Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,605
Written 8/27/98, Revised 6/23/06
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Buy it... only if you relished the suspenseful and brooding
orchestral score in the film itself.
Avoid it... if you've enjoyed some of Frederic Talgorn's more
melodic and dynamic scores and are looking for more of the same.
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| Talgorn |
Fortress: (Frederic Talgorn) In the dense layers of
science fiction films of the digital era, all too many reside next to
Fortress in the "minimally entertaining or barely tolerable"
category. The only really interesting attribute about the 1993 gore-fest
Fortress is the amazing fact that somebody saw it fit for a
sequel in 1999. In both films, our favorite Highlander swordsman
Christopher Lambert portrays an ordinary man chased by the law for
rebelling against an oppressive system of future government. In
Fortress, he and his wife are sent to the "Fortress," a maximum
security prison, for breaking the "one child only" law and attempting a
second child with his wife after the first dies. Eventually, our hero
does manage to kick ass, destroy the machines, and save his family (and
in the second film, he gets to do it in space!), but it's the process of
getting there that turned many viewers off. The plot doesn't explain how
society became so problematic, and given director Stuart Gordon's love
of outrageous gore, Fortress also repulses audiences with graphic
shots of inmates' stomachs exploding (due to the control devise placed
within them upon booking). Worst yet, the film is flat, routine, and
formula, failing to make a reasonable attempt in any of its production
qualities to stand out. The only possible exception is in the
effectively bleak art direction, and it is in this element of the film
in which French composer Frederic Talgorn received his inspiration for
his fully orchestral score for Fortress. Talgorn had written
large-scale orchestral music in similar situations (for Gordon and
others), including an impressive effort for the mock sci-fi trash
otherwise known as Robotjox. Film score collectors might
recognize his name as a conductor on compilations in the late 1990's,
and many within the industry lament the lack of development and
front-line projects for Talgorn in his career.
Like his other works, his music for
Fortress is
harmonic, robust, and capable in utilizing a full ensemble.
Distinguishing
Fortress, however, is dark ambient rendering that
causes the score to rumble in the lower depths of each instrument's
ranges for nearly the entire score. Talgorn remains very loyal to his
one six-note theme for
Fortress, varying its performances
throughout the score. Unlike his other scores, however, in which his
themes are typically adapted to more romantic and triumphant renditions,
the theme is resolutely chained to the genre of suspense here, often
obscured by slightly dissonant layers of strings and a nearly constant
bed of deep bass. Talgorn accomplishes the intimidation necessary for
the film by unleashing a timpani (mixed very heavily on album, almost to
the level of drowning out other elements of the ensemble) and a piano,
which meanders in its lowest octave in between occasional hard thuds.
Even the more sensitive cues for strings ("Forbidden Dream" and "Karen")
are bittersweet in their drab performances and fragmented thematic
presentations. Talgorn's instrumentation will reference John Williams
and Jerry Goldsmith at times, with string and woodwind use in the
opening "Prelude" containing heavy shades of Williams and the positive
woodwind finale of "Forbidden Dream" taking a page from Goldsmith's more
innocent concepts. Outright action material is brassy and frenetic,
though not easily accessible until the finale cue. In "Freedom," Talgorn
finally provides the noble thematic explosion he is known for, but this
30-second switch to the major key comes too late to really save the
album from its tones of misery. Talgorn accomplishes the suspense and
horror well, but doesn't provide any distinguishing characteristics by
which to readily identify the score. Unlike some of his other efforts,
there is no synthetic presence in
Fortress. The score was
released by Intrada Records' producers in promotional form in 1998, with
clear sound quality but only 35 minutes of music.
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- Music as Written for Film: ***
- Music as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: ***
