with several
top composers have tallied to quite an impressive list (James Horner, Danny
Elfman, John Barry, and Maurice Jarre, among others). In Enough,
Jennifer Lopez plays the role of "Slim" (ironic, given all of the talk about
Lopez having her rear end artificially slimmed down), a working class
waitress whose life becomes seemingly perfect when she marries a rich
contractor and moves into the comfortable suburbs. Then, of course, the
contractor becomes an abusive wacko, the wife runs away, the husband and his
henchmen pursue her, and she has to save herself and her child by beefing up
and training for the inevitable chance to kick his face in. For fans of
David Arnold, you'll immediately recognize that this is not Independence
Day territory, and the score you get with this package is stylistically
far from Arnold's early works (but not as far, say, as Changing
Lanes). Given the need for a suspense score that makes you jump every
time a person rounds a corner, Arnold drops both the orchestral style of
Stargate and the rhythmic style of Shaft for this endeavor. He
does employ an orchestra for the project, but the majority of duties are
performed by Arnold's synthesized keyboarding and drum loop sampling (this
time at a much slower, less hip, deliberate pace). It's not spectacular
listening, which is often the case for any composer in this genre, but
Arnold pulls of some impressive cues hidden in the murky atmosphere of
Enough.
To appreciate the score at its best, you have to understand
that it has two distinct halves, and one of them is significantly better
than the other. Arnold's musical presence in Enough begins slowly,
with the early scenes of Slim and her husband scored with modest guitar and
piano work. These underscored scenes offer little to impress, although they
do balance their pleasant, suburban attitude with a touch of distant
electronic distortion --a move by Arnold, perhaps, to foreshadow the abusive
future of the relationship. Likewise, as the album for Enough is
arranged, the weakest cues are all clustered towards the beginning, so be
sure to cut directly to the suspenseful explosion in the fifth cue before
judging the score as a whole. The scenes during which Slim and her daughter
are on the run, and then training and preparing for the confrontation with
the husband, are the easy highlights. Arnold kicks away the electronic
droning and utilizes the synthesizers to establish motivated rhythms. These
rhythms, which pick up steam as the score progresses, are layered with
tense, but harmonic orchestral accompaniment. Parts of the score are
extremely similar to the latter half of Tomorrow Never Dies, with the
strings accompanying metallic rhythms. As the score reaches its climax, the
orchestra is elevated to its full potential, with a crescendo in the finale
that rivals the power of Arnold's great action scores. Between the inspired
rhythms of preparation and the thematically orchestral statements in the
chase sequences and finale, the score has almost a positive attitude. Such
occurrences are rare in the suspense genre, and especially for the plot of a
woman fighting alone. Thus, the album can be recommended to Arnold fans that
want more of a low-key, stylish score that will keep your interest for its
latter half. For mainstream listeners, be aware that the wedding song,
"Today's the Day," by Aimee Mann, is not on this album. Nor are any Lopez
songs, and Varèse Sarabande has made a funny habit of printing that
right on albums for films which feature the actress. Overall, Enough
is a pleasant surprise. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Give Me a Sign (5:22)
• 2. FBI? (4:39)
• 3. A New Leaf (1:42)
• 4. Slim and Joe (2:02)
• 5. Get Out of the House (7:13)
• 6. Goodbye Gracie (1:41)
• 7. Training Day (3:10)
• 8. Breaking In (2:21)
• 9. Setting the Trap (5:39)
• 10. Fight Club (8:49)
• 11. One of the Lucky Ones (1:39)
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Insert includes a note from director Michael Apted about the score, as well as a list of performers.
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