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The orchestra used for Nightcrawler contains only a string section, piano, and single clarinet. Varied drums provide an almost jungle atmosphere at times ("Loder Crashes" and "The First Night"), and there's a touch of Blood Diamond in these instrumental representations of the concrete wild. An electric guitar and electric bass from The Lookout carry Lou's swagger alongside the keyboards. Gritty urban sound effects from the synths are typical to Howard, including their wet mix. The water droplet sound effects in "Lou's Inspired" are a bit silly, but the synthetic choir applied to the climactic shootout for a religious victory ("The Shootout") fares a bit better despite being tongue-in-cheek. The textures of all the electronics are generally unpleasant and intentionally dirty. Several cues contain only dreadful, dissonant, or simply boring atmospheres, including "Pictures on the Fridge," "Mount Wilson," "Watching the House Footage," and "Chinatown Express." On the other hand, the strings, piano, and clarinet used to romanticize the anticipated glory of Lou's future yield surprising highlights interspersed with the gloom. The only theme of the score belongs to Lou, its highly versatile melody ranging from hard rock to soft orchestral beauty as needed. The first, three-note phrase is sometimes used alone while a string ostinato often introduces Lou's excitement before the theme commences. Heard first at 0:10 into "Nightcrawler" on electric guitar over synth atmospheres in an endless cycle, the theme is fragmented on electronics in "Lou's Inspired" before the chopping strings erupt with inspiration. Barely alive in the underlying chord shifts of "Driving at Night," the theme yields again to the chopping string ostinato from "Lou's Inspired" and returns in "Sell the Bike," the piano conveying the melody at 0:14 into the former with the clarinet in tow. Watery keyboarding opens "KWLA" with the theme over wandering clarinet, shifting into a celeste-like rhythmic formation in the latter half of "The First Accident." The ostinato drives "Day to Night" with exuberant hope for success before turning the theme over to electric guitars for confidence late in "Entering the House."

The main melody for Lou takes a rhythmic form on keyboards with 1980's, space-like sound effects in "Edit on the Hood." Clarinet fragments of the melody open "Lou and Rick on a Roll," twisting to harsh electric guitar force for the second half of the cue. Once again, the ostinato offers genuinely engaging orchestral suspense on string layers in "Waiting" and "Making the News," the latter also including the theme lightly on piano. After eerie keyboarding at the outset of "Lou's Philosophy," the clarinet provides warmth later in that cue. The accelerating rhythmic form provides more powerful synth layers in "Search for the Plate" while cellos subtly increase the tension with the ostinato late in "The Newscast." An electric guitar supplies a hopeful rendition over chugging synths in "Moving the Body," previewing the very end of the score. The idea twinkles on synths over tentative strings in "Nina and Frank," the clarinet trying but struggling to emerge. As the antihero prevails against the police at the end of the story, the ostinato resumes its posture in "Lou's Free" under the theme on piano, and the clarinet and synth layers supply more confidence to the melody here. Finally, Howard takes Lou's theme into pure 1980's power anthem mode, the electric guitar shredding the theme in "If It Bleeds It Leads." A rock drum kit and electric bass join for a couple of wild renditions to close the score. The narrative is fairly intact on the 51-minute album, but the experience really needed to have 15 minutes of the most drab moments of ambient underscore excised to improve the overall flow. The tracks on the album are crossfaded as well, which causes the presentation to dabble in a constant dream state. The orchestral portions of Nightcrawler are quite palatable and, as in "Lou's Philosophy," admittedly pretty. The outright electric guitar confidence of that same theme's most glorious moments is also of interest, but almost in an amusing parody fashion. The entire package doesn't quite work despite making logical sense. Perhaps Howard could have pushed the parody element even further, especially in the romanticizing of the lead's antics, but that might have negated some of the noir element. This score is a tough nut to crack, and it's one that is difficult to recommend for all but the most avid enthusiasts of the film itself.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ***
• Music as Heard on Album:  **
• Overall:  **

Bias Check:

For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.28 (in 78 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.29 (in 87,039 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 51:04