Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,695
Written 7/16/10
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Buy it... if you have always enjoyed James Newton Howard's general
adventure and fantasy material on a large scale, because The
Postman was something of a template for many similar scores to
follow from the composer.
Avoid it... if you seek unique themes, instrumental applications,
or other techniques in what is essentially a pleasantly generic entry
for Howard in the genre.
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The Postman: (James Newton Howard) The sudden
decline of Kevin Costner's star power in the late 1990's was a subject
of much banter and ridicule, his pair of monumental flops of the era,
Waterworld and The Postman, both produced by their lead
actor. For Costner, the 1997 post-apocalyptic film The Postman
was the first directorial venture since Dances With Wolves, and
it came at a dead period in his career that signaled the end of his
marketability. Costing $80 million to make and only generating $18
million in return, The Postman was universally mocked by critics
as a vehicle for Costner's ego, a description not aided by the fact that
the story tells of humanity in the future erecting and admiring a large
statue of his likeness. He plays a nomad in America's not so distant
future, a desolate place due to a global societal meltdown and suggested
nuclear winter. Local fascist militias battle with stubborn communities
of the Northwest, and the nomad escapes enlistment in the militia and
somewhat accidentally starts a rumor that he is a postal carrier for
America's restored government, a lie that spawns a myth that causes the
people of the region to start their own mail services and connect the
states from California to Washington. Among the only lasting unique
distinctions for The Postman is the fact that it swept every
category in which it was nominated at the Razzie awards for the worst of
cinema. As expected, Costner hired James Newton Howard to provide the
score for the picture, receiving a result not substantially different
from Waterworld. In both cases, the composer overachieved when
considering the quality of Costner's films, the music engagingly melodic
with rich orchestral textures. For The Postman, a collection of
light country and folk songs written by Jono Manson and John Coinman
supplemented Howard's score, and Costner would choose to stroke his ego
even further by performing a duet with Amy Grant for the highlighted
song of the production. The entire package actually works reasonable
well, with no part of the score or songs offensive to the ears or too
incongruent with each other to handle. The Grant and Costner song ("You
Didn't Have to Be So Nice") is the best of the batch, the actor
surprisingly sufficient in a secondary, backup role for Grant. The album
devotes its entire second half to the sung material, and none of it
directly correlates its tunes with Howard's far more interesting score,
which itself provides most of the album's running time.
Those who appreciated the orchestrally robust and
melodically redemptive stature of Howard's
Waterworld were bound
to be pleased with
The Postman. The latter score is a bit
redundant in the larger perspective of the composer's career, serving as
something of a basic template for his forthcoming adventure and
animation scores. Only slight instrumental references to a country
setting are utilized, with the bulk of the workload handled by the
traditional ensemble players. A touch of electronic enhancement in the
chase sequences is joined by occasional choir for depth and awe. The
percussion is, as usual for Howard, a highlight of the score, serving up
rolling rhythms of immense satisfaction that foreshadowed everything
from
Dinosaur to
The Last Airbender. The "Main Titles" cue
has the prototypical Howard rhythmic opening sequence, combining
elements you hear in both
Dinosaur and
Unbreakable. By
"The Belly of the Beast" and "The Restored United States," the snare
drum maintains momentum with a hint of Western bravado from brass
figures. Larger, medium range drum explosions in those cues are specific
precursors to
The Last Airbender. The choir is weighted towards
the deep male end, logically enhancing the concept of post-apocalyptic
gravity. Aside from a few powerful crescendos of dissonance late in "The
Restored United States,"
The Postman is a largely harmonic score,
extremely listenable from start to finish. Its three major themes are
woven nicely into the entire fabric of the score (with the exception of
the aforementioned "Main Titles," which is an enigma on its own), but
none of them is worth much hype. A theme for Costner's title character
emerges on lovely flute in "Shelter in the Storm" and occupies the early
portion of the suite, "The Postman." A love theme in "Abby Comes
Calling" is lush and relaxing, receiving full treatment in the latter
half of that cue. The main action theme is introduced four minutes into
"The Belly of the Beast" and is offered in fanfares all the way through
the end of "The Postman." Unfortunately, while sufficient in its
anointment of a hero, the idea will remind you of several other
composers' general themes of adventure, diminishing its impact. The
three themes together are disappointingly anonymous, but none is the
least bit troublesome when taken in the context of this wretched film.
The vibrant presentation of the score portion on the album for
The
Postman is consistently solid, devoid to an extent of a smooth
narrative but always exhibiting trademark Howard techniques and harmony
that will allow you to appreciate the music as a purely background
experience. It's undemanding escapism.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4
(in 70 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.36
(in 86,530 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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