Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you enjoy extremely frantic and fast-paced electronic and brass explosiveness that could easily accompany a killer video game. Avoid it... if you are expecting the same level of sophistication and development heard in previous Jeff Danna efforts. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Resident Evil: Apocalypse: (Jeff Danna) If you stop for a moment to give this film any glimpse of logical thought, then you're wasting your time and missing the point. The only reason for a sequel film such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse to be made is to siphon money from teenagers (and those who would still like to be a teenager and/or sleep with one), most of whom have probably killed the zombie villains in the story at some point in the original video game series which inspired the films. Throw in the opportunity to place the bodies of Milla Jovovich and Sienna Guillory on display and you have flick aimed at one specific audience (and critics and reviewers are not that intended audience). You have to wonder what residents of Toronto think of seeing their city interpreted as Raccoon City, its inhabitants turned into zombies by another escaped virus, and the likes of which will be annihilated by a nuclear weapon to save the rest of the world from its residents. It would be nice if Jovovich and Guillory could escape the city along with their other tag-alongs, but who really cares? Director and writer Alexander Witt and Paul W.S. Anderson (respectively) have obviously taken inspiration from John Carpenter, but that doesn't mean that they did any respectable job of capturing the spirit of Carpenter's stylistic uniqueness. One of many areas where they tried to emulate a Carpenter film was in the soundtrack department. Aside from the song situation (which led to an album all to itself long before the score album was pressed), the score imagined by the filmmakers would have the characteristic combination of orchestral force with electronic modernism and coolness, and the talented and quickly rising Jeff Danna was their choice for composer. Listeners could hold at least some minimal hope that Danna would produce a superior effort to the awkward combination of Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson for the original Resident Evil two years prior. Danna comes off of a highly acclaimed score for The Gospel of John, shedding the gorgeous operatic heights of that score in favor of ghoulish and relentless pounding of orchestral and synthetic disharmony in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. For film music enthusiasts who have heard Danna's earlier efforts, including "O" and The Kid Stays in the Picture, Danna's diversity of talent should already be recognized. Even so, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is about a far of a stretch from those scores (and his collaborative Green Dragon effort with his brother Mychael) in attitude as one could get. A well-balanced score between the synthetic and orchestra, Danna has found a very good level of combination of these elements with which to satisfy both modes of musical thought. With the electronics often utilized as rhythm-setters and sound effects, the string and (particularly) brass sections offer repetitious, simplistic motifs to accompany the nearly constant chase and fight sequences. By the second cue on album, "Alice Battles the Nemesis," you already get the impression that you're in a video game atmosphere; the repetition of fast movements restrains the development of any single motif. This somewhat interesting, but eventually tiring continuation of shooting and kicking music leaves you wishing for some direction --any direction-- for Danna to extend the music to the next level. But unlike other similarly fashioned horror and fantasy scores (Beltrami's Hellboy comes to mind), Danna either didn't have a chance to offer any sophistication or he didn't attempt to do so. The lack of cohesive statements of theme is unfortunate, since several cues offer potentially enjoyable ideas that Danna never seems to return to, including "The Nemesis vs. S.T.A.R.S" and "Umbrella is Watching." By "The Crash Site" (the 11th cue on album), the score finally explores some sentimentality, and the "Searching for Alice" cue a few tracks later gives us some more interesting variation on the electronic aspects. But in the end, the score whips us around like a game player or a puppet, teasing us with crescendos serving as false conclusions in "I Remember Everything." There is impressive action material in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, especially performed by jumpy strings and harsh brass tones, but it is unfortunately squashed by the mass of electronic noise and the frightfully fast pace of movement. Danna's score is one that likely outshines the film's own qualities, which might explain the glowing comments from the filmmakers about Danna's work for the project. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 39:46
All artwork and sound clips from Resident Evil: Apocalypse 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 10/8/04, updated 10/10/04. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
