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Gregson- Williams |
Spy Game: (Harry Gregson-Williams) Depth of intelligence is
not the intended strength of Tony Scott's thriller
Spy Game, a story about
the relationship between two CIA operatives through a series of flashbacks from
1975 to 1991. Rather, frantic cuts and perpetual motion are designed into the
production so hyperactively that Scott obviously hoped that audiences wouldn't
notice the massive holes in the plot. As cheap entertainment, and for the
opportunity to view Robert Redford and Brad Pitt interact (even in their somewhat
limiting characters),
Spy Game is a solid film. The fact that it battled at
the box office with behemoths involving hobbits and muggles in late 2001 didn't
stop mostly male audiences from enjoying the style of mindless eye candy that
beckoned memories of
Crimson Tide and
Enemy of the State. As
expected, the espionage thriller once again united the director with a Media
Ventures genre of artist. Composer Harry Gregson-Williams had, since
The
Rock in 1996, begun to build an impressive resume for himself, branching off
into both a collaborative and solo career that would eventually reach heights only
seen by John Powell in the same group. Often teaming up with another Media Ventures
pupil of Hans Zimmer, Gregson-Williams' music ranged wildly at the time, from the
harshest of synthetic action scores (such as
The Replacement Killers) to the
family oriented spunk often associated with
Antz and
Shrek. The
requirements of
Spy Game would allow Gregson-Williams to explore additional
elements that lie between those previously established genres, especially in the
dramatic weight of the music that would be required for the project. Because the
film melds heavy drama in exotic locations with heart-pounding chasing sequences,
the score would have to reflect the best (or potentially worst) of both worlds.
Also an element in the equation is an extremely diverse array of ethnic voices and
instruments which, along with the reliance upon orchestral majesty in parts, would
help inform scores like
Kingdom of Heaven for Gregson-Williams in the
future. In many ways,
Spy Game served as the bridge to the more diverse and
symphonically rich works that would define his career in the 2000's.
Those who disliked Gregson-Williams' stereotypical electronic
scores of the 1990's would probably have deemed this score intolerable because of
its sometimes abrasive rhythmic loops, but while there are indeed several cues in
Spy Game that will test your endurance, there is enough quantity and quality
in the less explosive cues to merit another listen. The soundtrack for
Spy
Game will undoubtedly require a fair amount of patience. Although there exist
sequences in the score that reaffirm many listeners' distaste of relentless
synthetic loops, there are also several surprisingly engaging and enjoyable
expressions of harmonic beauty to be heard as well. Granted, there is about twenty
minutes of eardrum-grinding pounding of electronics in
Spy Game, and this
material is no more listenable for many people here than it had been in scores
past. But beyond those expected cues are a lengthy collection of dramatic
recordings of exotic beauty that sets this score apart from others by
Gregson-Williams, even when considering the superior work to come from him in
successive years. With spectacular results, he employs a host of specialty
instruments in his orchestral accompaniment to the synthesizers. Among the most
noticeable use is the erhu, which may not be as evocative here as in, say,
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but it's an enjoyable touch when combined
with the composer's hard-edged rhythms and Western thematic sensibilities. A
variety of solo vocal performances is a treat not to be missed on this album; along
with an innocent boy soprano (which seems to be applied to Pitt's character), a
host of Middle Eastern, Chinese, and Vietnamese female vocals are intertwined with
a Celtic harp and ethnic flutes to spice up an otherwise typical array of
electronics. With a percussion section rich with Middle Eastern and Chinese
instruments, Gregson-Williams produces a sound that is even more convincing in its
ethnic authenticity than
Beyond Rangoon or
The Peacemaker were for
Zimmer, his mentor, despite the layering of many of these elements with harsh sound
effects and synthetic base droning. The mingling of so many different ethnic areas
enhances the element of worldly espionage in the music, creating a tense, foreign,
and even enchanting mood in cues like "Beirut, A War Zone."
You have to tip your hat to Gregson-Williams for his extensive
experimentation with and implementation of these exotic elements in
Spy
Game, especially considering that a far less intelligent score would likely
have sufficed for the film. His touch for thematic continuity and harmonic
simplicity is a starkly effective balance for the adrenaline-pumping requirements
of the usual Media Ventures electronic bombast. That said,
Spy Game does
still contain several tracks of obnoxious and irritating chase music, the kind that
takes techno and pop rhythms far too seriously. But even among these portions,
"Su-Chou Prison," "Muir Races to Work," "Harker Tracks Muir," and "The Long
Night" contain rhythms that lean towards more easily palatable pop rather than grinding
electronica, and they are easier to integrate into the flow of the surrounding
material. Alone, "The Long Night" offers a very successful blend of hip attitude
in deep bass tones and lighter orchestral accompaniment. If you can sift past the
harsher deviations (and those that especially perk up in the latter half of the
album) to explore the dramatic heart of this score, then you'll find half an hour
or more of impressively weighty and sensitive underscore. Gregson-Williams even
throws in a few fully symphonic bursts of theme and chorus that will remind you of
Zimmer's modern classics, with the openings of "Explosion & Aftermath" and
"Operation Dinner Out" both exhibiting a deep male chorus over extremely simplistic
but satisfying orchestral harmony. The middle portion of the Decca Records album
for
Spy Game, from "Berlin" to "Parting Company," is a remarkable collection
of ethnic melodies and suspenseful orchestral underscore that ranks highly in
Gregson-Williams career and makes the album a solid purchase. The generous length
of that album is padded with two concluding tracks that are remixes of
Gregson-Williams' motifs for the score, and they seem somewhat unnecessary since
they really don't deviate much from the sound of the original recordings. A solid
mixing quality does, as usual, cause some of the bass region elements, real and
synthetic, to all sound synthetic, but the individual soloists are presented in
impressive clarity. Overall, as long as you recognize that
Spy Game contains
several cues of excessive electronic noise, you may be pleasantly surprised by the
harmonious diversity of the remainder of the work.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check: |
For Harry Gregson-Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.94
(in 35 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.99
(in 51,966 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.