: (James Newton Howard) While Al
Pacino had portrayed his fair share of sick individuals throughout the
years, 1997's
gave the actor the opportunity to
enthusiastically play none other than the fiery Satan. Taylor Hackford's
film, based originally on Andrew Niederman's novel, takes a very
straight forward approach to Satan's activities on earth, placing him
atop a New York law firm and removing any ambiguity about his horrific
intentions. A gruesome suicide scene, among some extreme sexuality and
extraordinarily offensive dialogue (from a religious point of view),
places the film in the competent religious horror category. Although
dominated by Pacino's over-the-top performance, the film manages to take
itself seriously enough to avoid the ranks of parody. One of the
elements of the film that pulls no punches is James Newton Howard's
score, which stands as one of the more powerful, religiously thrilling
scores of the digital era. Howard's score is so transparent that it is
forced to rely on its overwhelming power to avoid becoming a parody of
religious horror scores itself, and it overcomes its own inconsistencies
to qualify as a guilty pleasure on album. There are so many influences
on this score, from Howard's own career and others notable in the genre,
that the score is more entertaining in its collection of recognizable
sounds than for its own unique structures. Given that Howard obviously
intended the score to have an immediate, explosive impact on each and
every individual scene in the film, his music for
is a series of remarkable crescendos and fast hitting
rhythmic devices. As such, the score has little identity outside of the
simple fact that it continues to slap you in the face with orchestral,
choral, and electronic ruckus at some point in each major cue. The
result is a surprisingly entertaining score that features all the
devious attitude of the topic while supplying the proportionate
awe.
When you start looking at reference points in
Devil's Advocate, there are almost too many to mention. At the
time, the only Howard score that you could compare this one to was
Flatliners, which offered the same style of brutality and
combination of orchestral, choral, and electronic elements. While
Devil's Advocate doesn't have the momentous beauty of the best
moments from
Flatliners, it does give you several stunning choral
crescendos. Howard confidently provides these moments of zeal with just
enough harmony to mark the religious overtones while also throwing in
random dissonant elements for the horror aspects. The only title theme
of sorts is an "allure theme" that is particularly important in the
relationship between the married characters played by Keanu Reeves and
Charlize Theron. As Satan begins to influence their relationship, from
early lovemaking to later suicides, Howard repeats a frightful, slightly
erotic theme that is overtaken by a rhythm straight from Jerry
Goldsmith's
Basic Instinct. But in "Lovemaking," "Time," and
"Suicide," this rhythm is given layers of choral treatment much like
John Barry's famous
The Lion in Winter score. As the harmonic
treat in the score, this theme is typically aided by a wealth of bass
string and brass power as it reaches its climaxes. It becomes more
mutated as Satan's grip is tightened throughout the film, making it more
difficult to enjoy apart from the film, though the sense of melodrama
associated with its appeal is never truly lost. Other cues of momentous
choral beauty are littered through the score, and many of them offer
singular motifs that aren't developed much elsewhere. The "Church" cue
provides perhaps the only choral crescendo in the score, albeit brief,
that is untainted by a blast of dissonance at its conclusion. Such is
the case with the score's most memorable cue; as Pacino creates the
illusion that every person other than Reeves' character has vanished
from the streets of New York, Howard unleashes one of the most ambitious
choral crescendos of his career.
In that "57th Street" cue, Howard also highlights the
usage of a boy soprano, whose performances grace four major cues in the
score. His overtly religious tones are likely a direct nod to the
effectiveness of Elliot Goldenthal's similar employment as the highlight
of
Alien 3, and the usage would become standard by the time John
Debney would utilize the same technique in
End of Days. Several
other influences on Howard's music for
Devil's Advocate should be
mentioned, especially in the incorporation of electronics. The selection
of synthetic rhythms and sound effects seems lifted directly from the
library of Craig Armstrong. Howard does this to give Satan his cool,
modern edge. In "Montage," that hip stance is established, and it takes
a darkly dramatic (and extremely Armstrong-esque) turn in "Geddes." In
this cue, the Armstrong rhythms are joined by a distance church organ,
pulsating choral accompaniment, and eventually some precise and harsh
blasts of medium-range brass that will remind of John Frizzell's later
horror work. Some of the straight action rhythms in
Devil's
Advocate are worth several listens, too, including two later in the
film that will recall Jerry Goldsmith's 1990's style. From the strings
and chimes late in "Cullen Gets Off" to the brass and percussion opening
"Suicide," Howard's action material, though usually brief, is quite
strong. Fans of the composer will even be able to draw some lines
between the tumultuous choral rumblings of a handful of cues, such as
the opening moments of "Main Title," with Howard's remarkable and
much-loved
Lady in the Water nearly ten years later. On album,
the score is an inconsistent listening experience, partially because of
Howard's wildly shifting work, and partly because of source music and
dialogue thrown onto the product. The inclusion of the rants by Pacino
about God and humanity in three dialogue tracks are quite enjoyable for
non-religious listeners, but could be extremely disturbing for the
pious. Overall, though, Howard's score is likely one of the more
underrated of his career, and it plays to the film's attitude with as
much enthusiasm as Pacino himself.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4
(in 70 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.36
(in 86,467 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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