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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Timeline (Jerry Goldsmith/Brian Tyler)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the rare Jerry Goldsmith album if you consider
yourself any collector of his works whatsoever, and on the Brian Tyler
album if you seek an extension of the propulsive action material you
heard in his music for Children of Dune.
Avoid it... if you're hoping to hear a Goldsmith score that isn't highly derivative of his previous works or, alternately, if you're hoping to hear a Tyler score that isn't as simplistic and tedious as you found Children of Dune.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Timeline: (Jerry Goldsmith/Brian Tyler) Director
Richard Donner's films have included a plethora of sequel-inspiring
ideas, from Superman: The Movie and The Omen to Lethal
Weapon. The Michael Crichton-written Timeline was not
destined to be one of them. It's rare that films with such promise are
so overwhelmingly terrible, devoid of practically any redeeming
characteristic whatsoever. The time travel concept in Timeline
involves a secretive multinational corporation that has invented a
method of reverse time exploration, and the characters who test the new
technology end up fighting for their lives in the 14th Century when
things, naturally, go wrong. The movie was a nifty excuse to place
tomorrow's technology in the setting of knight and castle warfare,
though its employment of an absolutely inept ensemble cast (with no
stars) was often blamed for muting any interest the concept may have
had. Paramount knew they had serious problems with Timeline even
before test audiences confirmed their fears, and the project was delayed
several times so that Donner could rearrange the narrative into a form
that wouldn't put audiences to sleep. Both Donner and Crichton projects
had been accompanied by the music of veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith
over the previous twenty-five years, from Coma to Goldsmith's
lone Academy Award winner, The Omen. The composer's involvement
with Timeline stretched for a frustrating seven months, starting
after the conclusion of work on Star Trek: Nemesis and continuing
until his involvement in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, another
film plagued by post production problems. Goldsmith was forced to record
music for Timeline in both December of 2002 and March of 2003,
with some reports indicating that a certain amount of re-scoring took
place in the interim. After the composer submitted his finished work for
Donner, Paramount and the film's producers realized that the movie
needed even more extensive work to salvage it. As Donner rearranged the
film once again, Goldsmith was given the opportunity to essentially
write yet another score for Timeline. Understandably, he
considered his job finished and walked away.
Such circumstances aren't rare in Hollywood. Goldsmith had both excused himself and been fired from projects before. But Timeline was different because of the composer's advancing age and declining health. The project consumed the majority of the composer's last two years of productivity and is therefore remembered with a fair amount of irritation by his collectors. Knowing that his production of music was slowing by 2003, those fans immediately bootlegged Goldsmith's score, circulating 74 minutes of recording session material in 39 short tracks on CD. The composer, who often conveyed an opinion that too much of his music was released on album, specifically approached Varèse Sarabande producer Robert Townson and asked him to shepherd through an official release of Timeline. That release came not long after the composer's death, available as a specialty product sold through the label's site in September of 2004 before eventually experiencing a limited commercial distribution at the end of that year. The hybrid SACD pressing was treated like one of Varèse's Club titles, and it did eventually go completely out of print. The Varèse presentation edited the score's short cues into a more coherent 48-minute album, missing only a couple of notable recordings from the sessions and offering stunning sound quality. A few of the cues did end up mislabeled in the production of the Varèse album, though for the most part, almost everyone was happy with their offering. When discussing the merits of Goldsmith's work for Timeline, it's difficult to separate this score from the real life timeline of Goldsmith's death. The Varèse album was the last "new" Goldsmith score ever to be released, and it therefore holds some sentimental value. Objectively speaking, Timeline isn't among the composer's very best action scores of the Digital Age, as some have claimed it to be, but it is indeed a solid work. Both this score and Looney Tunes together bid competent farewells to nearly the full range of Goldsmith's talents, and almost any collector of the composer will find material in these works with which to be satisfied. If you're hoping for a classic in the case of Timeline (based on all the hype it originally generated), then you may be disappointed. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ultimately unused score for Timeline is its homage to the style of Goldsmith's early 1980's action writing. Both the motifs and their instrumentation remind mostly of works from this era, raising the tone of the composer's most straight forward, ballsy adventure music. The balance between orchestra and synthesizers is heavily weighted towards the organic, with none of the composer's rambling electronic rhythms assisting major material in Timeline. There are synthetic horn-like sounds that remind of the wobbling effects in Legend, however, and these sometimes carry the score's primary action motif. While it may not be particularly fluid or original, that motif does lend a strongly cohesive element to the score. Beginning with a consistent rising three note figure and then alternating between complimentary supplements, this idea has its genesis in The Wind and the Lion, though it will most likely, in its somewhat harsh synthetic and brass renderings, remind listeners of Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. Heard first on the Varèse album in the latter half of "No Pain," this idea may initially seem too derivative for some Goldsmith collectors to appreciate in this context, but its employment is so thoroughly integrated into the entirety of the score that it is, at the very least, a functional tool to signify the action of the period. The composer's slight alterations to the motif after the opening three notes, as well as the vast difference in the tone of its performances throughout the score, assist in keeping it fresh. More appealing is Goldsmith's love theme for Timeline, a harmonically pleasing idea that merges progressions from Rudy and Star Trek: Insurrection and, in its bombastic, full ensemble applications, it begins to resemble First Knight. Heard on delicate piano and flute in the middle of "Move On," this idea highlights score's arguably most attractive duo of "Be Careful" (mislabeled by Varèse as "Setting Up") and "Light the Arrows." There are, as to be expected, techniques from Goldsmith's substandard action works of the 1990's heard here, but heightened intensity compensates. The piano and bass string arpeggio in "Light the Arrows" and "Prepare For Battle" builds a kind of tremendous momentum not often heard in such underachieving scores. On the whole, Goldsmith's score is distinctly derived from his established styles from several eras of his career. As such, it's a satisfying listening experience in its consistency. But its somewhat tired action motif and understatement of the love theme restrain its effectiveness. It is a score that allures you with its almost perpetually roaring character rather than any truly magnificent highlights. It summarizes Goldsmith's career action sound without adding anything really unique to the equation, and in these regards, the lack of a more enhanced role for the composer's synthetic elements is a disappointment. It is also a score that any veteran Goldsmith collector should have on the shelves, but it appeals as a piece of nostalgia more than the highly entertaining form of action that Goldsmith's classics had become. Listeners also have to reconcile with the fact that the replacement score for Timeline is strong competition. Upon Goldsmith's departure, Donner then turned to Brian Tyler, a young composer for whom 2003 had been an outstanding year of discovery. His work for Paramount's The Hunted landed him this job, but in addition to his collection of thriller scores for lesser-known projects, Tyler hit the jackpot in 2003 with his best-selling score for the television science fiction series Children of Dune. With a fresh new sound of bombast, Tyler creatively wove a multitude of large thematic ideas into one explosive result for Children of Dune, and film music collectors who discovered the young composer with that score were likely be enthused by the same kind of output for Timeline. Along with all of the romantic elements of battle and passion available to him, Tyler was able to whip up a frenzy of ripping action material and a few electronic accents for the technological aspects of the story. Ironically, the finished result sounds remarkably similar in style to the basic foundation of Goldsmith's effort. There is tragedy, perhaps, in the fact that most average, mainstream movie-goers won't notice any difference between the two scores when heard in the context of the film. It's almost unfortunate that Tyler didn't interpolate Goldsmith's material in the same way that John Debney would extend the veteran's work in Looney Tunes, because there's a certain amount of futility in the reinvention heard in Tyler's music. Outside of subtle electronic rhythmic devices in "Enter the Wormhole" and "Transcription Errors," the technological elements of the present locale of the story, as with Goldsmith, are largely underplayed. For the destination, Tyler follows Goldsmith again by avoiding the path that a composer experienced with the Middle Ages might have explored (like Basil Poledouris and his primitive rhythms and percussion), instead tackling the six hundred year gap by forcefully applying basic action material to the setting. In this environment of epic battle, Tyler succeeds in generating almost as much power as Goldsmith had. If you recall the more propulsive sections of Children of Dune, carried by lengthy sequences of snare ripping, timpani pounding, and harmonic blasts of the brass, then you may be able to appreciate an extension of that sound for Timeline. Tyler once again offers several themes, with three developed well and a fourth obscured within the layered depths of the considerable action material. A theme for determination, best capturing the adventuresome spirit of the journey, marks the cues "Battalion" and "Enter the Wormhole." A more awe-inspiring idea is offered for the grand vistas of battle, announced by heavy snare drums and an electronic choir in "Galvanize the Troops" and "Night Arrows." A tender love theme (superior to Goldsmith's, really) is provided by the strings and woodwinds in "Lady Claire and Marek" and "Eternal." The less cohesive theme, heard in the main titles, is perhaps muddled by its own enthusiastic performances, which is less of a complaint than a comment about the frantic level of activity in the score. Singular motifs, such as the announcement of the arrival of battle in "Night Arrows" that does its best interpretation of a James Horner score from the 1980's, are spaced throughout the work as well. Tyler's hyperactive music is interesting at the very least, though its major detriment comes with the employment of violins to produce a high dissonant effect that tarnishes several cues. Another drawback is the lack of consistent employment of the themes; at best, you'll hear each one fully only twice in the score. On album, Tyler's music doesn't come across as the most sophisticated of action scores, but it didn't have to be, and it put a flourishing end on an already impressive year for him. Ultimately, Goldsmith wins on consistency, but Tyler wins on singular highlights. Neither deserved this wretched film.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Tyler Album:
Total Time: 45:39
Goldsmith Album: Total Time: 47:59
* tracks 9 through 11 are mislabelled; the title "Setting Up" should
move up two places, shifting the other two titles down.
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the Tyler album includes a list of performers and photos of
Tyler and Donner from the recording sessions. The insert of the Goldsmith album
includes a list of performers and a note from producer Robert Townson about
the circumstances of the score and its rejection. Strangely, contradictory to
Varèse practices, there is no picture of Goldsmith on that packaging. The
entirety of Townson's note, along with a preceding paragraph about the release (for
the press), is as follows:
Jerry GoldsmithÕs Timeline is an exceptional work. It's grand in concept, detailed in execution, melodically and rhythmically inspired, exquisitely beautiful and exhilarating. Poised to be another epic merging of the virtuoso words of Michael Crichton and the music of Jerry Goldsmith, the film Timeline was also to bring about a rather historic reunion... that between Goldsmith and director Richard Donner. The two hadn't worked together since The Omen in 1976, the score which earned its composer an Academy Award. Goldsmith began work on Timeline shortly after completing Star Trek: Nemesis for director Stuart Baird (Donner's frequent editor and another veteran of The Omen), in August of 2002. All told, Goldsmith invested some seven months in the project, with recording sessions separated into two main blocks. Three days of recording took place on December 16 - 18, 2002, with more sessions from March 5 - 8, 2003. From these recording sessions emerged an invigorating symphonic work that was embraced by the filmmakers, as cue after cue met with ovations and praise. When, a short time after the score had been completed, news broke that the film was going to be rescored, it was one of the most unexpected and perplexing developments in recent times. Despite the film's pedigree, however, what had resulted was, in industry lingo, a troubled picture. Faring poorly in test screenings, the film's April release date was aborted and the entire postproduction process, including editing and scoring, was reopened. The film was to receive a rather extreme makeover, even going so far as to excise the opening sequence (the scene which originally accompanied the cue "The Dig"). Having already devoted many months to the producers and delivering a score of might and brawn, Goldsmith viewed any further investitures as futile. Composer Brian Tyler's score for Paramount Pictures' The Hunted (directed by William Friedkin) proved to be the key resume entry that landed him the daunting task of composing a replacement score. But despite all the rethinking and second-guessing, the production's efforts were for naught as the film still failed to either draw the public or satiate the critics. Goldsmith's score, under these circumstances, seemed destined to be lost to the dark purgatory of unused and rejected film scores. Despite Donner's acknowledgment that Goldsmith's score was "phenomenal," "magnificent" and "extraordinary," it was, nevertheless, a score without a film. But Jerry Goldsmith has always done far more than simply score films (not that there is anything simple about that!), Jerry Goldsmith is an artist. He always has been. And the music he writes is lasting, memorable, moving and important. So, ensuring that this particular score, despite the fate it met in the film, can find its way into the hands and collections of his most devoted fans, Varèse Sarabande is proud to offer this special SACD presentation of Jerry Goldsmith's medieval symphonic adventure."
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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 Timeline are Copyright © 2003, Varèse Sarabande (Tyler Album), Varèse Sarabande (Goldsmith Album) and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/6/03 and last updated 3/7/09. |
