Buy it... if you aren't afraid to explore guilty pleasures that include this largely derivative, but simplistically cool score.

Avoid it... if a knock-off David Arnold-style score with familiar themes and orchestrations isn't worth your time.

Mansell

Sahara: (Clint Mansell) The character of Dirk Pitt has come a long way on the big screen in the last 25 years, but not necessarily in the same way you'd think of other famous characters' progressions. When last we saw Dirk Pitt in an action/adventure film like Sahara was in 1980, when the character was played by Richard Jordan in the outrageously expensive Raise the Titanic. In 2005, we get to see the character dumbed down to Matthew McConaughey levels in Saraha, a project which caused original writer Clive Cussler to throw tantrums about its adaptations. To have perfectly adapted his novel to the screen, a running time of four hours would have been required, but that didn't stop Cussler from rejecting several drafts of the script (which was as painstakingly loyal as possible) before he eventually went ahead and sued Paramount over the final draft that was shot for the theatres. Perhaps audiences should have sued Cussler, for the plot is so outlandishly silly that a person has to turn off his or her brain to enjoy it. A Confederate ironclad ship from the American Civil War, full of untold treasures, is left buried under the sands of Africa, having ventured there when there was obviously more water in the area. An adventurer, his obligatory sidekick, and the usual beautiful female aid worker team up to search for the good of humanity and the good of whatever's aboard the ship. Twenty or so wildly illogical steps later, we have Sahara, an eye candy affair with an equally unlikely composer at the helm of its score. British arranger, producer, and performer Clint Mansell is the newest in a series of rock band converts to the orchestral film scoring genre, a trend starting with David Arnold ten years ago.

Lending his services to several bands in the 1990s, most notably Nine Inch Nails, Mansell began providing low-budget, electronic scores for B-films in 1998. While not a remarkable work in and of itself, Requiem for a Dream served as Mansell's initial calling card, though even that score could not prepare him for the expansive variety of sounds necessary for Sahara. Given those circumstances, the finished score for Sahara is not only a thrilling and effective score in the context of the film, but a guilty pleasure in the making on album. The score has all the same positives and negatives of Nathan Furst's Dust to Glory earlier in the year, with obvious influences in style calling for forgiveness simply because they're cool. Thus, if you're seeking something intellectual, go somewhere else. Mansell's work here ranges from straight-forward orchestral bombast to the reverse angle of ethnically rhythmic vocals and general world music. Depsite some influences when a sense of "coolness" is called upon, Mansell restrains the rock elements to subsidiary roles, never rocking the listener with guitars or overbearing electronics. But in the marriage between electronic and orchestral arrangements, definite similarities can be drawn between this and David Arnold's large-scale works, thanks to the work of common orchestrator Nicholas Dodd.

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Given Dodd's talents of bringing pop and rock artists into the symphonic fold, scores like Sahara beg for the man to venture into composition for himself (though to do so might reveal some of the true talent behind Arnold). Choral use will recall Stargate in several places, especially in "A Clue." Cues such as "All Aboard!" will be just slightly too Bond-like in their wailing brass for some listeners, causing some curiosity about whether or not Goldfinger is poking around out there in the desert with them. In its favor, Sahara has all the structural traits of a satisfying modern adventure score, with a title theme for the quest and a two-note submotif for brass that pop up where appropriate. Extensive incorporation of Middle-Eastern and African vocals into several cues lends a third dimension to the score. Along with African percussion, two cues in the score will be downright foreign to the Western listener, sounding as though plucked from an East-African marketplace. Other cues, such as the "Celebration" finale, offer magnificent blends between the different cultural sounds and the symphony. On album, the mere existence of a score album is an unlikely, but pleasant surprise given the lack of widespread success for the film. Only a remix of the title theme at the end (which itself isn't as invasive as some of Arnold's Moby remixes for his scores) joins a solid 75 minutes of Mansell's score. Sahara's music may not be quite unique enough to inspire a lengthy search and expenditure, but it will be a great used-CD or bargain/clearance buy for any score collector. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download