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| Desplat |
Firewall: (Alexandre Desplat) Somebody apparently
forgot to mention to the producers of the 2006 thriller
Firewall
that actor Harrison Ford was too old to keep playing the scared family
man forced into a conflict with criminals that requires him to beat the
crap out of undesirable people in close combat. Nevertheless, the aged
actor attempted to do just that, and critics and audiences groaned
collectively in response. Ford is a financial security expert working
for a Seattle bank when his family is taken hostage by a man who had
posed as a prospective employer for him. The criminal demands that
Ford's panicked character transfer $100 million from a range of accounts
at the bank into his offshore bank accounts. Using sophisticated
technology to force compliance, the hostage takers initially succeed,
even going so far as to frame the victim for murder and embezzlement.
Some smarts and a desire for revenge allow the protagonist to even the
score, eventually leading to the physical confrontations that the man
wins in unlikely fashion. Not surprisingly,
Firewall failed to
generate more than mediocre returns for Warner Brothers, and perhaps the
movie could have been a winner had Ford played the lead terrorist in
command over a younger cast. Reportedly hired to score the film was
veteran Alan Silvestri, though with his firing late in production,
French composer Alexandre Desplat was given just ten days to write a
replacement score. The assignment was one that would have seemed to fit
easily for Desplat at the time. Not only was he growing more accustomed
to the environment of Hollywood blockbuster aspirations, but he had just
finished providing a very accomplished score for the similarly minded
Hostage the previous year. In that score, he had articulated his
typically complex structures and creative instrumental techniques in
ways that had undoubtedly overachieved for the assignment, yielding one
of the year's more surprising entries. While his approach to
Hostage had included the impressive combination of symphonic and
electronic force necessary for the ridiculously brash and morally
deplorable movie, Desplat had also managed to infuse his normal tendency
towards lyrical development, and the most memorable aspect of that score
remains the mysterious and intriguing primary theme for solo vocals. In
Firewall, he carries over some of the same basic mannerisms, and
portions of the two scores will sound similar to casual observers,
especially in the outright action cues, but most of the best assets in
the 2005 score are absent from this successor.
A listener has to get the distinct impression from
Firewall that Desplat rushed through this project with necessary
haste and thus did not have time to truly explore any meaningful ideas
in its contents. The result of the score is an appeal that suffices for
the picture but suffers from clear restraints when appreciated out of
context. You encounter several purely Desplat sequences in
Firewall that beg for expanded treatment, often reprising
glimpses of his highlights from
Hostage. Skittish string
techniques and challenging brass tones are reminiscent of Elliot
Goldenthal's career, and plenty of struck percussion is once again
impressive in usual Desplat fashion. His knack for maintaining forward
movement through several interweaving lines of orchestral action is as
commendable here as always. But, invariably, the score's overall tone
gravitates back towards the realm of the generic, reflecting many of
James Newton Howard's less inspired works of a similar personality. Also
a detriment to
Firewall is its lackluster themes, the direct
opposite of
Hostage. Only one truly prominent idea is expressed
in the score, and it represents the wholesome relationship between the
lead character and his family. Introduced subtly at the end of
"Firewall," the idea is summarized neatly in "The Family Theme" before
weaving in and out of several later cues. The pair of "Rainy Day" and
"Together Again" turns the idea from morbid melodrama to saccharine
redemption, the score's most accessible portion. Unfortunately, this
idea, most obviously during its horn solos, seems ripped almost
completely from the library of James Horner's early 1990's equivalents.
In fact, it's hard not to think of
The Pelican Brief and other
similar piano-aided suspense scores when hearing parts of
Firewall. The only other recurring motif of interest is a burst
of action that occupies "Firewall" and is reprised in "The Camera
Dances" and "Looking for Help." On album, the Desplat score faces far
more challenges than
Hostage, foremost a relative lack of
rhythmically tonal passages of force. The bold counterpoint lines of the
previous work are lacking, replaced by an increased role for
electronics. Desplat's use of electronic pulses and loops has never been
very appealing, and that detriment is a significant factor here. In a
film with so much technical jargon and computer wizardry, a score with
more Jerry Goldsmith-style tingling effects may have been advisable. In
sum, there is easily enough material in
Firewall to attract the
composer's devoted collectors, and for a last-minute effort, you can't
fault Desplat much for this product, but to hear the composer tackle
this genre with more of his trademark intelligence, seek
Hostage
instead.
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| Bias Check: |
For Alexandre Desplat reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.39
(in 31 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.22
(in 16,383 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information
about the score or film.
