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Review of Judge Dredd (Alan Silvestri)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on any of its albums if you seek some of the most
glorious orchestral bombast of the 1990's on film, a score that stands
as muscularly robust in stature as anything Alan Silvestri has ever
produced.
Avoid it... if you have little tolerance for super-heroic themes of simplistic major-key expression, especially if they're predictably blasted out as punctuation to every scene in which Sylvester Stallone delivers one of his painfully awful lines of dialogue.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Judge Dredd: (Alan Silvestri) Unless you were an
enthusiast of the comic on which this film was based, there wasn't much
to be impressed about with Judge Dredd, a 1995 Danny Cannon
venture that allowed Sylvester Stallone to continue his Demolition
Man mode of operation of stubborn, pissed-off rebelling. Mocked by
critics for its inability to turn its sources of inspiration into
anything particularly original, Judge Dredd is a messy
combination of elements from the aforementioned Stallone action/comedy
and Blade Runner and Robocop. It tries to interject humor
and notoriously poor dialogue in such awkward ways that the film's
visual elements are diminished to a level of stupidity that only
contributed to the era's stereotypes about summer blockbusters. Stallone
and a competent array of character actors exist in a bleak, futuristic
Earth where crime rules the land and super-cop "Judges" like Stallone
are given the ability to arrest, sentence and execute criminals on the
spot. When Stallone's character is framed for a murder and his evil DNA
clone decides to switch sides, the battle is on. Without Jurgen
Prochnow, Max von Sydow, and especially Armand Assante chewing on the
awful script in supporting roles, Judge Dredd would be
intolerably bad. Also fighting to salvage the film is Alan Silvestri's
score, which came at a time in his career when the Back to the
Future and Predator composer was frustrating his fans with a
series of far fluffier projects often residing in the comedy realm.
Luckily, this assignment added to the wide range of very satisfying
bombast to emanate from Hollywood that summer, holding Silvestri's
action collectors' interest until the composer's significant return to
the genre in the early 2000's. One of the most intriguing aspects of
Judge Dredd is the influence of legendary Jerry Goldsmith on the
production. The veteran was the original choice to write the music for
the picture, but scheduling circumstances placed this film's recording
period on top of those of First Knight and Congo, forcing
Goldsmith to abandon Judge Dredd. This wasn't before the composer
was able to write a propulsive percussion and brass-led, one-minute
piece for the film's trailer, however. Many of the rhythmic
sensibilities of that short recording seem to have inspired Silvestri's
score, even down to the finished work's progressions.
Silvestri disputes any connection in Judge Dredd to Goldsmith's existing ideas, however, claiming that the production did not encourage him to retain any of that material's concepts for the final work. Still, Silvestri's music, perhaps not surprisingly, sounds like a combination of Goldsmith's standard action fare, Bill Conti's Masters of the Universe, and his own Predator. That's not a bad combination in any circumstance. The similarities between Silvestri's accomplishment and Goldsmith's mannerisms may be a coincidence, though there's no doubt about what sound the filmmakers wanted to hear in their movie. Much like Conti's predicament with the dreadful He-Man film a decade prior, Silvestri was tasked with compensating for the many weaknesses of a doomed Judge Dredd production by creating an orchestral monstrosity of a score that could overwhelm the listener with its explosive bravado. Damn near everything in this score is big, bloated, and bombastic. With the exception of a few conversational revelation cues ("We Created You") and a The Hills Have Eyes kind of ethnic creepfest in the middle of the score ("Angel Family"), Judge Dredd taxes the stamina of the Sinfonia of London almost continuously. It's the kind of score that often maintains its harmoniously exciting level of instrumental and choral depth like John Debney's contemporary Cutthroat Island, another score that fights to compensate for a filmmaking disaster. Instrumentally, the snare and tuba are prominent in this mix, both performed without much restraint in much of the work. And when the volume isn't cranked to the max or the snare isn't hitting a synchronization point with angry emphasis, the more dramatic material still exudes a menacing character. Silvestri is faithful to his various melodies in Judge Dredd, most of them intriguingly structured around five-note phrases. The primary theme's overblown heroic stature is where listeners will hear some similarities to Conti's He-Man score (at least in its unashamedly brazen major-key tone), but the idea does receive some softer attention, including pronounced woodwind treatment in "The Law" and "Hidden Photo." When in more muted martial mode, the theme takes on personality traits of Back to the Future, especially when paired with heroic trumpet as in "Parking Penalty." The identity's grandiose performances of dramatic suffering, as in "Say It Ain't So," are sometimes a bit overwhelmed by the immense weight of their own choral force. Although the main melody's rendering is a bit more authentic in addressing Stallone's actions on screen in Judge Dredd than the typical mindless action fare, listeners may be more interested in the secondary themes Silvestri offers. Usually also in five-note phrases, these ideas range from the thumping rhythm that leads up to a confrontation (and the title theme), and opposing ascending and descending string figures for drama and villainy that, especially when combined with resounding choral accompaniment, remind of Predator's space-related theme. There is both quality and tonality in almost every moment of this score, the exotic percussion and electronic embellishments of "Angel Family" the only exception. The score's weakness comes in the form of the rather transparent applications of the main theme; don't be surprised if you appreciate the bridge section of the theme on horns much more than the primary phrase. A powerfully darker cue like "Judgement Day," however, with its impressive exploration of the drama theme in the middle, complete with rampant harp, represents Silvestri at his most massively melodramatic. Despite this cue being cut from the film, it remains arguably the highlight of the entire score. The score was released on a combination commercial album in 1995, containing 40 minutes of Silvestri's work after a variety of incongruous rock songs. Minus the "Angel Family" cue, this listening experience was highly enjoyable, though die-hard fans long sought a 67-minute score-only bootleg that divided up the retail album's score suites into a choppier presentation with added filler. The Goldsmith trailer music, as well as a competently arranged five-minute suite from the Silvestri score, was enthusiastically performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Varèse Sarabande's outstanding "Hollywood '95" compilation. In 2015, Intrada Records compiled a comprehensive 2-CD presentation of Judge Dredd that includes the full score and a bevy of alternate takes made while trying to fine-tune the music to the film, along with some of the major album arrangements and the original version of Goldsmith's trailer cue. Be aware that some early copies of the album accidentally pressed the RSNO performance of the Goldsmith cue instead of the studio version. (The label offered exchanges on the product and rectified it for further pressings.) The longer listening experience for Silvestri's score illuminates some nice secondary passages, including the softer variants on the main theme. The alternate takes are quite entertaining even if the divergence isn't always significant. On any album, Judge Dredd remains highly recommended, a truly solid Silvestri romp. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1995 Epix Soundtrax Album:
Total Time: 63:32
2015 Intrada Album: Total Time: 139:07
* previously released ** composed by Jerry Goldsmith + not featured in film
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1995 album unfolds into an ugly poster but includes no extra information
about the score or film. That of the 2015 Intrada album contains extensive notation about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Judge Dredd are Copyright © 1995, 2015, 550 Music/Epic Soundtrax, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/19/09 and last updated 4/11/16. |
