Buy it... if you have an affinity for functional though not spectacular techno-thriller scores, especially if they sound similar to John Powell's extensive collection of works in this genre.

Avoid it... if you expect James Newton Howard to transcend ambient stereotypes and provide a new female spy with a convincing, transparent, ass-kicking thematic identity before a snazzy conclusion that instead follows an ample amount of tired genre sounds.

Howard

Salt: (James Newton Howard) So absurdly preposterous that it has been compared to the James Bond franchise, the 2010 thriller Salt finally gave actress Angelina Jolie her opportunity to launch what many hoped would be a female spy franchise. The Phillip Noyce film deals with an old cold war scenario in which Russian spies have infiltrated the American intelligence community and plot to destabilize the world by assassinating the Russian president while in the United States and, later on, gaining access to the nuclear codes necessary to launch a strike against Muslim cities to spawn a huge backlash against the country. The film initially toys with audiences by obscuring the counteragents, sending CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Jolie) into a series of chases that make you guess about her allegiances. The scenarios in which the presidents of America and Russia find themselves during Salt are hopelessly illogical, and without stunning pacing and photography in the chase sequences, the film was bait for decidedly mixed reviews. The production turned out to be something of a publicity stunt by Jolie, who not only replaced Tom Cruise in the lead role well into development of the film, but injured herself on set while performing stunts. One of the limited aspects of the movie praised widely by critics was James Newton Howard's score. The veteran composer was a more logical choice for Salt than Noyce's previous repeat collaborators, James Horner and Craig Armstrong, and Howard responded with a score that competently meets all the studio and audience expectations of a Hollywood techno-spy thriller. Unfortunately, that also means that the score treads uncomfortably close to the territory of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control clone factory and, as an alternative generally in the lead of that sound, the music of John Powell. In many ways, Salt is Howard's rendition of a typical Powell score of this kind, emulating the Jason Bourne franchise's music in its most frenetic parts. Howard's choice of ensemble is as predictable as it could be, utilizing an orchestra peppered in its mix with synthetic elements that occasionally dominate the soundscape. Also to be expected are a few cliched references to a Russian tone, either in progressions or in the employment of solo and ensemble vocals and a cimbalom in a few specific sequences. A slight rock-influenced ambience prevails as the title character is unleashed to her destiny at the conclusion of the film, one of the many direct references to the Mission: Impossible franchise that were precisely the reason Cruise left the production to begin with.

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On the surface, Salt seems like an uncoordinated, adrenaline-focused, derivative, phone-in effort from Howard that would merit only two stars as a separate listening experience. For those who have no interest in hearing an adaptation of Powell's standard chasing mechanisms, it could stay there and be classified as a disappointment. But Howard, thankfully, offers just enough variation in Salt to give it the character of a decent, three-star piece of action fluff. Dominating melodic development was clearly not the primary intent of the composer, his ideas often vague and usually exploring tangents in individual cues without much to tie them together. As such, Salt is the type of score that features a handful of highlights of various unconnected ideas that could likely yield ten to fifteen minutes of solid material for any Howard collection. A unique female vocal and cimbalom early in "Orlov's Story" suggests the only overtly Russian tone. The explosive "Chase Across DC" is a very strong cue that takes Powell's chase norms and bloats them to larger symphonic accompaniment (including the score's primary theme), just a step or two short of David Arnold's Bond music. Distractingly closing with bagpipe source is "Hotel Room Preparations/Parade." The most insufferable cue is "Taser Puppet," with an extremely obnoxious electric guitar, bass, and percussion mix that functions better than a five energy drinks combined. The duo of "You Are My Greatest Creation" and "Destiny" are harmonic high points of Salt, infusing Russian-style chorus into their impressively melodramatic ranks. The choral usage becomes lighter and choppier in "Barge Apocalypse" and "Go Get Em" (more on that later). In "Not Safe With Me" and "Garroted," the former exploring another simple melody, Howard coincidentally pulls some structure, keyboarding, and tingling percussion rhythms from Klaus Badelt's Catwoman. The thematically obtuse score concludes by finally developing its main identity in "Go Get Em," a determined guitar rhythm and minor-third ostinato as cool and sophisticated as you'd expect for the concept. Unfortunately, the remainder of the cues are relatively non-descript, packing an excessive amount of techno-thriller ambience into generic cues. There has been significant discontent with the album release of Salt, limited to download-only and CDr availability and reportedly leaving out the film version of the choral mix in several cues. The latter problem is particularly irksome for Howard collectors after The Last Airbender; labels apparently now seem content to respond to challenging economic times by omitting or using sampled variations of choral accompaniment on albums in order to save money in reuse fees. No matter your views on this bootleg-inducing issue, Salt is a functional but not spectacular score with a few notable highlights. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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.