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Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life: (Alan Silvestri) Paramount's
most shameless attempt of 2003 to milk more money from the wallets of fools,
otherwise known as
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, was understandably
ridiculed for its poor script and shoddy direction, both of which ultimately
causing a two-hour bore on screen. Even Angelina Jolie didn't retain her enthusiasm
from the first film, and a franchise that was marginally excusable at its outset
had sunk to miserable depths of despair where a plethora of dumb, poorly-rendered
CGI monsters awaited. Not immune from criticism was Alan Silvestri's score, which
was obnoxiously mixed in the film during early fighting sequences. In the
composer's defense, the summer of 2003 was one that would test his patience and
endurance. Silvestri was enjoying a period of ascension in his career, especially
in the genres of fantasy and adventure. His matured talents in large-scale action
scoring were confirmed among fans and industry ears by his impressive music for
The Mummy Returns two years prior, and 2003 promised to yield another summer
of similarly-styled success. The only person who seemed at the time to have failed
to realize Silvestri's writing capabilities was producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who
outright fired the composer from
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl and replaced him with Hans Zimmer and his hoard of mediocre Media
Ventures hacks (who then proceeded to bang out a simplistic and critically blasted
score for an otherwise popular film). Seeing a sudden opportunity fall on their
laps like a pot of gold, Paramount and director Jan de Bont hired Silvestri
immediately for
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and within two days of
ending his frustration with
Pirates of the Caribbean, Silvestri was back in
action. He was ironically replacing a well known composer himself in the case of
the
Tomb Raider sequel; Craig Armstrong wrote and recorded some material for
the film (one cue of which, for the "lab scene," was actually utilized in the
final cut) before his own dismissal. Perhaps neither Armstrong nor Silvestri had
consulted with Michael Kamen or Graeme Revell, both of whom experiencing the poison
of this franchise during the post-production mess of
Tomb Raider. The
finished score for that film, completed in just a matter of days by Revell at the
last minute, offered the sequel nothing of merit to build upon. With a hint of
frustration in his voice, Revell has admitted that his music was substandard at
best.
For the sequel's score, Paramount had reportedly demanded a
continuation of the same electronic base construct that Revell had utilized, but
this time a considerable budget was allotted for greater orchestral accompaniment.
With that cash in hand, Silvestri frantically wrote the score for a 100-piece
orchestra and 40-member choir, still writing the day before flying to London to
record (and he continued writing during the week of recording sessions as well).
Despite the probable temptation, Silvestri refused to explicitly resurrect any of
the material he wrote for
Pirates of the Caribbean (which was something of a
personal rule for him). During the recording of the music, Jan de Bont, who was a
fan of heavy electronic rhythms, pushed Silvestri to jazz up the synthetic elements
of the score. For the most part, the end result functions, even if those electronic
accentuations do tend to get on the nerves. Surely, the score for
Tomb Raider:
The Cradle of Life is not a classic. Nor does it really break fresh new ground.
But Silvestri does offer some of the best material he has produced since
The
Mummy Returns, with a fantastic mix of electronic loops, a brass-heavy
orchestra, and the obligatory choir in prominent roles. Many of the same musicians
had performed on Silvestri's
Judge Dredd, and you get much of the same
horn-dominated attitude here. A simplistic but very serviceable title theme is
present for scenes of techno-gadget adventure as well as the pseudo-religious
moments of melodramatic awe (faintly reminiscent of the style of the Ark's "Map
Room at Dawn" theme from
Raiders of the Lost Ark). Creative development of
the theme is somewhat limited by its simplistic construct, but it certainly
suffices for the occasion. The lengthy score has about twenty minutes of straight,
timpani-rumbling orchestral bombast, sometimes with the aid of a snazzy drum loop
or other glitzy synthesized effect. Silvestri shows a hip side of his contemporary
electronic use by throwing staggered, almost jazzy brass bursts over the electronic
rhythms (with the same kind of enthusiastic touch that David Arnold exhibited in
his James Bond scores), and these moments of cohesion between the modern and
traditional elements are the defining style of
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of
Life. The "Opening" and finale, "Not Meant to Be Found," employ this melding
to finally establish a hearty, adventurous tone for the spirit of Lara Croft. No
offense to Graeme Revell, but this is the kind of satisfyingly cohesive music you
need to hear when Jolie kicks someone in the head.
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There are several lengthy fight sequences in the score during
which the electronic rhythms are heard alone, and a few of these are simply cranked
up so far in volume that they obtain a fatally abrasive edge. In the handling of
the electric guitar (recorded alongside the orchestra), Silvestri utilizes the
instrument as an accent piece, much like John Debney's treatment in
The Scorpion
King. In fact, the stylish action in
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
shares much more in common with
The Scorpion King than Silvestri's own
highly popular
The Mummy Returns. The personality of the score has a
distinct jungle-swinging emphasis, with cliched forest-related effects drawing from
as early as
Romancing the Stone and throwing in a native flute for a
stereotypical atmosphere. Ethnic vocal accents are one idea that does carry over
from Revell's work, though they aren't as wildly obvious. To appreciate this sequel
score, however, you have to suspend your desire for complexity in your film music,
because although Silvestri did a superb last-minute job for this project, there is
isn't anything groundbreaking in theme, rhythm, or performance to be heard here.
The engineering of the recording is fantastic, although the rotating sets of
players did suffer from a few blatant flubs, especially in the brass section (3:18
into "Pandora's Box," for instance). But given the
Tomb Raider series' low
musical expectations, Silvestri's output is a much welcomed explosion of raw
energy. The score album (as opposed to the usual song album, which offers only a
five-minute suite of Silvestri's score) presents exactly an hour of uninterrupted
music, containing all major cues from the film (other than Armstrong's). Be aware
that the presentation takes quite a while to cook if you're less interested in the
hard-nosed synthetic material and are seeking the orchestral bombast. Only in the
pairing of "The Cradle of Life" and "Pandora's Box" do the symphonic ensemble and
choir's contributions explode in the absence of electronic accompaniment. The final
fifteen minutes of material more than compensate for the underwhelming fight music
at the start. Overall,
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life was further proof
that Silvestri was stealing the reigns of ballsy action mastery from the legendary
Jerry Goldsmith, filling a void left by the latter composer's illness and death the
next year. Fans hoping to hear what Silvestri might have produced for
Pirates of
the Caribbean will be disappointed, though, and the better match for such
listeners remains
The Mummy Returns.
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| Bias Check: | For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.34 (in 32 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.27
(in 30,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film, but
it does have a hell of a lot of pictures of Angelina Jolie's upper torso.
