Another missed opportunity for Newman in Skyfall is the lack of a theme for Javier Bardem's deliciously sick, homo-erotic villain. The composer suggests several motifs for this character throughout the score, the best of which possibly a rising brass motif reminiscent of Trevor Jones' reality-altering theme in Dark City (as heard in "The Moors"), but Newman never defines him otherwise. Likewise, Newman fails to provide Bond's childhood or the Skyfall Lodge location a theme. This certainly would have been the place for eerie references to Adele's song to exist (in a perfect world), and absent access to that melody, Newman should have created at least some kind of pensive woodwind identity in John Barry style for that occasion. The mix of the score cue "Skyfall" in the film seems to emphasize a choral or quivering string atmosphere (it's difficult to tell which) rather than expanding upon the melodic core of the character as prior composers likely would have done. Too many similar cues by Newman are handled with extremely vague atmosphere rather than subtly developed thematic elements. At least Judi Dench's "M" is afforded a motif, a series of solemn, descending French horn phrases doubling for the concept of MI6 and Britain as a whole, a stark representation of loyalty to the country that is heard in "Voluntary Retirement" and "Mother." Without a dominant set of original ideas from Newman, he is left with Norman's classic Bond theme, and even that isn't applied in particularly interesting ways in the score. Its application at the end of the film is actually a re-recorded, abridged version of the arrangement of the theme made by Arnold for Casino Royale, an almost sad recognition that Arnold's absence on this project was indeed felt by the production. Prior to that insertion, Newman did apply the theme into one token, fuller performance in the appropriate "Breadcrumbs" cue, a smart choice given the car in the scene. Even here, however, the performance is rushed, and you get a sense from Newman's nods to Norman in the action sequences that there wasn't significant comfort with the interpolations. In "Grand Bazaar, Istanbul" and "She's Mine," the references are sufficient but lack the actual fanfare of the theme. The more subtle inclusions by Newman into conversational scenes are actually more engaging, though don't expect to ever hear the theme flourish with the panache that Arnold had applied to it. In fact, the only moment of stylish wailing on trumpets at all in this score comes at 3:48 into "Grand Bazaar, Istanbul," and it's just one note. The jazz and pop elements of the franchise's tradition are diminished to occasional cymbal tapping.

The action cues in Skyfall are particularly intriguing, for they were the source of much concern upon Newman's announcement as the replacement for Arnold. The composer had never tackled this kind of ferocious, sustained action before, and the inexperience shows. His pacing in these cues struggles to keep up with the movement on screen, and he misses synchronization points in the chase sequences as well (though this may have been the result of editing after the fact). In terms of style, Newman unfortunately turned to contemporary norms of string ostinatos and slapping percussion loops to address the Bond franchise, reducing it to the level of the Jason Bourne franchise. You could use the words "generic" and "pedestrian" to describe most of these cues ("The Bloody Shot" an arguable exception), though in most places, the adaptation of the stock 2010's thriller sound is abysmally out of place in the context of Bond. In "The Moors," for instance, when the film had basically dissolved into an intimate fight that will end with a knife, Newman pushes the technological element to the fullest. During the chase sequence through the hills towards the chapel in this scene, the music at 1:37 into "The Moors" is horrendously out of place in tone and its lack of emotional weight. The flow of the outright action cues is an issue when compared to Arnold's scores; Newman just does not seem capable of the ball-busting force that had existed in the previous scores, his action lacking the number of orchestral lines and satisfying bass to sustain these scenes in Skyfall. He also seems unable to maintain a rhythm through an entire sequence and apply the appropriate level of activity on top of it, causing several stuttering issues within the major pieces. Generally, the mixture of symphonic, electronic, and exotic elements in these cues is very good, however, despite the fact that Newman's awkward rhythms and exotic instruments do foil a few lighter cues. Perhaps no moment in Skyfall is as nonsensical as "Adrenaline," which immediately follows the Arnold arrangement of Norman's Bond theme in the end credits and serves absolutely no purpose. Its low-key exotic rhythms almost sound like something Mychael Danna would write for a lesser drama and have nothing to do with the rest of the score. Perhaps this recording makes sense only when you stop to consider how many narrative-killing atmospheric cues there are in Skyfall, "Modigliani," "Enjoying Death," "Voluntary Retirement," "Close Shave," "Skyfall," and "Someone Usually Dies" all containing material that's barely audible and insufficient in plot enhancement.

In the context of the film, despite all of the structural and stylistic flaws of Newman's composition, the score will function well enough for many listeners. Newman may have blown his thematic attributions, run out of steam in some action cues, and completely missed some opportunities to maintain Bond traditions, but he's certainly talented enough not to shame himself like Eric Serra did with Goldeneye. At the same time, you get the feeling listening to Skyfall that Newman didn't really enjoy himself or isn't a fan of the franchise. Arnold's music certainly bleeds the spirit of Bond, and even Michael Kamen's lone Bond entry, Licence to Kill, was better matched to the concept than Newman's. On album, some of these flaws can be forgiven, because a cue like "New Digs" at least is so saturated with "Newmanisms" that it will entertain his collectors. In that way, parts of the listening experience are quite enjoyable. But it's interesting that Mendes once stated that he believed Daniel Craig to be an inappropriate choice for the role of James Bond. He was obviously wrong about that, and it's possible that he was also mistaken to force the production to replace Arnold with Newman. Fortunately, the incredibly memorable strength of Adele's song, which should have been reprised over the end credits, will excuse Newman for those who don't care about the minutia of film scoring theory. But that won't help those film music and die-hard Bond enthusiasts who can tell the difference. For them, Newman's score is procedural, handing each scene as a standalone entity rather than a part of an organic whole. Perhaps the composer was so worried about screwing up the assignment on the macro level that he got too caught up in the intellectual weeds of individual cues. One of the strangest things about Skyfall is the fact that Newman somehow neglected to express the turmoil and tragedy associated with the main character, an element that was present romantically in the prior two films and scores but was dissolved into mere ambient tones for the familial equivalents in this entry. This type of music, along with deeply rooted suspense, is where Newman usually excels, and to hear him waste away so many opportunities for great development, especially in the Scotland portions at the end, is baffling. Some of the blame for this muted presence has to fall on Mendes, who left a surprising amount of the film's running time unscored, another oddity for the Bond franchise. It is in this combination of silence and barely audible underscore for scenes that could have used some weightier musical presence that the perceptions about a lack of passion from Newman for the topic are generated.

Finally, the album situation for Skyfall is simply a disgrace. Of course there are licensing issues to consider, but the average listener doesn't care. As with Casino Royale, the Skyfall soundtrack fails to include the title song with the score. Frustratingly, these two songs were among the best of the modern era for the franchise, leaving the scores to fend for themselves on their products. Likewise, the Skyfall soundtrack is lacking the adapted Arnold arrangement of the theme at the end of the film, too, another glaring omission. There also seems to be missing a few important snippets of score from the film as well, including the music heard as the British helicopters descend upon the villain's island to rescue Bond after the cue "The Chimera." At least the product is well mixed, the percussion clarity often outstanding (especially the cymbals). Some listeners may notice a diminished presence of violins (a dreaded Remote Control technique), and that was apparently intentional. Overall, however, the arrangement of the album is extremely disappointing. The labels for these soundtracks, in this case Sony (which also released the song on its own CD!), need to figure out how to properly obtain the rights to the Bond movies' music for future soundtracks, for the lack of the song and major Norman theme performance on any Bond album is simply unacceptable and only encourages people to illegally download the music (or listen to it on YouTube all day long). Aside from this failure, however, Sony did make a few mistakes on their own with the product that could have been avoided. First, the presentation rearranges the cues out of film order. The first half is especially jumbled for absolutely no good reason, separating the opening two action cues. Additionally, an iTunes-exclusive cue was made available only in lossy form through that retailer; fortunately, the short "Old Dog, New Tricks" isn't too impressive (repetition of the same lounge-like string phrase over and over again in a lazy club atmosphere) and wasn't used in the film anyway. Ultimately, the Skyfall score has to be considered a disappointment, both when it struggles in context and on its exceedingly long and often understated album. The title song easily out-classes the score on all levels. Don't be alarmed if you find yourself enjoying about 10-15 minutes of Newman's action material and being bored by most of the rest. While Newman shouldn't be excessively flogged for this entry, in fact barely earning three stars for sufficiently meeting the very basic needs of the film, it wouldn't be surprising to witness significant fan demand for Arnold to return to the franchise for the continuation of the Craig era and possibly the conclusion of the Quantum storyline. One has to imagine that Arnold is itching for the opportunity.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download