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•	2014 Album

While generally unpleasant during much of its running time, the score for Falling Down makes for an interesting study in how the composer represents the lead character's boiling resentments and marks his own commentary about society. For listeners who sympathize with the lead's explosion of defiance, Howard's rage theme is a ticket to moderate satisfaction. A beefy series of four notes, two ascending and then two descending, occurs whenever the man allows his anger to fuel his terminator-like actions. It debuts resoundingly twice on brass late in "Drive-By Shooting" over kick-ass, live percussion, but it's developed fully at the outset of "Miracle Mile," where it becomes cyclical and unhinged. After it barely stews in much of "Back Room," this theme moves in a different, more descending direction of eerie intent in "Other Side of the Moon" but achieves a muscular moment with the live percussion at 0:29 into "Under Construction" with a twisted final note to denote coolness. Ominously reharmonized again at the start of "Caretaker's Family," the rage theme receives one last, resounding flash of power in the middle of "Beth Kicks Gun." The only true theme of any deep care in the score represents the familial relations in the story, one performed by synthetic choir throughout the score but humanized by strings at the final confrontation. Howard's relatively unique method of playing back his electronics lines with the live orchestra cause them to blend in seamlessly. This tonal material arrives in the first half of "Other Side of the Moon" and attempts to surface in "Caretaker's Family," finally doing so at the cue's end. It struggles to become more organic in "Til Death Do Us Part" but eventually does evoke some sadness. The family theme then achieves its march toward death mode in the unused "I'm the Bad Guy?" and dies in relative peace throughout "Falling Down," in which it was to be expanded without the score's noir theme in "Falling Down (Revised Alternate)." The idea is confirmed as existing for all the character connections as it becomes fully adjusted for the lead cop's resolution in "Still a Cop," and it is lightly conveyed on synthetic keyboards and later weighty strings in "End Titles." The melody of this theme isn't particularly memorable, but its performance inflection suffices in each performance.

Perhaps the most memorable theme in Falling Down is rarely used but has an outsized impact due to its societal insinuations. One of the more creative cues is "MacArthur Park," with a noir trumpet solo, a weary celesta, and the distant, hip rhythms of a city's center in the background in an almost jungle-like atmosphere. There's much to unpack in Howard's treatment of everything from the older generation of the two leads to the cultural elements of the city and even the fading memories of the raging man's family. That melancholy solo trumpet theme in the latter half of "Miracle Mile" returns at the end of "Falling Down" for the death scene and was alternately meant to represent the cop in "Still a Cop (Revised)." It's a poignant though somewhat orphaned idea in the score, but it certainly makes the intended impact on screen and it laments everything lost by a variety of characters. The jungle environment, often with tingling electronic accompaniment, is a recurring decision to play to the city's minority populations from the lead character's perspective, and that strategy largely works. Another distinct aspect of the narrative is the application of the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down" as the official marker of the man's lost relationship with his daughter as heard slightly in the middle of "Miracle Mile" and closing out "End Titles" in more consolidated form, providing literal closure to the title of the film, too. Aside from these themes, Howard also applies a deeply growling, slurring electric guitar effect to represent the main character's boiling nerves and mental breakdown, enhancing the bass as he does with the orchestra by neglecting higher-range instruments like trumpets in the ensemble. Everything in the work emphasizes the man's previous sanity slipping away, and some listeners may find the noir-like trumpet to lend a strangely optimistic cop-thriller tone to the whole affair. Still, overall, Falling Down is a mainly ambient experience lacking the vengeful grit of the film, and it struggles to maintain interest alone despite being highly competent. Originally paired with Flatliners on a widely distributed 1997 bootleg, the score was officially released by Intrada Records in 2014 with a handful of alternate takes on the finale cues, which were problematic in achieving the right tone. It's an interesting listening experience, but not one you will return to for enjoyment.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.37 (in 71 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.34 (in 86,561 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.