Taken: (Nathaniel Mechaly) The lesson to be learned
for studios about the thriller
Taken is that you can earn
hundreds of millions of dollars despite a derivative plot full of
senseless violence and obvious racism if you have a lead actor who can
deliver a single line so well that you can base your entire marketing
campaign around it. The 2008 continuation of the Pierre Morel/Luc Besson
directing, producing, and writing collaboration (released in America in
early 2009) stars Liam Neeson as a retired CIA operative whose daughter
is kidnapped while vacationing with another teenage friend in Paris.
During the abduction, the girl calls her father and gives him enough
information to launch an investigation and ruthless pursuit of the
criminals. Neeson's compelling performance of the line to the kidnapper
on the phone, "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill
you" (followed by a "Good Luck" from the Parisian end) was made into the
centerpiece of Fox's marketing campaign for
Taken. What those
teasers didn't make clear was that the film overall is tremendously
racist in its depiction of both Eastern Europeans and Arabs, a
characteristic not lost on critics who gave the film decidedly mixed
reviews. Needless to say, Neeson is shown brutally executing everyone in
his path, Besson's trademark carefree action style whipped into a
nonstop frenzy after half an hour of setup. The fact that these many
action sequences feature absolutely no unique inspiration may have
influenced the score for
Taken, an equally drab and predictable
contribution to the film. Unfortunately, it was an enormous opportunity
lost for French composer Nathaniel Mechaly; after spending the majority
of the 2000's toiling music for French television and short films,
Taken represented the major international break for the student
of Gabriel Yared. His better-known scores for cinema over the latter
half of the decade are represented by a dominating electronic and
percussive style, sometimes crossing over into the straight rock genre.
Undoubtedly,
Taken was a likely candidate to receive such
kick-ass synthetic attitude, especially if it could blend that sound
with the depth of either an orchestral ensemble or notable solos to
provide warmth for the lead characters. Mechaly seems to have tried to
accomplish this balance, but his execution of it is so poorly done and
lacking in energy and interesting constructs that he ends up achieving
none of these goals in this rather dull result.
A film that could have benefitted from a score with a
dynamic personality instead gets redundant table scraps from dozens of
other, far more engaging thriller soundtracks. What's odd about
Mechaly's take on
Taken is just how lifeless and procedural the
music turned out to be. The foundation of the score seems fine, with
each scene treated to a tone appropriate emotionally, but how Mechaly
assigns his motifs and instruments is so lackluster that he can't help
but detract from an otherwise truly edgy script. All of the
aforementioned elements are present: an array of synthetic samples and
manipulation, interludes of pounding rock band sounds, a limited
orchestral ensemble, and solos for attachment that include piano and
acoustic guitar. They alternate depending upon circumstance, never
layered to intelligently represent the combination of fatherly love and
cold-blooded assassinations. A cue with obnoxious synthetic loops and
insufferable manipulation of the mix (it's a tragedy that up and coming
composers still think that such techniques are "cool"), like "Escape
From St. Clair," can be followed by "Hotel Camelia," a straight-forward
orchestral cue led by elegant piano with no distortion applied in
post-production. Alone, these disparate forces are completely generic,
yielding nothing worth remembering after the score has concluded.
Thematically, Mechaly suggests some ideas in the first three cues
("Permission to Go to Paris" and "To the Airport" establish minimal
warmth) and continues to explore them in two or three later cues of
softer intent. None of these motifs, unfortunately, is performed with
enough enunciation to be recalled because of their progressions rather
than simply the instrumentation. The chase cues are a sadly derivative
remnant of perhaps a John Powell temp track, but without the same
consistent flow of energy. The narrative of the score is disappointing,
ending without any sense of climax or resolution. The mix of the
recording for
Taken is questionable in parts, even aside from the
annoying tone of some of the sound effects (like the tearing metal and
crying seagulls in "The Auction"). Gain levels are pushed to the max at
times, seemingly intentionally causing distortion (most notably at the
end of "96 Hours"). The album includes three songs that are far more
interesting that Mechaly's original score, which only runs a little over
half an hour by itself. Handling films like this with primarily textural
shades is fine, but those textures better be damn good. The ones here
aren't, and let's hope that the sequel scheduled by Fox for
Taken
inspires its composer to aggressively enhance the film rather than
cautiously keep out of its way.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
