In the end, those concerns over Eastwood's ability were validated by a bland, simplistic, and underachieving score that leaves you wondering if such a glorious historic event and the circumstances surrounding it have ever received such an empty and punchless piece of musical accompaniment. Flags of Our Fathers is easily the least interesting score to debut for a major film in 2006, with rhythmic and thematic structures so simple that they defy description. Even the sequel score for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as wretched as it may be, gives you more to chew on. Perhaps Eastwood was subscribing to the Saving Private Ryan philosophy of "less is more," but to pull that off you need the mastery of subtle scoring that John Williams could accomplish, and instead Eastwood has provided a score that toils in the Brokeback Mountain realm of repetitive solo themes that are overshadowed by source music. The score, which is deceptively short, is extremely similar to previous Eastwood music. Its meter is always the same, the themes never vary, counterpoint or other complexity is completely absent, instrumentation is very basic, the tone remains consistent, and the performance is devoid of any enthusiasm or any sense of importance. If this music doesn't put your brain to sleep, then you're an intellectual insomniac. Eastwood's one theme begins with a blatant reference to "America the Beautiful," and whether he did this consciously or not, it compounds the other eye-rolling aspects of the score's ineptitude. The piano is the central element, often opening many of the score cues with identical performances of this theme before being joined by a small orchestral presence later in the cues. Solo guitar and solo trumpet also contribute, with the latter providing the highlight of the score in "Platoon Swims." Most of the non-battle cues contain these same performances over and over again, with little variation in tempo or emotional depth. The wartime cues also utilize the same title theme, but accomplish their distraught emotional attitude through simple dissonance and a steady stream of atonal chord progressions performed by the lower string ranges. Niehaus throws in a few elements of authenticity with Japanese percussion (and what faintly sounds like a shakuhachi flute whispering in the background... this could be synthetic) in two of the cues. Poor employment and mixing of these elements makes Hans Zimmer's use of similar elements in Pearl Harbor seem competent, and makes Jerry Goldsmith's use in Tora! Tora! Tora! seem like nothing less than brilliance.

Maybe the most disturbing aspect of Eastwood's score for Flags of Our Fathers is the total lack of a genuine emotional appeal. Eastwood's extremely basic writing combined with Niehaus' geriatric orchestrations piddle along without crescendos or other clearly enunciated moments of importance. Some of it is basically enjoyable on album, but that doesn't speak towards its effectiveness in the genre. The "Flag Raising" cue must the most sickeningly underplayed representation anyone could possible imagine for the event, and Eastwood's "Flags Theme," which seems to be just a staggered variation of the title theme, is nothing more than an exercise in dissonant layers for the strings. When a situation in the film calls for strength, Eastwood relies on a droning bass string note, which is a great way to start any cue, but he attempts to extend that tired use through an entire cue, leaving you wondering how this score ever got from point A to point B... or if it ever made it to point B at all. Eastwood doesn't attempt to score some scenes, however, choosing to have his son, Kyle, arrange traditional pieces for re-recordings to be used in the film. Compared to Eastwood's score, the John Philip Sousa recordings alone are a swift kick in the pants. Therein lies the problem with the album; Eastwood's aimlessly boring score is divided by both the re-recordings of Sousa and classical pieces, as well as original recordings of songs from the era. The listening experience on the album for Flags of Our Fathers could not be any more bizarre, therefore, and the presentation could perhaps have been salvaged had the score been isolated in one section of the album. The difference in sound quality between the original source recordings and the quite good studio recording of the score is often distracting. And, serving as final testimony to the apparent fact that Eastwood feels compelled to do absolutely everything on his films, he unleashes his crackling singing voice in a solo performance as a surprise after the music finishes in "End Titles." As much as we all love the guy for a remarkable career, the singing at the end of Flags of Our Fathers adds a laughable element to already embarrassing score. Fans could only hope that if Eastwood continued to tackle large-scale cinematic dramas, he would eventually understand that every individual has his limits, and he is potentially (if not probably) damaging his own films by insisting upon scoring them himself. That included Letters from Iwo Jima, the follow-up to Flags of Our Fathers. Maybe he was just feeling lucky. And we'll keep scratching our heads.  *   @Amazon.com: CD or Download