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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Sin City (Robert Rodriguez/Graeme Revell/John Debney)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you require a mood of tragedy and brooding
contemplation that reaches to the dirty and soiled heart of Sin
City's organic, pulpy style.
Avoid it... if the application of gritty, digitally distorted sax, an electric bass and guitar, and ambient sound design too substantially defies your standards of tolerance for the traditional film noir genre sound.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Sin City: (Robert Rodriguez/Graeme Revell/John
Debney) For director and composer Robert Rodriguez, Sin City was
a project stewing in his dreams for quite a while. His loyalty to the
seven novels of comics by Frank Miller is creepy, if not brilliant, with
so much detail retained from the comics that Miller was given
co-directing credit while sitting in on shooting sessions with
Rodriguez. To call Sin City an adaptation would not do it
justice; the digital green-screen production goes so far as to imitate
the duo-tone nature of the comics as well as exact storyboard direction.
The content of the story really doesn't matter much compared to the
style with which it's presented, featuring sustained violence, nudity,
and everything pulpy and seedy that elevates the concept of film noir to
new levels of weirdness. Rodriguez takes three primary storylines from
the comics and treats them as mini-dramas within the film, the
timelessness of the city bringing the lines together under a common
umbrella of wet streets, cars of yesteryear, and cigarette smoke. Having
received assistance in adapting his musical ideas for his franchise of
Spy Kids films, Rodriguez was increasingly taking advantage of
modern technologies that allow even the minimally trained musical talent
to compose for films. His work becoming increasingly solo in the early
2000's, Once Upon a Time in Mexico proved to be a significant
step forward for Rodriguez, if even for not the film then definitely for
his strikingly cool score. He is one of these "new age" directors who
not only thinks about the score in his head while he works a screenplay,
but actually composes ideas on guitar for the screenplay well in advance
of filming. No matter the quality of the final music, you have to admire
the emphasis with which the director concentrates on the scores, for
such attention can only lead to a more intriguing future for film
music.
Originally intending to write the entire score for Sin City by himself, Rodriguez eventually conceded that time was running short. He therefore turned to two composers with whom he had worked in the past, Graeme Revell and especially John Debney, to finish the task. Providing the two established composers with his title theme and various instructions on instrumentation and the digital editing of certain elements in the performance, Rodriguez made the unconventional choice of unleashing Revell and Debney on unique storylines in the film. Retaining the task of scoring the Bruce Willis/Yellow Bastard line of the Sin City story was Rodriguez, who had become fixated on it in his composing. Revell took the Mickey Rourke line and Debney took perhaps the most promising Clive Owen/Benicio Del Toro line involving the police and hookers of the city. Both assisting composers had explicit instructions from Rodriguez about their available instrumentation and thematic use. Although Revell and Debney never actually collaborated to any direct extent in the scoring, the coordination of the project turned out to be a surprising success. Both Revell and Debney followed these instructions so well that despite the film's obvious split focus on the three lines, the music remains consistently rooted in one style from start to finish. There are obvious differences in the three composers' underlying styles that film music collectors will recognize immediately, however. Rodriguez's music is less dense, perhaps underdeveloped with a lack of counterpoint and other complexities that are commonly associated with large-scale film music. But, as one would expect from Rodriguez after Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the undeniable coolness factor is certainly rooted in his ideas. The "Sin City" theme, which Rodriguez refers to as "Descent," is a simple progression of downward spiraling chords meant to mimic a fall into the darkness of the city's nightmarish atmosphere. Revell and Debney both utilize Rodriguez's main theme in Sin City with effective results. Rodriguez also encouraged the entire range of saxophones, from alto to bass, to accentuate the history of film noir jazz in the soundscape, but he intentionally distorted the sax performances digitally to give them an extra dose of gritty reality. Thus, while the sax performances do elevate the romantic side of the story, their throaty blaring also illuminates the harsh and grotesque sides of the city. A thumping bass rhythm is utilized by Rodriguez in his opening and closing themes, with the end credits exhibiting the only truly band-like performance of pop culture influence. Don't expect the simple, broad strokes of high drama that Rodriguez displayed in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, however; the electric guitar and orchestral ensemble only reach one of Rodriguez's excruciatingly harmonious chords of finality in the last bars of the "End Titles." The Revell line was intended by Rodriguez to be the only one excluding an orchestral ensemble. With a trombone, female voice, electronic keyboarding array, and, of course, the sax, Revell's portion of the score dwells in the depths of a dirty, ambient soundscape and therefore suits his synthetic mannerisms well. Interestingly, Revell's incorporation of the wide variety of throaty sax tones, along with his collection of usual sound effect samplings that he draws out over great lengths, seem to best represent the darkness of Sin City of any of the angles in the score. His lonely keyboarding and distant female vocals wander slowly in the distance, joined by an occasionally wailing sax, and by "Her Name is Goldie," Revell's atmospheric work is the triumph of the film's solitary moments of tragedy. Debney, on the other hand, was given a partial orchestral ensemble and extended his duties to conduct both his and Rodriguez's work. While the orchestra has a minimal effect on Rodriguez's contributions, Debney tackles his third of the project with an obvious attempt to rekindle the classic sound of melodramatic noir. From wild jazz rhythms established by ambitious bass and synthesized drums to full, melodic outbursts from the ensemble, Debney's work for Sin City is by far the most engaging in the score. Rodriguez's gritty sax theme continues here, though Debney uses the brass and string-only orchestra for dramatic depth that ranges from a solo trumpet meandering over the top of the ensemble to the full group's interpretation of the title theme. If there is one cue outside of the opening and closing titles that will capture your attention, it is "The Big Fat Kill," in which Debney builds to his own finale with a fully-rendered, harmonically satisfying but remarkably tortured performance of the title theme. After hearing the seedy sax mixed with such emotional grip in this cue, it would theoretically be interesting to hear what Debney could have done with this theme over the entirety of the film. Then again, while pleasing music fans, such a move would defeat the purpose of having the three different composers for the three storylines and, in the end, Rodriguez's idea for the score works. As opposed to some projects nowadays that are torn apart by the presence of several different composers, Sin City is viable because of the careful direction of the music as guided by Rodriguez himself. Revell and Debney both succeed in "getting the picture" and providing the exact kind of sound that not only matches Rodriguez's ideas, but each other's as well. As for the quality of the sum, the Sin City score demands a very specific mood for tragedy and brooding contemplation. It walks that fine line between hopeless depression and an attitude of revenge, and its intentional distortion and dwelling in the bass realms may turn off listeners seeking more dramatically fluid and satisfyingly heroic music. The album features one hard rock song and Rodriguez's own favorite orchestral piece, "Sensemaya," which, despite the director's fondness for it, detracts from the flow of the album because of its stark differences in style to the less traditionally symphonic original material. Once again, though, Sin City is an unusually competent score with an excellent rendering. No single element will blow you away (outside of that final Debney cue), but its whole is surprisingly organic, dirty, and pulpy.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 58:14
* composed by Robert Rodriguez ** composed by Graeme Revell *** composed by John Debney
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes performance credits and notes from Robert
Rodriguez about the score and film.
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