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Michael Clayton: (James Newton Howard) As a
convoluted corporate and legal thriller,
Michael Clayton takes a
long time to ignite the flame, leaving audiences waiting until the end
for its flashbacks to reveal the totality of the story. Its examination
of morality comes via the direction of Tony Gilroy, who makes the
transition to the director's chair after several successful screenplays
to his credit. Critically acclaimed in every corner of press,
Michael
Clayton is an intelligent study of corporate ethics, or the lack
thereof, and the attorneys who serve as "cleaners" to make ugly
situations for those companies disappear. George Clooney leads an
outstanding set of performances that have gained the film a following
with arthouse regulars seeking the few truly interesting intellectual
puzzles to come out of Hollywood today. Composer James Newton Howard
isn't a stranger to this genre of film; not only have his choices in
assignment varied greatly, but his style has matched those shifts with
great unpredictability. While many composers' works, regardless of genre
or ensemble, can be identified within a few passages, Howard's career
has included so many dramatic variances in ensemble and style that you
sometimes have difficulty lumping some of his work in with his better
known efforts.
Michael Clayton is exactly this type of score.
Howard is no stranger to the concept of understatement, and
Michael
Clayton fits squarely in the same realm as
Freedomland or
The Interpreter in recent years. For the great majesty that
Howard can instill in nearly any film, whether overt or in subtle
nuances, scores like these often dwell in the shadows and provide only
an ambient accompaniment to the film. Even within this grouping of
Howard's works,
Michael Clayton is among the least interesting,
barely registering with any satisfying rhythmic or thematic devices. It
is as dull as a score can be, which may service a film like this well.
On album, there is no point.
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Howard's ensemble for
Michael Clayton includes a
normally-sized orchestral string section, percussion, guitars, piano,
and a variety of synthetic elements. Outside of the final cue, "25
Dollars Worth," the strings and piano are either absent or irrelevant.
This leaves Howard's ambient sound design to define nearly the entire
mood of the score, and that mood is extremely gloomy. With the title
character stuck in a world of hazy morality, Howard responds by placing
the score in the same muddied atmosphere. His electronic thumping and
broad keyboarded strokes are treated to significant wet mixes that cause
the music to echo endlessly... the same way dull sounds will echo for
anyone who has a really bad sinus headache. There is no overarching
design to most of
Michael Clayton's score outside of the
contemplation of the moment. The bass region is filled with Howard's
library of ominous samples, rarely following any intelligent succession.
The score takes twenty minutes before it even registers at dramatic
levels. In "Times Square" and the subsequent two cues, Howard increases
the tension with slapping, forceful rhythms and electric guitars. These
cues, while they will finally pull you out of the slumber that the
previous portions of the score will have inevitably placed you in, still
only serve the thrill of the moment. Only in "25 Dollars Worth" does
Howard's simple theme for the film mature, both on piano and strings.
This extremely deliberate theme could be quite hopeful given its
structure, but Howard, even in this glimpse of sunny days at the end,
does not allow the theme to range into enjoyable performances. Nothing
shatters that hope more than the reprise of a few ambient thuds in the
cue's final minute. Overall,
Michael Clayton is a functional
score in a very basic sense, but Howard seemingly does little to infuse
his trademark creativity into a film that defies such simplicity with
its intelligent script. Even a score like
The Interpreter had one
redeeming track to including on a Howard compilation. No such redemption
is available with
Michael Clayton, and while it may only irritate
you with the pounding rhythms at its climax, its total lack of
personality makes the album a useless venture.
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| Bias Check: | For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.31 (in 53 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 58,041 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information about the score or film.
