I think it's the best film music I've heard in a long time. Harmonically rich and clearly compositionally much more advanced that most of the stuff today. Sometimes it sounds almost like classical music. Amazing score!
I haven't listened to the rest of the "Red Sparrow" score yet, but the Overture and End Titles are spectacular, James Newton Howard's very best work in many years. It's thrilling, beautiful and richly orchestrated music - if I didn't know what movie it was written for I'd have thought it was for a new Brian De Palma film. I have no idea what a film music fan would think is missing here.
It is quite subdued throughout most of the score. But thankfully we have some lush opening and ending titles.I kind of lost interest during the middle of the soundtrack but came back when I got towards the end. I will have to revisit it again to see if I still believe the same.
Excellent review Jon Broxton. My CD is arriving today and I'm very much looking forward to listening. This "middle section" business is not detracting from my excitement at all.
Listening to it more this morning, all I hear is a slightly more classical version of maleficent. It is not a bad score but certainly nothing that grabs me and says this is worth noticing in the same way as Austin Wintory's score for The rendezvous grabbed me. It is remarkable only in the sense that most music James Newton Howard did in the past five years was completely unremarkable and so this stands out.
in the film end titles I read the name of Esa-Pekka Salonen related to the main and end credits cues. It's curious cause those are the pieces where that herrmannesque sound is more prominent, more "classical" and "bombastic" did he write or arrange those 2 highlight cues?
So like The Hunger Games where the best stuff wasn't written by JNH at all?
Listening to it more this morning, all I hear is a slightly more classical version of maleficent. It is not a bad score but certainly nothing that grabs me and says this is worth noticing in the same way as Austin Wintory's score for The rendezvous grabbed me. It is remarkable only in the sense that most music James Newton Howard did in the past five years was completely unremarkable and so this stands out.
I can't say I care for what goes on in the score aside from the beginning and end as Broxton put it. I mean, I am sure it is servicable from a film point of view, but the music just doesn't do anything for me and I find it pretty boring. I don't agree that the score can be favourably compared to so such scores as The Village and Signs etc at all since I much, much more cared for their scores in their entirety than I do with this (even if they are far from perfect of course).
I can't say I care for what goes on in the score aside from the beginning and end as Broxton put it. I mean, I am sure it is servicable from a film point of view, but the music just doesn't do anything for me and I find it pretty boring. I don't agree that the score can be favourably compared to so such scores as The Village and Signs etc at all since I much, much more cared for their scores in their entirety than I do with this (even if they are far from perfect of course).
It's not up there with the two scores that you mentioned, however it is still a very good score.
Last evening I finally had the time to listen to this great score in it's entirety in one sitting. I found this score to be quite engaging and it fits the film so well. It goes without saying that the bookend pieces are tremendous and are 20 min of the entire score. It is not the entire score though- I love the subtle and quieter parts (soundscapesque), but I like Michael Clayton and Nightcrawler as well. I know I'm in the minority on those and Red Sparrow.
It is not the entire score though- I love the subtle and quieter parts (soundscapesque), but I like Michael Clayton and Nightcrawler as well. I know I'm in the minority on those and Red Sparrow.
I'm in the minority with you, I love Michael Clayton and Nightcrawler and the more subdued, atmospheric textural works by JNH.
