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If
Battle: Los Angeles
was the first Brian Tyler score you've ever listened to, than you'll likely
be blown away by it. However, if you're already familiar with the composer's
work as a regular customer, so to speak, than you will find this album to
tread on ground that is all too familiar with what we've already heard from
him. This album is a disappointment for me.
For the past
couple of years, there has been some positive buzz about the prospects about
a Battle: LA score. While the film is
anything but original in its premise, one would have hoped that this outing
would have set up Brian with an opportunity to dabble on the grounds of
greatness as with his Children of Dune
soundtrack. Instead, there seemed to be few creative inspirations along
those lines within the context of this score.
One can
liken it to a greatest hits album of sorts, where Brian played to his
strengths in a fairly conservative manner, limiting the scope of the
thematic material to rely more on an energy than by memorable motifs. In
fact, the only thematic identifier that worked for me is the heighted use of
military percussion, first heard in track 2, which is a simple and engaging
touch that helped brand this score. Other than that, it seems as though the
bulk of this album is best compared to the action music from the latter cues
of Eagle Eye, a pattern which I'm sure
was guided forth by the director and producers.
And on the
topic of producers - many excuses have been made of late that composers are
boxed in to deliver precisely what the powers that be ask for and nothing
else. While this limitation is probably universal to varying degrees, I
maintain that there is some wiggle room within these constraints for a
composer to lend his or her personal voice to the proceedings, especially
when you're dealing with a known talent who can be considered a veteran of
the craft. In Battle: LA, it felt to
me like this score was guided forward like a missile with little deviation
from it course. Does that mean that the temp track won? Perhaps. But I also
hoped that Brian could have blended in a bit more originality into the final
output.
The
Battle: LA soundtrack was perhaps also doomed
by my expectations. Had I ventured into this score with moderate hopes, than
I probably would have walked away feeling a bit more satisfied with what I
heard. Instead, and compared to what I was hoping for, the basic nature of
its themes fell flat, the energy of the music tired me, and the lack of
originality was disappointing. The album also runs far too long, which is a
recurring issue with some of Brian's other scores as well.
I suppose
one key question that comes to mind is about the nature of this type of film
itself and how it releates to what music we hear. For instance, has the
repetitious nature of remakes, reboots, and dull storylines finally bled its
way into the scoring process in full? Given the vast number of "safe" scores
we've heard in recent times, it sure sounds like we're headed in that
direction. |
