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Written 1/4/12
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Buy it... if you adore the Hans Zimmer and Remote Control
methodology of handling contemporary thrillers so much that you feel the
need to pad that portion of your film music collection with another
faithful regurgitation of that sound.
Avoid it... if you expect Atli Örvarsson to distinguish himself
from his fellow Zimmer clones in this assignment whatsoever, his music
almost robotic in its rearrangement of tired, stereotypical ingredients
for this genre.
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| Örvarsson |
Vantage Point: (Atli Örvarsson) If there's one
personality trait of every American president that is a certainty but never
to be admitted, it's an ego that would prohibit them from allowing
a body double to speak in public for them. Missing that basic fact is
the 2008 thriller Vantage Point, which also failed badly with
critics for the fallacy that a disloyal member of the Secret Service's
presidential detail could plot against his employer unnoticed. Add to
these problems an extremely fractured plot that portrays the same
sequence of events through several different points of view and you have
an extremely implausible whole. The premise probably looked good on
paper, though, and promising acting performances from a veteran cast
sold the movie well enough to earn substantial grosses. The story told
from eight different perspectives begins with an assassination attempt
on the American president during a treaty conference in Spain. After his
shooting, a pair of explosions devastates the scene and leads to a
frantic chase across the city. The portrayals of the event are seen
through the media, the president himself, the Secret Service agents, an
American tourist, and a host of terrorists who intend all along to
kidnap the president rather than kill him. What potential upside
Vantage Point originally had was lost as the movie disintegrated
into a general chase and betrayal thriller in its final third, and
reflecting this generic turn for the worse is Atli Örvarsson's score.
The Icelandic composer had for years been one of the numerous assistants
at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control clone factory, and in the middle of the
2000's, he ascended far enough up the company's ranks to be awarded his
own scoring assignments on several occasions. None of these first half
dozen projects was consequential, however, and by the close of the
decade, he still had not managed to achieve the quick success that other
graduates of Zimmer's operations have enjoyed. For Vantage Point,
Zimmer served as a "consultant," which usually indicates that the
composer and his company was asked to handle the film and the duties got
shunted off to the underling for a variety of reasons that typically
relate to money, time, or interest. It should not be surprising to see
the normal collection of Zimmer and Remote Control associates handling
the various duties behind the scenes in this recording, nor should it be
expected that the music sound anything different from the stock modern
action and suspense crap that these artists pass off as exciting
blockbuster entertainment in this age.
It's always disappointing when one of these Zimmer
clones emerges in a major assignment and only safely regurgitates ideas
expressed by other associates in prior works. There is Harry
Gregson-Williams'
Spy Game and John Powell's
The Bourne
Identity (and sequels) written all over this score, with touches of
vintage Zimmer thrown in for good measure. Music like this gives
listeners absolutely no idea about what Örvarsson's actual personal
writing style sounds like. The ensemble is predictable for this
assignment. The orchestra assembled for
Vantage Point includes
only cello and bass string performers, dismissing all other elements in
favor of synthetic layers and occasional soloists. The electronics
consist of tired tones and manipulation from years past, many of the
samples and their applications standard to the point of total monotony.
Grating dissonant passages, stuttering synth blasts, and oppressive
atmospheric muck are all frequent contributors to the dull, lifeless
soundscape. When string ostinatos and their occasional smoother,
melodramatic interludes ominously strike all the right moves, you can't
help but be distracted by the Powell influence. The soloists would
usually comprise the highlights in this kind of environment, but their
usage is so stereotypical that there was clearly little intelligent
depth exercised when planning this music. A duduk moans away early on to
represent the location, and the standard Remote control acoustic guitar
presence handles the softer tourist perspective. A mournful solo voice
wafts through the background for the terrorists, aided by occasional
puffs on an exotic flute. A solo trumpet is largely buried, an
unfortunate diminishment of the American element. Most of these
performers come together in "Vantage Point End Title," which also
summarizes the same thematic material introduced in "Vantage Point Main
Title." One of the score's major weaknesses is its inability to really
develop Örvarsson's several motifs in the cue. The main theme of Trevor
Rabin simplicity has little to offer, but there are a couple of suspense
motifs in the opening cue that struggle to enunciate themselves well in
the mass of the underscore, the only notable exception being the
"Clockwork" cue. The "Epilogue" contains the most wholesome presentation
of the primary theme for the moderate string ensemble. As arranged out
of chronological order on the score-only album,
Vantage Point
does rotate through the instrumental identities for the different sets
of characters in the film up front, later degenerating as the chase
music confirms the score as one of purely derivative repackaging. The
score basically serves its purpose, but it does so with no real class or
originality.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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