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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... the online version if you have only a casual interest in hearing Trevor Jones' surprisingly entertaining action score. Avoid it... the online version (if you are an American) and seek the CD album if you are a serious Jones collector, and don't want to risk slightly diminished sound quality for his highly charged, symphonic effort. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Viewers of the film have noted that Jones' score lacks a distinctive title theme. This is partially incorrect; Jones does offer a two-bar, eleven-note brass theme several times in the score, sometimes with great crescendos, but unfortunately this theme was lost in a poor mixing job in the film itself. It would have taken a theme of the bold caliber as Last of the Mohicans or Cliffhanger to overcome the poor editing of the score in the film. Almost mechanical in its methodical pace, Jones' theme is worthy especially for the like-minded creations of Nemo in the film. It has no swing, sidestep, or interlude, choosing to blind-side the listener like a brick. There's nothing wrong with that approach, and the theme is quite enjoyable, but it fails to stir up a sense of special circumstances that coincides with the joining of these awesome characters. The major fault of the score is the lack of any depth to the scoring of individual characters, with only Quartermain (Connery's character) and his African affiliations given a specific motif or sound. Thus, while Jones was attempting to score the League as a whole, the personality of each individual talent in the group is musically neglected. That wins points for consistency, however, and leads to the great asset of the music for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: the sustained action. Trevor Jones' action music has typically never whooped butt with a full orchestra for continuous excitement. He can turn a theme and mark a short cue with an orchestral hit along with the best composers, but rhythmically sustained action with the full ensemble (as opposed to the more singular "Elk Hunt" approach in Last of the Mohicans) is something short in his career. Jones saves the score with this monumental action music. The "Nautilus - Sword of the Ocean" cue is worthy of study in and of itself. It is the first major application of the title theme in the context of the film's journey to save the world, and it is among Jones' best work ever. As the adventure begins, the submarine (although awkward in its CGI portrayal on screen) is scored with a flourish of seaworthy activity by the orchestra. Percussion rips and strings boil, while the brass belt out non-stop statements of themes or motifs. In the last minute of the cue, the rolling rhythms of the music offer a strikingly similar sound to that heard in Mark Snow's worthy 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea score, an circumstance perhaps intended. After this cue, and well through the scenes in Venice, Jones presented explosive orchestral underscore, taxing the stamina of the London Symphony Orchestra with the continuous level of robust, snare-driven material. The cue "Capturing Mr. Hyde" is another action highlight of Jones' career, pulling out all of the stops on the frantic strings, bellowing brass, and heart-pounding rhythms. These action cues are indeed spectacular in parts, though the softer moments of Jones' work are less enticing. What little character development is offered in the film is mirrored by rather tepid, uninteresting meanderings of strings. Again, it never establishes strong subthemes or motifs for secondary characters. The African scenes are scored between Jones and Joseph Shabalala, and performed in Swahili by the Ladysmith Black Mambazo male group. These performances are out of context in both the film and on the album, begging questions about its choice for being. The vocal source cue written by Jones for the saloon scene, "Promenade by the Sea," is more appropriate for its Victorian setting in the film, but also makes for a striking context on album. Overall, Jones' score is flawed, but has twenty minutes (or more) of outstanding action writing for the full orchestral ensemble. It's frenetic pace propels it from one loud orchestral outburst to the next, and Jones collectors will not want to miss The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But miss it where? The questionable executives who decide the application of music at 20th Century Fox decided to toy around with this score on the market. Admittedly, Filmtracks doesn't hold such decision-makers at Fox with high regards (*ahem*... *cough*... *morons!*... *burp*...*buffoons!*... *cough*...) since the incident with the Filmtracks Moulin Rouge review, but in all honesty, Fox proves its stupidity once again. As Billboard reported it, Jones' score was to made available for downloading only through Apple's iTunes Music Store. For $9.99, score fans could download the score as of July 3rd, 2003, and Billboard continued by saying that "the soundtrack will be an online only release, not to be issued on any physical medium or associated with any label." Well, enter Varèse Sarabande. You have to feel sorry for Varèse, because it's easy to get the impression that they were manhandled into this situation by Fox. With iTunes offering music only to Americans at the moment, Varèse was able to press a normal, identical CD album of Jones' score and sell it overseas and, thankfully, exclusively through their website to anyone. Although this is expensive for Americans, it does offer non-Apple Mac users (and those who haven't switched to the Mac OS X yet) an opportunity to get their hands on the score. Audiophiles can also distinguish a slight diminishing of sound quality on the downloads compared to the CD. It was a dumb decision all around, through no fault of Varèse Sarabande, which did the best it could given Fox's decision to experiment with the Americans concerning an online release (even though mainstream score collectors obviously weren't ready for this move yet). For you score fans that like boisterous, symphonic action, do try to obtain Jones' score if you have the means. While it has some flaws of its own, the score's poor mixing in the film does not do it justice.
Score as Heard in the Film: ** Score as Downloaded: *** Score as Heard on CD Album: **** Overall: ***
The CD insert contains several pictures of the characters in the film, but includes no extra information about the score or film. The downloadable version has no distinct artwork of its own. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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