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I, like many of
you, eagerly awaited the return of
John Williams to the
scoring scene. Unfortunately, I am not as smitten with War Horse
as many of you are (likewise, with Tintin).
For
War Horse, John does his best Ralph Vaughan
Williams by paying homage to the vistas of the land. Not being a fan of
landscape scores myself, the pastoral connection didn't work for me so much;
it felt too "scenic.". Thus, I was unable to gain a vested interested in
this type of approach as one would be best served reading poetry while
listening to this. As someone who looks for creative inspiration out of my
Williams' scores, it was too passive for my tastes. And perhaps a bit too
predictable.
When
it comes to the emotional connection, Williams doesn't lay it on so thick in
this regard either, and I kind of wish he had. Unlike other fans who were
unequivocally won over by this album, I really wanted the over-the-top
melodic statements that I grew up on, unabashed and full of life. Instead,
the great maestro plays it in a sophisticated manner, offering thematic
development that doesn't infringe or impede the air of the film.
When
it comes to the action material, there's not much to dive into, honestly.
While there are certainly notes that prognosticate ominous situations, I
didn't get any real sense of adventure in general. This again, is a
disappointment. Given the sweeping arc of the film's story, I had hoped for
a bit more boldness from the score. While granted, I can't predict at this
time just what measures director Steve Spielberg had called for from
Williams, there surely could have been room for some of the trademark cues
that's been void from our musical world the past few years. Naysayers will
tell me this tale is more of a personal journey and one of bonding, to which
I will agree. However, given the right spots for the adrenaline to flourish,
I just think there could have been a bit more gusto.
No doubt,
the masterful sophistication from Williams is still there with War
Horse, it's more the emotional impact that
let me down. I suppose at his age, Williams has exceeded the world of mortal
composers and has ascended to cerebral plateaus that fails to connect with
me. In English, that means he might have reached such a complex level of
writing that the magic of simplicity has departed and left me behind. At the
end of the day, this score simply sounded more like a classical music album
than it did a film soundtrack.
In the end,
Spielberg was thrilled with the output, Williams fans are glowing, and the
film itself will probably be a holiday smash. For me, I'm left on the
outside looking in, wondering if perhaps future journeys with the War
Horse score will somehow evoke a better
appreciation from me. As it stands now, it rubbed me with a "B-minus" type
of experience. I firmly recognize the mastery, but I just couldn't connect
with it. |
