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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Edge of Darkness (Howard Shore)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if nothing makes your senses tingle better than Howard
Shore in his best suspense mode, because his replacement work for
Edge of Darkness defines how a score can literally groan through
an orchestral ensemble's deepest ranks.
Avoid it... if you expect more than ten to twelve minutes of really engaging material in the album translation of this otherwise effective thriller score, though that music is mostly condensed to the final five tracks.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Edge of Darkness: (Howard Shore) Although Mel
Gibson has spent more of his time in the 2000's making films rather than
starring in them, 2010's Edge of Darkness exhibits the actor in a
role of violent depictions equal to his reputation. The Martin Campbell
film was originally a softer thriller, but upon being sold to Warner
Brothers in 2009, the screen-writer for The Departed was brought
on board the production and the cast was reassembled to re-shoot several
scenes to account for the more graphic, R-variety of action sought by
the studio. The basic premise of the film stayed the same; it's a
revenge plot in which Gibson plays a detective whose daughter, a
political activist, is murdered in front of him for her involvement in
the investigation of a corporate scandal that goes all the way up to the
American Congress. The detective, with all the gritty, stubborn
determination that Gibson can bring to the role, follows the trailing
leads of his daughter's case and becomes embroiled in the scandal
himself. The extremely violent killing scenes in Edge of Darkness
are tempered by a dreamy sequence at the end that is likely to be
perceived as cheap gloss by some movie-goers. With its release date
pushed into the purgatory of January and critical reception mixed at
best, the film did not come close to covering its $80 million budget
during its theatrical run, perhaps a byproduct of the messy
post-production changes forced upon it by Warner. The late redirection
of Edge of Darkness definitely had a significant impact on its
music. For the better part of 2009, fans of classical composer John
Corigliano were thrilled at the prospect of hearing only his fourth
career film score, and his first since his Oscar-winning effort for
The Red Violin ten years prior. He reportedly took the assignment
because of the concept's introspective and intimate character appeal,
responding with a surprisingly warm and thematic orchestral score
(recorded in London) that was anchored by a memorable four-note motif
that evolved through the story's revelations of the bittersweet
relationship between the detective and his daughter.
By the time Warner shifted the direction of the production, however, Corigliano had already finished recording the score and was halfway across the world for his next project. Not only was he unable to re-score the film in the short time that Warner required, but the composer lost interest in Edge of Darkness because he felt that his style of music was not suitable for an action-oriented version of the story. He did, though, candidly mention in an interview that he was satisfied because he had been "well paid" for his efforts. He was replaced in late 2009 by Howard Shore, an ironic move given Shore's dismissal from the Gibson revenge film Ransom in 1996. Shore's capabilities in the violent thriller genre have been well proven through the years, and for many listeners, there will not be a significant difference between his replacement score for Edge of Darkness and Seven, Panic Room, The Game, or other similar works. It's a purely symphonic work, and one predictably exclusive for most of its length to the lowest registers of the orchestra's bass elements. The majority of the score groans, groans, shrieks, and groans again, with deep bass strings, bassoons, and the lowest piano octaves and brass grinding menacingly but typically in a strangely harmonic manner. The outright dissonance in Edge of Darkness is restricted to three or four monumental blasts from flutes and violins for extended whole notes of ear-piercing resonance to accompany the sudden bursts of violence on screen (beware of their sudden jolts in the album experience, starting in the first track). When Shore extends deep brass notes for dozens of seconds as a method of instilling a sense of gravity in the aftermath of these treble explosions, he instructs the players to meander in their pitch. And yet, both these brass performers and bass string and cello players always extend these techniques while pre-dominantly on the exact key of the music, so the overall effect is not only awesome in its resolute power, but also relatively listenable on album. It is quite remarkable to hear Shore continue to solicit, perhaps better than any other composer working in the mainstream today, such mean-spirited and cold performances from the lowest registers of an ensemble. Two themes exist in Edge of Darkness, the first (the title identity) extending the on-key pulsation habit. Its three phrases for the lowest of strings all start with a pair of repeated notes on that key before branching off in ominous and brief directions. This idea can be best heard immediately at the outset of "Main Title," in "Burning" and "Captured," and throughout "Edge of Darkness," the last cue a concert-like arrangement containing an interlude of yearning violin tragedy that reminds of Gollum's theme from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In fact, fans of Shore's music for that famous trilogy will find some of the grueling, rumbling portions of the underscore, as well as almost all of the brass contributions, to be reminiscent of the Orc music from those scores. The muscular brass of "Captured" and "Killing" will especially sound familiar, though the latter cue uses wildly pitch-defying brass, blurting bassoon, pounding drums, and thumping piano in a tone seemingly even more sinister than anything Middle Earth ever received. The sense of release in the final, heavily reinforced, 20-second note in "Killing" is extremely impressive. Countering all of these morbid aspects of the score is the sorrowful musical redemption that matches the artificially soft, final death sequence in the film. Shore hints at a theme for the detective and his daughter in parts of the score (more in instrumental colors rather than progression) but he develops it fully in "Reunited" and "You're My Girl." This pleasant but subdued piano and string idea is concluded in both cues by a single, weighty crescendo of strings on a single major-key note to punctuate the obvious finality of the situation. As an album, Edge of Darkness is surprisingly cohesive, but it takes a while to cook. The first two-thirds contains the majority of Shore's filler material, but the pair of "Captured" and "Killing" are knockout suspense cues and the trio to close the album form seven minutes of solid listening of a more consistent nature. Enthusiasts of Shore's darker music will love the twelve or so minutes of highlights on this album, though the product remains too overwhelmingly sinister in its majority for mass appeal. It would be very interesting to compare what Shore wrote for the film's final form to what Corigliano recorded for its prior incarnation, and given the latter composer's popularity, it wouldn't be surprising to someday be given that opportunity. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 41:43
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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