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Review of The Skulls (Randy Edelman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate the ease of harmony and theme that
tends to accompany Randy Edelman in his synthetic scores for the genre
of drama.
Avoid it... if you require the score to actually serve as an appropriate accompaniment for its film, for Edelman's music is far from a perfect fit.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Skulls: (Randy Edelman) Secret societies at the
college level can be fun, especially if they promise wealth, women, and
wild times. Director Rob Cohen has a warning for those who would
consider belonging to one, however, and it comes in form of the 2000
film The Skulls. A young man aspiring to become a law student at
Yale is chosen to belong to "The Skulls," which is his only hope of
financing his degree. Upon initiation, his relationships with his
friends from his prior life become strained, and when one cautioning him
about the Skulls is killed, the young man decides to learn the hard way
that leaving the group is not recommended. The film remains among the
worst by Cohen, failing to impress on any level. A clumsy script,
incredibly poor acting, and a somewhat awkward score by regular
collaborator Randy Edelman were all detriments. While Edelman's music
for previous Cohen films had often sufficed or excelled, he misses the
boat with The Skulls, producing music that is distracting in much
of the film. The year 2000 was shaping up to be a weak one for Edelman,
whose just previous The Whole Nine Yards was a frightful
disappointment. The most interesting aspect of the music for The
Skulls is that it does have redeeming value as a listening
experience on album despite its problems in the film. It's yet another
score that raises the debate about whether a synthetic score can
function in a film that obviously needed significant depth in emotion
and thematic development. With a film about the subtleties of trials and
trust comes a need for nuance and suggestion in its music, and Edelman's
often flowing, harmonious tendencies don't really address those needs.
The Skulls has many trademark Edelman sounds, and it's in part
because of these techniques that the music functions better on album
than it does in key scenes within the film. In those regards, the fact
that The Skulls is an electronic effort raises many of the same
concerns about authenticity that came from his music for The
Hunley television film the previous year. Still, while the ambience
created by Edelman's synthetics can be predictable and tiresome, his
themes are far more interesting.
The primary idea for The Skulls is heard immediately in "The Skulls," which combines a synthetic, rolling timpani effect (which returns throughout the film) with a hopeful, but solemn piano theme. The easy progressions of this very accessible theme, along with the modern metallic percussion effects, make it the kind of harmonious affair that you'd expect to hear under a love ballad. As this noble piece repeats in "Will's Funeral," "Watch Me," and "Reprise," among others, it is compelling in a basic sense. But while it's a likable theme on album, it really doesn't address the severity of the situation in the story. The second theme in The Skulls is a powerful, rhythmic idea heard in "The Race" and "Revisiting the Race." Its powerful strides, especially late in the first cue, combine the attitude of Basil Poledouris' Wind with the instrumentation of Trevor Jones' The Mighty. It's a victorious and grand theme, but when rendered by Edelman's electronics, it is stripped of the scope it needs to be convincing. Another motif that runs through the score is the aforementioned timpani rhythm and its more complicated variants. The movement of a choppy snare and synth string progressions in "The Duel" remind heavily of the suspense cues in The Hunley, and this is one of the cues that is mixed too prominently into the film. Its abrasive stance in the finished product simply betrays the simplicity of the music and fails to produce the kind of emotional response the scene needs. The remainder of the score is largely unremarkable, with generic suspense tones occasionally yielding to a fake orchestra hit meant to frighten. While adequately suspenseful in parts, the score fails to be as heartbreaking as necessary. One notable acoustic guitar performance is mixed at too high a gain. The modern percussion samples, reminiscent of Daylight, seem out of place as well. The four songs that follow the 35 minutes of score stem from the alternative rock genre, and while they're all decent, none was chart material. The Lorna Vallings song "Taste" is the key accompaniment heard during the love scene and the film's end credits. Despite the music's questionable stance in the film, there are five or six tracks of chilling atmosphere that, along with the songs, salvage the album.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 51:04
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a picture of the director and composer together, but
contains no 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 Skulls are Copyright © 2000, Decca Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/25/00 and last updated 7/19/08. |
