Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you want to hear Marco Beltrami's slowly maturing blockbuster-scale style, represented by ten to fifteen minutes of engaging action cues. Avoid it... if you were expecting compelling, passionate, or even really interesting music for one of the most intriguing science-fiction stories of all time. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
I, Robot: (Marco Beltrami) When Isaac Asimov conjured the three laws governing robots in 1940 and eventually wrote them into the I, Robot screenpay in the 1970's, the heralded doctor claimed that this story could be made into one of the greatest science-fiction films of all time. What he could not predict, however, was the haphazard direction that Hollywood, governed now by its ability to create wizardry in the special effects department, would take as an industry. In the era of thousands of CGI spiders, spaceships, and robots per frame, no story is safe. By the time I, Robot could be made into a feature film, the industry stood eagerly awaiting the opportunity to pour every cliche and digital effect into a recipe in which Asimov had demanded more logic and contemplation as a primary ingredient. Having Will Smith as the bad cop at center stage is perhaps all the indication you need that I, Robot is one massively disappointing screw-up waiting to happen. Compelling theories of robotics and humanity are summarily replaced by a reckless Men in Black wannabe who talks smack and blows away countless evil droids. What doesn't make sense about I, Robot is how its director, Alex Proyas, could produce such a boring, cliche-driven film such as this, especially after he proved to the world with Dark City that he could provide stylish and sophisticated science fiction for another generation of futuristic thinkers. One of the assets of Dark City was highly underrated veteran composer Trevor Jones, and he was once again slated to work with Proyas on I, Robot. Despite a relatively slow period of activity for the professor, however, Jones mysteriously dropped out of the project (willingly or not... the truth is not yet known), leaving his loyal following of really hardcore film score collectors very disappointed. Perpetuating the trend in Hollywood of having a replacement composer write a large, orchestrally budgeted score in just a few weeks, Proyas saw the job go to 36-year-old Marco Beltrami with only 17 days to render the fully-finished work. Beltrami was introduced to the summer-blockbuster scene in earnest last year, with his adequate, but unispired score for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines announcing his mainstream arrival. On the upswing, though, Beltrami's intriguing score for Hellboy earlier in 2004 showed signs that the young composer was truly ready for full-fledged fantasy and science-fiction audiences. Beltrami made the best of his 17 days and wrote a substantial score for 95 orchestral musicians and 25 choral performers. And yet, he seems to have reverted back to the stylistic weaknesses of Terminator 3, composing a score with all the makings of a winner, but lacking the passion to pull it all together. Beltrami is very loyal to the orchestra in this effort, putting the electronics in subsidiary role from start to end. This choice could be questioned, for if Beltrami really wanted to create a strong ambience for the robots, then perhaps a constant electronic counterpoint might have been advisable. Thematically, his title theme is consistent, though overshadowed by swirls of activity in much of the effort. A seemingly electronically altered solo string performance of the theme over the end credits is both engaging and interesting, however the structural problems of Beltrami's rhythms and conscious choice to keep his music off-balanced causes the theme to lose its effectiveness. Throughout the entirety of his effort, he emphasizes sharp brass ostinatos that rotate octaves in jagged formations, often with wildly active strings accenting scales in between those octaves. Perhaps this technique is best described as Beltrami's sincere effort to emulate the styles of Elliot Goldenthal and Jerry Goldsmith and roll them into one unique package. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work, with several cues failing to maintain any sense of purpose or personality, although individual cues do have their highlights. The "Chicago 2035" cue is saturated with the influences of Goldenthal's epic writing, for instance, and the final two cues on the album, "Spiderbots" (which ironically has a slow and broad thematic statement right out of the pages of Jones' Dark City... emulating a temp track, perhaps?) and "Round Up" begin to offer some cohesion of rhythm and lofty accompaniment of the choir in Matrix-like fashion. Even in these highlights of the score, the direction of the music shifts erratically, possibly in an attempt to keep up with the CGI effects on screen. Moments of resolve and beauty are lucky to last ten seconds, and the same could be said for the statements of thrilling action. Speaking of the Matrix scores (which certainly matured over their course of three entries), Beltrami seems to be endeavoring to follow the same compositional identity exploration as Don Davis, but Davis has better found his way. The only way to really illustrate this point is to recognize Beltrami as a composer with great talent, but questionable focus, and this problem manifests itself in the lack of passion in a score such as I, Robot. Until you hear those final two cues on album, the score meanders, dabbles, blasts, and rips --and surely it is effective in its basic task-- but its problems are clearly identified by its own disjointed thematic performance over the end credits. Perhaps I, Robot suffers from mixing problems, and many could argue as well that the time frame for the project may have allowed errors in the writing, performing, recording, or mixing of the work. But overall, I, Robot is yet another Beltrami score that has great promise, but lacks the passion, cohesion, or distinct personality to achieve its top form. Like the film, the score is all action and no intelligent science-fiction. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 44:09
All artwork and sound clips from I, Robot are Copyright © 2004, Varèse Sarabande. 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 7/31/04, updated 8/1/04. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
