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Review of Faster (Clint Mansell)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire a generally palatable electric guitar, percussion, and string score with flashes of coolness accompanied by extended sequences of quietly discomforting turmoil.

Avoid it... if you're enamored with Clint Mansell's unusual approach to some of his prior assignments, for Faster is about as generic for this genre as it could be.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Faster: (Clint Mansell) In all of its advertising for the picture, Castle Rock Entertainment pushed the 2010 film Faster as an adrenaline-pumping action extravaganza. It features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as an emotionless killer with enough muscle, weapons, and fortitude to blast through any assassination list with ease. Unfortunately for those seeking cheap testosterone thrills, director George Tillman, Jr. and the screenwriters decided to create an action thriller with a deeper narrative, translating into a finished product that spends more time setting up the characters' back stories than it does showing them in conflict. While Faster has been praised for attempting to transcend the usual level standard of shallow discourse in its genre, its long scenes of moody contemplation may prohibit the film from satisfying its intended audience. Johnson's character, having spent ten years in prison for a bank robbery, is released and immediately sets upon the task of executing a list of people he believes responsible for his brother's death. Pursuing him, meanwhile, is a troubled cop and a professional killer, both with reservations about their jobs and looking for a better family life. The concept of redemption is explored throughout the story, sometimes with an awkwardly religious tilt. A miserably depressing ending for Faster doesn't help the film endear itself to thrill seekers, either, though there has been significant talk from the studio about expanding the concept into a trilogy, so perhaps the payoff rests in future entries. A logical choice to score Faster is English singer, guitar player, and composer Clint Mansell, who had created something of a cult name for himself as a writer of film music over the previous ten years. That following resulted mostly from his unconventional scores for Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain, though the former leader of the band "Pop Will Eat Itself" has also strayed into rock-inspired action at times as well. With Doom and Smokin' Aces in the mid-2000's, Mansell developed a tough sound that would lend itself well to Faster. This assignment would also incorporate an orchestral presence, a sign of hope for film score collectors seeking a touch of Sahara once again. In the end, however, Faster is a pretty standard contemporary revenge thriller score that is largely forced into a bottle because of the many scenes of character development in the plot. Aside from its rather tepid overarching personality, the score is predictably functional and strives to find absolutely no original avenue in which to address such a concept.

The instrumentation comprising Mansell's music for Faster does include an orchestral string section, though without Nicholas Dodd's contributions (as in Saraha), expect the ensemble to be employed in such a fashion that Mansell could likely have used samples and nobody would have noticed the difference or cared. Percussion ranges from drum pad to rock band tones, with other sounds more likely synthetic in origin. Generic keyboarded passages could feature an authentic piano or otherwise; once again, it makes little difference. The heart and soul of the score, not surprisingly, is the electric guitar, which is employed as a tool of outright coolness (attempting to emulate early Hans Zimmer works like Point of No Return) and also as a rhythmic device mixed sometimes in a purely supporting role. The instrument's range of performance capabilities is stretched include some stabbing jabs and screeching wails as well. Thematically, Faster is completely focused on a single idea that is introduced at the end of "Ten Year Stretch" and concludes with attitude in "On a Mission." A rising three-note structure of extremely simplistic minor-key form is repeated several times before extending to two additional basic notes. Because the theme is so repetitive by nature and devoid of complexity, it can be utilized as its own rhythmic device underneath howling guitars. The unwavering instrumentation and the constant referencing of the one theme cause Faster to enjoy solid continuity. And, by the end, the score has also managed to tell a marginal narrative. The problem with its flow, however, comes when Mansell is forced to meander in near silence due to the character-building scenes (as in "Family Matters"). In a few instances, as in "Lost Lives" and "Lovers," he uses keyboarded tones to solicit more obvious sympathy, though even these sequences are stereotypical applications of a piano to mundane suburban lifestyles. Everything in Mansell's score sounds as though the composer was trying to meet expectations rather than exceed them. There is no originality and no true conflict between hard-ass style and personal introspection. It's a functionally bland score begging for more emotional punch. Unlike some of the soundtracks for Mansell's previous, most popular works, at least Faster's album offers a very healthy representation of his music. It follows a collection of rock songs from yesteryear that somewhat matches the generally downbeat attitude of Mansell's contribution. The inclusion of the "John the Revelator" religious preaching in the middle will make sense to enthusiasts of the film, but is an annoying detriment to the album. Overall, this revenge score could suffer the same fate as its film, generally palatable with glimpses of coolness smothered by extended sequences of quietly discomforting turmoil.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 54:05

• 1. Goodbye My Friend - performed by Guido and Maurizio DeAngelis (4:03) • 2. I Wanna Be Your Dog - performed by Iggy Pop (4:05) • 3. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) - performed by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (3:19) • 4. Short Change Hero - performed by The Heavy (5:21) • 5. Grifos Muertos - performed by Jeffrey Luck Lucas (3:00) • 6. John the Revelator - performed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (0:54) • 7. Ten Year Stretch (1:49) • 8. History Lesson (3:03) • 9. Predators & Prey (7:01) • 10. Lost Lives (1:53) • 11. Lovers (2:51) • 12. Hospital Visit (4:34) • 13. The Driver Drives (4:27) • 14. Family Matters (2:36) • 15. On a Mission (3:37) • 16. Redemption (1:33)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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