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| Howard |
Hidalgo: (James Newton Howard) With a winter and early
spring season of 2004 dominated at every moment by Mel Gibson's controversial
The Passion of the Christ, the horse-racing adventure film
Hidalgo
was another attempt by Hollywood to unseat the religious juggernaut from its
immensely popular position atop the box office. While the production's
advertising hailed
Hidalgo as being based on a true story, there is debate
and speculation about how truthful the memoirs of rider Frank T. Hopkins really
were, and many critics have agreed that the film is a bit preposterous and,
predictably, a tad racist. The story involves the centuries-old 3,000 mile
survival race across the Arabian Desert and the first American invited to compete
in that race in 1890. The American rider (played by the recently crowned Viggo
Mortensen of
The Lord of the Rings) fulfills the storybook ending despite
attacks from Arabian competitors and spectacular natural obstacles. A supporting
role for bouncer-punching Omar Sharif is a nice connection to an era long past.
It's the perfect kind of eye candy project for film score enthusiasts, allowing
the composer to unleash an Indiana Jones style of old fashioned adventure with a
large orchestral ensemble. James Newton Howard was no stranger to adventure in
2004, becoming a regular composer for other fast-paced, relatively innocent
films, including Disney's recent animated tales. His output for these films was
very consistent, even through the previous year's
Peter Pan, and yet
criticism had rightfully arisen about Howard's inability to kick his scores from
that three and four-star level up to full-fledged classics for the cinema. A safe
choice for any project, Howard continued to write strong scores that service
their films well, but his music teased film score enthusiasts who awaited the
composer's evolution into one of the top few artists in the industry (a move that
would come just two years later). In ways very similar to
Peter Pan and
half a dozen other Howard works,
Hidalgo is a very good, rousing score,
but it stops just short of having a truly memorable personality. Howard
impressively incorporates instrumentation and vocals appropriate to the Arabian
region, however, and he combines these flavors with a traditional Western
orchestra that romps with spirit throughout the score. The music may very well be
remembered, though, with the same mixed appreciation that the film has garnered
from critics and viewers.
Howard's work for
Hidalgo is a fluffy, predictable,
enjoyable journey full of Western themes, somewhat cliched Arabic interludes, and
predictable styles for broad expanses. At the same time, it borders on being
one-dimensional and stereotypical, with a distant drum roll in "Morning of the
Race" that even reminds listeners of the opening of
Lawrence of Arabia.
The bouncing Western theme for Hopkins and his horse (identical in many ways to
Howard's own
Wyatt Earp sound) is nowhere near to being as interesting as
the center portions of the score that occupy the scenes of the race itself. The
faint resemblances to Elmer Bernstein rhythms in the cues for the American West
sometimes wander into the domain of Randy Edelman silliness (
Shanghai Noon
comes to mind), and the performances of the theme that accompanies these rhythms
are occasionally lacking in convincing spirit by the ensemble. On the other hand,
Howard shows flashes of brilliance at other moments, especially when utilizing a
dozen instruments of Arabian origins and the voice of Hovig Krikorian. Introduced
in "Arriving in the Desert," the culmination of these performances exists in the
outstanding "Montage," a piece that sets a steady pace with the ethnic percussion
and showcases Krikorian's voice while backed by the simple power of the
orchestral ensemble and a few tastefully applied synthetic effects. It's at
moments such as this when Howard collectors get their goose bumps, and it was
said at the time that if only he could extend the passion and intrigue of these
sounds into the greater majority of the running time in his scores, Howard could
transcend to that next level. The final, heroic cues of
Hidalgo return to
the positive, albeit generic personality of the music for the American West. As a
whole, the score is structured very similarly to that of his previous effort,
Peter Pan. It opens and closes with a limited, but certainly passable and
likable statement of theme and personality but languishes in its midsection with
often drawn-out underscore that lacks the power necessary to sustain the
listener's interest. Where
Hidalgo exceeds
Peter Pan, though, is in
the few moments of ethnic magic to be heard in three or four cues throughout, and
along with the multiple broad thematic statements for grand vistas,
Hidalgo will likely please the casual Howard collector. It treads on
familiar ground, but offers a few enjoyable deviations along the journey. The
album is shorter than expected, probably due to the recording of the score in Los
Angeles, and is missing a few lengthy action cues heard in the film. The
intoxicating "Montage" cue alone is worth the price of this product.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4
(in 62 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 71,451 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
