Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a solid and electronically contemporary variant of Alan Silvestri's matured orchestral action style of the 2000's. Avoid it... if nothing other than an equal to the composer's 2001 music for The Mummy Returns (or better) will suffice. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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. 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. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 60:00
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