: (James Horner) It is to the surprise of few
that the events of the internationally reported 2010 mining accident in
Chile would eventually become a movie, spruced up with mainstream acting
talent and a fair dose of Hollywood dramatizations in its character
interactions. The English-language production of Chile and Columbia,
directed by Mexican Patricia Riggen, serves as a docudrama for the event
in which 33 men were trapped beneath the surface and required the
national government to step in for a hesitant mining company to drill
the men to safety. With the outcome of the plot never in doubt, the film
became an exercise in conveying, sometimes with bloated importance, the
roles of principles involved in the accident and rescue. A solid cast
works in the favor of
but the movie was ultimately crushed
by tepid critical response and poor box office returns. Among the few
reasons to pay much continued thought to
is the role the
movie played at the end of composer James Horner's career. Enthusiasts
of Horner's work are well aware that he had long declined most
blockbuster scoring opportunities by the 2000's and 2010's, opting
instead for films for which he could convey the hearts of compelling
characters. An assignment such as
precisely fit that
mould, and it offered the ethnic tilt that would allow Horner to produce
a score on a shoestring budget. It was not uncommon in his final years
for Horner to score films at a personal financial loss if he found the
topic or collaboration fulfilling. Of course, 2015 was bittersweet for
film music collectors because, despite Horner's prolific year of
production leading up to five new works debuting during that time, he
lost his life after flying a vintage plane at too low an altitude in
June. While
was not the final score he had recorded, it
was chronologically the last completed one released alongside a new motion
picture. There are likely odds and ends that are destined to provide
Horner fans with new music in 2016 and beyond, but for all practical
purposes,
represented the end of his career. Those hoping
to hear a concluding opus from Horner had already received it in the
form of
is a final foray into the intimate ethnic portion of the composer's
sensibilities.
It is incredibly challenging to offer an objective
analysis of
The 33 because of its place in history, and the work
is certainly no masterpiece. You have to separate the substance of the
score from the importance of its release date, and that may be
impossible for some listeners. Truth be told,
The 33 really isn't
a memorable score when compared to the bulk of Horner's achievements.
It's a proficient, prototypical Horner small drama effort that would
blend in with his early 1990's equivalents seamlessly if not for the
Latin instrumentation. There is nary a moment in the work that will not
remind you of his own prior scores (or those of Jerry Goldsmith and
Ennio Morricone), a continuing string of bait for people skeptical of
Horner's ability to conjure new ideas. There's something refreshing
about this simple fact, for
The 33 thus serves as a neat little
coda to the man's musical journey. But once the lament of his death
slowly fades through the years, don't expect
The 33 to be
referenced very often in your enjoyment of Horner's best music, if at
all. With the scope of the score somewhat minimal, Horner employed a
string orchestra and his usual frequent collaborators on various
woodwind, synthetic, and percussive instruments. The strings, while
supplying satisfying depth to several cues, are not principle
performers. Synthetic soundscapes and woodwind and percussion rhythms
behind solo guitar or ethnic winds is where this score is most
comfortable, the majority of cues expressing some rendition of one the
work's recurring themes. The general tone of
The 33 alternates
between respectful hope, geographic backfill, and a mild form of
Horner's usual panic techniques of the 1990's. In the end, these ideas
are replaced in part by a more major-key expression of jubilance,
yielding the highlights of the score, but expect the journey to that end
to remain understated. The placement and performances of the solo
elements are nothing new, the acoustic guitar remaining a bit stark and
emotionally grounded at most times. The synthetic accompaniment offers
the score's interludes of suspense, reminiscent of
The New World
and
Avatar in execution. The woodwind rhythms initially exhibit
the standard shakuhachi puffing akin to
Thunderheart or
Legends of the Fall, but they retreat to pan pipe/Kena territory
closer to the domain of
Vibes, which makes more sense in Horner's
realm of ethnic attributions.
In the broadest terms, think of
The 33 as a more
Latin-influenced variant on
Vibes, minus some of the earlier
score's prevailing sound effects. You encounter similar rhythmic
structures, ascending trios of notes, woodwinds soloists, and even
clapping effects. One of Horner's two primary themes for
The 33
is precisely sculpted out of
Vibes; the upbeat identity of hope,
mildly obnoxious at times, is heard first in "Drilling, the Sweetest
Sound!" before extending to "Prayer - Camp Hope," "We Are All Well in
the Refuge, the 33," the interlude portion of "Celebrations," and "The
33." By that last cue, expect to hear some strong influence from
Goldsmith's
Under Fire. The other dominant, recurring melody
likely represents the film as a whole, occupying the solo guitar more
often than not. After sparse performances in the first two cues, this
theme continues in "The Drill Misses (and Dreams Fade)," "Always
Brothers," and "Family is All We Have" before its emotional culmination
with the string orchestra in "Hope is Love." Unfortunately, this idea is
almost entirely constructed of phrases from the love theme in Horner's
The Mask of Zorro and the Southampton sequence in
Titanic,
both of which highly distracting. For the culmination of the rescue,
Horner brackets the hope theme with an identity strictly for triumph in
"Celebration," the outright highlight of the score on album. Even here,
though, the progressions will remind strongly of
Glory (and, by
association, Morricone's
The Mission) and secondary lines and
instrumentation will recall
Avatar. For the learned film music
collector, these very clear adherences to Horner's strongly preferred
progressions may detract fatally from this score, if not simply exist as
continued ammunition for mockery. Horner's obsession with certain
lyrical phrases, some of which not even his own concoctions, matched
John Barry's strict technique of repeating whole phrases late in his
career, and from a reviewer's standpoint, these failings make
The
33 sound frustratingly derivative. The brain tells us that this
Horner score is a proficient, three-star effort of minimal consequence.
The heart counters with the context of the work in relation to the
composer's death, and for any Horner enthusiast, the latter will prevail
and a fourth star be awarded. Perhaps more importantly, Horner concluded
his career writing the music that brought him the most satisfaction in
his waning years: heartfelt and respectful character drama. To that end,
he succeeded.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,346 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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