by Ryan Keaveney

Music Composed by Alan Silvestri
Rating: ** 1/2

It’s difficult to determine who the hell the epic mo-cap animated Beowulf was made for. Aging, expanding adult gamers lost in a fantasy world where Angelina Jolie’s digital dopelganger sports a tale and stiletto heels? Hyperactive ankle-biters bored by the Ice Age films? Apparently neither of these groups, as they stayed home, and Beowulf unspooled in front of empty seats during it’s mercifully brief theatrical run. The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis’ first photorealistic feature-length horror-fest (those dead eyes!), featured a memorably vibrant, large-scale Alan Silvestri score, whereas the composers music for Beowulf treads some frustratingly familiar ground. Known more recently for his ever escalating voluminous scores for The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing (of which this latest shares most similarities), Silvestri’s Beowulf attempts to out-thump these two soundtracks with sheer thundering intensity — brought to life by an insanely large orchestra and chorus ensemble, liberally mixed with max’ed out electronic percussion — however despite all this teeth-grinding, sweat-inducing effort, the album plays a little been-there-done that. This is film music designed with the simple purose of make the film louder, and the images larger. Like the characters on screen, I wish there was something behind those eyes.

What is most striking about Beowulf is the main motif – a towering brass line over-top relentless pounding percussion and chanting chorus (“What We Need Is A Hero”). Sound familiar? I could describe Van Helsing the same way. The whole thing (“Beowulf Main Title”, “What We Need Is A Hero”) is given a rock n’ roll swagger with some light e-guitar fuzz (appropriate for the box office, but perhaps not the period). I can’t help but wonder if this is what Silvestri’s Pirates of The Caribbean might have sounded like, had he not been jettisoned from the project by producer Jerry Bruckheimer (and add this to the growing list of soundtrack reviews which mention that unsavory Silvestri factoid).

Alan Silvestri

Rythmically Silvestri manages to stir some interest, particularly in the opening of “I Did Not Win The Race”, if only because the entire cue reminds of Van Helsing. Otherwise the action scoring is typically Type-A super-sized Silvestri, for example: “Second Grendel Attack” and “Beowulf Slays The Beast”, both of which make his score for Judge Dredd sound like shoe-gazing indie rock (no small feat). “I Am Beowulf”, “He Has A Story To Tell”, and “Full Of Fine Promises” feature some suitably epic choral writing, while “The Seduction” (and reprised in “The Final Seduction”) turns the volume way down and the mystery way up. Here Silvestri writes kinky string parts mingled with reverberated harp, celeste and light choir. It’s a rare moment of respite and is the first time that this score sounds like its own animal.

If it sounds like I’m giving Alan Silvestri a beat down over this score I’m really not. This is the sort of frustratingly familiar film music that has me running in the other direction from the soundtrack genre as a whole. Sometimes you’ll hear something from a composer that will remind you of a previous effort, but the familiar strains are welcome. In this case I’ve heard too little from Alan Silvestri in the past few years to want to sit through Van Helsing again.

While he has never achieved the mainstream success of his ’80s peers like Danny Elfman, James Horner or Hans Zimmer, he has always consistently crafted memorable scores for big-budget fare — often eclipsing the projects quality (even his music for the Sigfried & Roy magic spectacle is a better showcase for his formidable talents than Beowulf). If “loud” is your number one criteria when selecting a score, then Beowulf will satisfy your simple pleasure. Otherwise, check out those Silvestri classics — The Abyss, Judge Dredd and The Mummy Returns — to remind yourself that everyone has their off day/score.

Music Composed and Conducted by Alan Silvestri; Orchestrated by John Ashton-Thomas and Alan Silvestri; Recorded and Mixed by Dennis Sands; Score Produced by Alan Silvestri; Label: Warner Bros. Records, (372924-2); Availability: In-print; U.S. Release Date: November 20, 2007.

01. Beowulf Main Title (:54)
02. First Grendel Attack (1:50)
03. Gently As She Goes (1:36)
Performed by Robin Wright-Penn
04. What We Need Is A Hero (1:40)
05. I’m Here To Kill Your Monster (1:47)
06. I Did Not Win The Race (2:16)
07. A Hero Comes Home (1:08)
Performed by Robin Wright-Penn
08. Second Grendel Attack (4:02)
09. I Am Beowulf (4:32)
10. The Seduction (4:03)
11. King Beowulf (1:44)
12. He Has A Story To Tell (2:42)
13. Full Of Fine Promises (1:11)
14. Beowulf Slays The Beast (6:01)
15. He Was The Best Of Us (5:23)
16. The Final Seduction (2:25)
17. A Hero Comes Home (End Credits Version) (3:13)
Performed by Idina Menzel

Total Playing Time: 46:27