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Review of The Pledge (Hans Zimmer/Klaus Badelt)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are familiar with Hans Zimmer's subdued style of Smilla's
Sense of Snow and might be appreciative of a very similar work with slightly
more texture.
Avoid it... if your Zimmer collection is purposefully weighed heavily towards his large-scale orchestral and electronic blockbusters.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Pledge: (Hans Zimmer/Klaus Badelt) The 2001 directorial
project of Sean Penn was received reasonably well by critics, but failed at every
level with audiences. Fans of Jack Nicholson were presented, though, with a
fantastic performance by the actor in a role that offered the usually cocky persona
an opportunity to seriously examine his inner soul (and do so in a pseudo-religious
fashion). The film is a sparse murder mystery set in a small town during winter,
with Nicholson's character, as a detective, making a pledge to the mother of a
slain child to find the killer. The battle between the temptation to retire, fear
of getting old, determination to solve the crime, and coming to terms with the town
itself is conveyed in a very slowly paced, deliberate form. Without an obvious
ending, the film is heavy in introspection from start to finish, relying upon the
development of a single character to hold the interest of the audience. Such
projects were not completely unknown to composer Hans Zimmer. Throughout the late
1990's and 2000's, the popular composer had been playing the field of offers for
high-priced action and drama films, creating a fan base for his pounding
combinations of symphonic and synthetic power. There has always remained another
group of fans, however, who prefer Zimmer's more introverted writing for arthouse
subjects. The Pledge represented a return to the style of the Zimmer scores
of the mid-1990's for films that did not require their music to elevate the volume
beyond that of a single line of dialogue. These scores often included bare minimum
instrumentation, very subtle themes, and a carefully low key attitude; both A
Whole Wide World and The House of the Spirits contain the same kind of
character drama, but it is Smilla's Sense of Snow that best mirrors the
stark reality that is seen and heard in The Pledge. Aside from the snowy
setting, the scores both accompany a character seemingly alone and struggling. In
the case of the detective in The Pledge, Zimmer, along with apprentice Klaus
Badelt and four others, accentuates that feeling of loneliness to an even greater
degree of despair. In many of these aforementioned efforts, Zimmer collaborated
with one or more of his fellow Media Ventures artists to create a theme or texture
for a score, then handing the rest of the duties to these associates. The same
formula is likely the model here.
While Zimmer's exact role in The Pledge is not clear, the score maintains a personality familiar to previous Zimmer collaborations through a tightly woven fabric of small-town texture. A piano, solo voice, violin, and acoustic guitar perform the mass of significant motifs. There is little to no obvious thematic development in the score; instead, the textures mature through rhythmic churning and the gradual emphasis of Zimmer's library of synthesized samples. The tone of the electronics, much like those employed in Smilla's Sense of Snow, ranges from ambient droning to an active role in propelling the fear and desire of the story by utilizing subtle, looping rhythms. Even at its loftier moments, such as "Revisit Crime Scene" and "You're Crazy," the score continues to present itself in a drab, slushy manner. In these regards, the depressing consistency of the shallow music perfectly reflects the fear and self-doubt of the main character in the film, but it is also one of the causes of the production's main problems. The film was criticized for extending its story over too long a picture, with maybe 30 to 40 more minutes of plot development than really necessary, and the music is equally oppressive in its ability to subject the listener to its traumatized world for lengthy periods. The score does have a handful of more upbeat cues, especially involving the violin in a recurring, more active rhythm. But in its ability to restrain itself to a serious, understated position, the score for The Pledge has correctly caused comparisons to some of Danny Elfman's similarly styled scores (Dolores Claiborne and, even more so, The Simple Plan). Unless you already have an established appreciation for Smilla's Sense of Snow and are therefore prepared for this listening experience, then be careful with The Pledge. It is Zimmer music at some of its most deeply troubled and contemplative reaches, and it will be difficult and/or boring for fans of his more active, mainstream work. The commercial album presents 40 minutes of the most noteworthy score material, with a 72-minute bootleg (surfacing on the secondary market in 2002) offering additional, similarly mundane material. The length of the bootleg works against it, and the commercial album takes many of the shorter cues, available in original order on the bootleg, and presents them in a more listenable suite format (a standard choice by the composer for his albums). Only the most devoted, die hard collectors of Zimmer's works should seek the bootleg. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
2001 Milan Album:
Total Time: 40:18
2002 Bootleg: Total Time: 72:38
NOTES & QUOTES:
Neither album's insert includes extra information about the score or
film.
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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 The Pledge are Copyright © 2001, 2002, Milan Records, Bootleg and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/17/03 and last updated 1/26/09. |
