Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,003
Written 2/3/05, Revised 10/19/11
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Buy it... only if you are interested in the decent rap song
highlighting the album or if you maintain an interest in Graeme Revell's
darker, more ambient urban suspense and action music.
Avoid it... if you expect more than just flashes of the
contemporary coolness or dynamic, instrumentally diverse structures that
Revell has better explored elsewhere.
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| Revell |
Assault on Precinct 13: (Graeme Revell) It's not
unusual for John Carpenter's original ideas to be remade and adapted
into money-seeking alternatives, and the 2005 version of Assault on
Precinct 13 is Jean-Francois Richet's attempt to better the formula
presented in Carpenter's 1976 suspense film of the same name. While the
original cult classic built its reputation on its tension and fear, the
modern remake has all the fingerprints of the culture clashes and
Hollywood cliches that often kill the raw appeal of such emotion. That
didn't stop the new Assault on Precinct 13 from receiving
moderately reasonable critical reviews despite a mad flurry of exposed
plot holes, scene contradictions, and ludicrous characterizations. These
are, after all, the types of movies in which you expect to see actors
Brian Dennehy and Gabriel Byrne play their stereotypical roles
regardless of the fact that you wish you'd see them somewhere else. With
its unrealistic and outlandish premise granted, composer Graeme Revell
goes about his business as usual, visiting familiar territory in the
dramatic action and siege genres. Revell seemed to have a good knack in
the late 1990's and early 2000's for providing music that appropriately
fits the intelligence level of the film, infusing more of his talent
into projects that have three-dimensional suspense and taking a more
simplistic and synthetic approach for films such as Assault on
Precinct 13 that defy logic. If you listen to the spectrum of
Revell's urban thriller scores, of which The Negotiator, The
Siege, Strange Days, and, to a lesser extent, The
Saint are best known, you hear a common thread of orchestral and
synthetic blending. That mixture tends to use its ambience, sampling,
and looping to create a memorable listening experience through
atmospheric maintenance rather than thematic structure and clear
narrative arcs. For Assault on Precinct 13, Revell would only
touch upon his thematic elements at a bare minimum level, typically
during moments of character development. No unique instrumentation is
heard in this score either, further restraining its ability to be
noticed. Without any grand outbursts by the City of Prague Philharmonic,
a performing group that can very easily make itself heard when called
upon to do so, Assault on Precinct 13 meanders and thuds its way
without distinction.
Any survey of Revell's career will reveal that the
composer does seem to relish films that occur on a dark and stormy
night, for they allow him to use the players as a "rumbling device" that
he can combine with his drum loops and sampled metallic clanging to
create rather easy and sufficiently suspenseful environments.
Unfortunately, film music collectors have heard him produce this music
in better form before, sometimes with the kind of lavish results you
encounter in
Red Planet. But urban thrillers for Revell are a
distinct sub-genre of music that only some of the composer's most ardent
collectors will appreciate. Whether non-descript droning in the depths
of synthetic bass strings or crashing like a drunk brass section (take a
listen to "Precinct Breach" for that technique),
Assault on Precinct
13 is far from being a pleasant listening experience. While Revell
does create a dirty, wet, and foreboding atmosphere, he fails to
generate genuine suspense in this work, nullifying any hope that he
would address the story's vaguely noir sensibilities. Similar complaints
have been leveled at the film itself, and given Revell's ability to
really strain the listener's nerves, it is surprising to hear a score
that that is content to rumble rather than rock. The piano theme for the
primary character is underpowered and unconvincing given the nature of
the character. Wimpy is perhaps the wrong word to describe its tone, but
only at the end of the final cue does Revell offer the kind of hip
rendition of the theme (complete with standard rock loops) that the film
could likely have used to a greater extent. One notable exception is
"Hot Wire Girls," for which Revell has seemingly paid respect to
Carpenter's usual sound by offering a dramatically heavy string theme
over a meandering piano. This cue, along with the opening rap volley, is
the highlight of the album. While the "Generique Assault" song (the
reason why so many copies of this album were bought and then dumped on
the used market) may seem like a bad offshoot of a "Grand Theft Auto"
video game advertisement at first, there are redeeming qualities to be
found in it; Revell's orchestrally-conceived backing presents a pretty
decent chord progression and the lyrics are a rather humorous
third-party description of the film's release, its premise, and its
actors. Apparently, though, the word "shit" in this song did not merit
an "explicit lyrics" warning label from the Varèse Sarabande
label to ward off wayward, pious children. Overall, Revell's
contribution to
Assault on Precinct 13 is bleak and lacking in
enough sustained character or suspense to warrant much interest.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Graeme Revell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.74
(in 19 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.78
(in 17,131 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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