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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of The Number 23 (Harry Gregson-Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you typically enjoy the atmosphere of bleak and modern
synthetic textures in your thrillers and mysteries.
Avoid it... if basic and aimless ambient texture suffices for you in this genre of film, but offers no substantial style to appreciate on album.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Number 23: (Harry Gregson-Williams) For those
who obsess on hidden messages and mathematical equations, Joel
Schumacher's The Number 23 is the kind of film that could either
thrill you or make you crazy. In the psychological thriller, Jim Carrey
plays a man who can't put down a book about a detective with a fixation
about the number 23. As he continues to read the story, he becomes so
engrossed in its contents, and the supposed connections between the
story and his own life's circumstances, that he blurs the lines between
his life and the detective's. The obsession with the number transfers to
him, ruining his life while he tries to figure out how his own fate will
transpire (based on the book). While Carrey has been attempting to
follow in Robin Williams' footsteps into more serious subject matter,
this venture into the realm of thrillers and mysteries has reportedly
left the actor flailing. With his performance badly over-acted, the
intrigue of the film falls on Schumacher's ability to insert variants on
the number in the film's peripherals. The maniacal insertion of the
equations and representations of the integer are everywhere in the
picture, and you have to wonder if composer Harry Gregson-Williams
didn't get that memo. One of the more interesting aspects of
Gregson-Williams' score for The Number 23 is that it doesn't make
any outward attempt to address the number. At no obvious point, for
instance, does he introduce a theme with two notes on one instrument and
three on another, and enthusiasts of the film could search a while in
the score without finding any similarly appropriate complexity.
Gregson-Williams, being amongst the two most successful composers to
emerge from the Media Ventures age of digital film scoring, has proven
his capabilities in other genres. But his output is wildly
unpredictable, perhaps serving as testimony to his talents, and you
never know with him in a neutral setting whether you're going to get a
score of the magnificent size and scope of The Chronicles of
Narnia or the bleak and uninspired synthetics of Deja Vu.
With The Number 23, you get much more of the latter.
For a film of such devious and meticulous attention to detail, it's hard to imagine why Gregson-Williams wrote such a mundane score. Not only does the score fail to make any spine-tingling, obvious references to the numeric structures detailed in the film, but it doesn't even set clear boundaries between the primary character's real and imaginary lives at the outset. The score dives right into the murky waters of dissolution in the "Opening Titles," neither establishing any warmth of feeling for the characters or a sense of true intrigue or mystery. Instead, you get a highly sampled, rhythmic wasteland splashed in your face, immediately diminishing the impact of the moderately-sized orchestral ensemble. The score is very contemporary, throwing open the metal doors of Gregson-Williams's synthetic library and unleashing every unsettling sound effect in its contents. Daunting electronic manipulation of the ensemble is mixed with performances on electric strings and guitar to further remove the score from reality. In the strangest move of the score, a distinctly Middle-Eastern flavor is inserted into its latter half using the progressions of the electric strings and woodwinds. If an other-worldly effect is what Gregson-Williams had in mind, then he succeeds in the basic function of the score. But it lacks enough variation and style to distinguish itself. The slightly upbeat and flighty alternations in "Fingerling's Childhoot" and the redeeming finale crescendo of strings in "Atonement" are welcomed breaks from the bleak gray shades in the rest of the meandering score, but the lack of any overarching identity in the music from The Number 23 is its ultimate downfall. The synthetic renderings can only go so far with their own texture before they grow tiresome and potentially unlistenable on album. You get the feeling early on that Gregson-Williams was itching to let rip with electronic guitars and rock percussion like the old days, when his name was alongside Trevor Rabin's on the packaging, and he does just that in "Suicide Blonde." While the crescendo in "Atonement" does complete a circle from the "Opening Titles," you still get a nagging feeling that this score is completely aimless, relying far too much on texture and exhibiting none of the deeper meanings or clever style in the film. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 44:07
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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