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Review of Collateral Damage (Graeme Revell)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if somebody stole your sleeping pills and you're frantically
looking for an absolutely dull, boring, and brooding atmospheric score to do the
same job.
Avoid it... if you, like most film score collectors, can't fathom how this Arnold Schwarzenegger action thriller received such a lifeless musical identity from an otherwise capable composer.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Collateral Damage: (Graeme Revell) Due for a theatrical and
soundtrack album release in October of 2001, this Arnold Schwarzenegger action
thriller was delayed until February of 2002 because of the terrorist attacks on the
United States in the month prior to its debut. With sensitivities not ignored,
Warner Brothers' delay of Collateral Damage was intended to allow it enough
time to satisfy psychologically healed audiences with scenes of America's favorite
action hero single-handedly seeking and destroying an evil terrorist who conducts a
bombing on American soil. The aging Schwarzenegger, whose character witnesses the
death of his wife and son in this bombing, goes on a journey of revenge and
encounters all the usual Hollywood cliches and bad surprises along the road to
justified ass-kicking. Despite showing the population what they wanted to see (even
though the bad guy here is Columbian and not Muslim), the film's popularity waned
considerably after its initial burst onto the screen. Critically, it was mediocre at
best, most audiences enjoying the timeliness of the anti-terrorism scenario while it
lasted and paying no attention to it thereafter. The score was, during the summer of
2001, expected to be one of the autumn season's most exciting, with veteran action
film composer Graeme Revell offering his services to yet another big budget film and
recording with a very large assembly of Los Angeles orchestral musicians. Not all
had been successful for Revell that year, however, because his two most noteworthy
scores of 2001 failed to achieve a minimum combination of critical and popular
success. After a tepid response to his seemingly understated music for the
television remake of Dune and a disastrously received last-minute work for
Tomb Raider, expectations of film score collectors for Collateral
Damage were cautious, though hopeful. After all, Revell had, at times past,
taken unique approaches to the scoring of his action films, with The Saint
and Red Planet as fine examples of his creativity. For Collateral
Damage, however, Revell continued his disappointing year of producing
substandard, bland music for films that badly needed a greater aural identity.
If you recall Revell's mainstream action scores of the late 1990's (such as The Negotiator and The Seige), you'll note that these scores often served their films well, but offer less than desirable substance on album. In the case of Collateral Damage, Revell accomplishes neither, producing a catastrophic disappointment that many had deemed to be among the least effective scores of 2002. The score barely meets the basic expectations of stock action music, and it is reduced to a drab and uneventful series of electronic pulses and looped rhythms that do little to capture any range of emotion. Despite the extra time gained due to the delay in the film's release, as well as the full orchestral ensemble hired for the film, Revell's music lacks any engaging personality, thematic identity, harmonic sensitivity, or stimulating fight cues. Instead, two performers on synthesizers (Revell included) are preferred over the orchestral players and produce run of the mill rhythmic underscore that could serve nearly any lower budget film. Most Media Ventures amateurs could write more interesting material than this. The lack of a strong theme is not surprising; both Revell and director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) had been known to reach that end before, but that tactic doesn't help a lead actor who was not only an icon but required a thematic identity to help compensate for his relatively poor acting skills in this context. More surprising is the extremely underperforming (or downright missing) element of action. Even during scenes of hand to hand combat and village massacres, the music continues its droning, looped rhythms that brood deep in the bass region without regard to synchronization points. The tone of the film is so badly misjudged by Revell that the "End Game" cue only cranks up the intensity of this material rather than develop it into any substantial transcendent climax. Even the opening scene of the film, featuring the horrific terrorist bombing, is scored with only mundane contemporary background material, with no foreshadowing of emotion or malice entering the equation. The scenes of remembrance are approached with such cold, heartless unenthusiasm that it could make one believe that that main character cares about his deceased family to the same degree that he cares about his pet rock. When heard on album, the weaknesses of the score are witnessed in plain sight. The opening "Century City Bombing" lacks any hook to get the listener interested, the subsequent melancholy cues of emotion are badly underdeveloped, and the last two cues, "End Game" and "It's Over," give you absolutely no indication that there is any sense of satisfaction achieved in the film, nor a clear resolution in a technical sense. It's an album that maintains a consistent, ambiguous set of rhythms, messes around with variants of those throughout, usually at minimal volumes, and simply quits without warning after 35 minutes. The samples inserted into the rhythms suffer from an absence of creativity, with a handful of exotic drums and distorted vocals presented to authenticate the location of Columbia. These elements are best heard in "Journey Up-River," which stands as a highlight of the album even though it is barely audible in parts and the manipulation of ethnic vocals sounds more appropriate for the Middle East than South America. The seemingly tap-danced sound effects heard in this cue are both distracting and mysteriously out of place as well. As a listening experience, the album is adequate in that it is at least consistent. It avoids the lowest rating because it is only dull rather than obnoxious. The duration of the album sustains a morbidly depressing mood and sticks with it, and without an abundance of dissonance employed by the composer during the formulation of the score, there is nothing particularly unlistenable on the product. After fifteen minutes of having been lulled into its boredom-inducing state, you have wonder what the heck happened to the reported 13 French horn players, as well as the rest of the mammoth brass section. Did they play for only two minutes on this composition? Ultimately, questions about Revell's direction over the early 2000's were warranted, after several substandard scores coming from his highly-anticipated projects. Even if you set aside Tomb Raider as an example of disastrous assignment handling and exonerate him of the ills of that score, there had still been a level of drab and uninteresting production from the composer in that era that may have permanently stunted his chances at achieving a higher industry status. Collateral Damage is a clear example of a score that could have (and needed to be) a whole lot more dynamic and intense. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 35:25
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert contains a list of performers, but no extra
information about the film or score.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Collateral Damage are Copyright © 2001-2002, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/5/01 and last updated 2/12/09. |
