150 Orchestra Players Heisted!
Jerry Bruckheimer and Nicolas Cage are at it again, literally going for the gold as all-out, full cylinder action fuses US historical factoids with "Too Fast Too Furious Da Vinci Code Indiana Jones Gone in 60 Seconds" excitement. Often buried (somewhere with the film's supposed treasure?) is Trevor Rabin's throttled score. The National Treasure soundtrack CD (Disney Records) removes the noisy shrapnel of the movie's explosions and other over-the-top sound effects and offers us a chance to discover Rabin's score without having to steal the Declaration of Independence. It should be so easy! As people are naturally drawn to the gravity of loud gatherings, authorities soon push through, inviting loiters to "go on home, nothing to see here... nothing to see." Similarly, there's nothing we've not heard before in Rabin's latest thrashing of loudness. The music keeps the movie constantly moving - Bruckheimer has it no other way - in a mind-numbing synthesis of techno madness, hard rock, orchestral samplings and walls of electronic "stuff." The score's calmer moments employ K-PAX-inspired tinkerings and swelling Hans Zimmer-esque strings... but for the most part the menu is fist-pumping, occasional punk-moshing, action. When not uniquely Rabin's work, the score sounds like many heist films of the 00s (Bourne Identity, The Italian Job), but not quite as coherent. Fascinating, though, is Rabin's command of computer software. With the right tools and craftsmanship, the composer (scrapbook expert?) cuts and pastes a massive, manic sound of digitized horn blats and string notes in a way that no mere mortal could possibly perform these instruments like this. Most would call this a techno rock score CD as a result, although some 150 orchestra players are credited in the liner notes. What? When? Who? Where? Oh, yeah... right. Rock on! The new kind of of adventure score.
PK (11/18/2004)see all reviews, or add a review
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