Clash of the Titans
Ramin Djawadi
" Filmmusic's head on a plate "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Everything today gets remade, receives spin offs or gets a sequel, so it wasn't a surprise to discover that someone, someday would recreate this fantasy epic. And if we merely look at the potential of today's special effects, I had to agree that Clash of the Titans deserved one. Because despite the wonderful charismatic feel of stop motion technique, Clash of the Titans looks incredibly cheap if you compare it with Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back of the same time.
Of course getting the look right is one thing, getting the music up to par is something else. It all comes down to the composer in charge. Back then Laurence Rosenthal delivered a typical golden age score, today we receive another stab in the back. Today music doesn't need to surprise us anymore, nor blow us away. Today it needs to serve the film, even if it means throwing away an epic film music sound in the process. Hence the reason Clash of the Titans is another failed attempt from one of today's generation of composers.
The composer we're talking about is Ramin Djawadi, who made already enough enemies once he made Iron Man effective yet typical in both context as sound. The problem however is that a project like Clash of the Titans is the best possible way to give us something atypical. Meaning large, bombastic, stirring, yes even EPIC. And that is hardly a difficult task if one grew up with the masters of filmmusic. Sadly, either Djawadi, the director or the producers felt it needed something else. Techno for instance. God how we love the fact even in ancient Greece techno music can make the Kraken crumble.
I don't want to talk about the song that opens the score, because "The Storm That Brought You to Me" must be a joke of the gods anyway. Luckily "There is a God in You" begins a bit more interesting. Using the suspenseful cello sound of the trailer, it somehow delivers us a theme I can live with, even though it never gets to the point it actually becomes epic. But by then you've realized this is not going to be the epic orchestral winner of the day. No, you'll get the sound Djawadi has learned to deliver.
In "Perseus" the element of temp track is starting to wander through, and not surprisingly it's the sound of the Kraken of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. A dramatic choral anthem that works quite nicely is the other element you need to remember of it. Yet sadly after all that effective if expected music, we are treated to music that is too less for a motion picture story like Clash of the Titans.
"You Can't Hide from Hades" is dark and uninteresting, "Djinn" delivers suspenseful percussion while "Eyes Down" dares to throw good elements (the main theme) through a Bourne inspired action track of frantic pace. The music between tracks 16 and 19 even fail to deliver something noteworthy.
There are more interesting cues to speak for however. In "Medusa" a sad song is heard using solo vocal and violin, in "Scorpiox" the sound of the trailer now forms the basis for the Kraken's rhythm and building suspense, the mentioning of the theme does even make it the most pleasurable track of the disc. The track "You Were Saved for a Reason" shows some emotion through the stirring emotional dramatic theme and "Release the Kraken" brings the best and worst of both worlds, meaning it shows us some nice main theme statements formed on the Kraken's rhythmic pattern (which is old news by now).
The problem is that the more you hear the music working effectively, the more you start lingering to what could have been. I know today some people ask what kind of tone they need with their music and that the composer has very little to say in that matter, especially if you're not one of the top composers in the business. Here the saying was obvious: recreate POTC (mostly Jack Sparrow's sound) and make it memorable. And despite the lovely main theme version on spicy cello in "You Fall, You Die", you get exactly that.
But the major problem of this score is the lack of interesting music after a while, the typical weary action sound that is apparently so custom for whatever genre they're supposed to appear in and the absolutely dreadful "Be My Weapon". If action music has come down to continues rhythmic techno music, then the hell with filmmusic. The unsatisfying end of "It's Almost Human of You" delivers nothing more than a restatement of the dramatic theme with the Kraken's sound.
If one would compare Clash of the Titans with the other blockbuster of the summer Robin Hood, then it is safe to say that Djawadi's score sounds a lot more interesting and richer. The problem is that Jack Sparrow's sound keep crawling through the music, that non epic filmmusic keeps filling today's blockbuster scores, and that apparently Greeks were fond of techno music. I'm disgusted about the mere fact it has come down to this. I'm therefore glad several composers still dare to deliver us something memorable. Or is it really all because producers don't want to have fresh music anymore? First the ideas for a film, now the music. What's next? CDR pressed soundtracks for purchasing?
Tracklisting
1. The Storm That Brought You to Me: Tina Dico * (4.50)
2. There is a God in You (1.39)
3. Perseus (6.34)
4. You Can't Hide from Hades (3.31)
5. Medusa (4.07)
6. Scorpiox (3.24)
7. Argos (1.54)
8. You Fall, You Die (1.14)
9. Written in the Stars (2.55)
10. Pegasus (2.22)
11. Bring Everything (But the Owl) (1.48)
12. Killed by a God (1.51)
13. Djinn (1.56)
14. Eyes Down (4.20)
15. You Were Saved for a Reason (1.20)
16. Redemption Through Blood (2.15)
17. I Have Everything I Need (3.16)
18. King Acrisius (2.27)
19. It's Expensive Where you are Going (2.50)
20. Be My Weapon (10.09)
21. The Best of Both (1.30)
22. Release the Kraken ** (6.03)
23. It's Almost Human of You (3.16)
* composed by Neil Davidge
** composed by Geoff Zanelli
Total Length: 75.18
Of course getting the look right is one thing, getting the music up to par is something else. It all comes down to the composer in charge. Back then Laurence Rosenthal delivered a typical golden age score, today we receive another stab in the back. Today music doesn't need to surprise us anymore, nor blow us away. Today it needs to serve the film, even if it means throwing away an epic film music sound in the process. Hence the reason Clash of the Titans is another failed attempt from one of today's generation of composers.
The composer we're talking about is Ramin Djawadi, who made already enough enemies once he made Iron Man effective yet typical in both context as sound. The problem however is that a project like Clash of the Titans is the best possible way to give us something atypical. Meaning large, bombastic, stirring, yes even EPIC. And that is hardly a difficult task if one grew up with the masters of filmmusic. Sadly, either Djawadi, the director or the producers felt it needed something else. Techno for instance. God how we love the fact even in ancient Greece techno music can make the Kraken crumble.
I don't want to talk about the song that opens the score, because "The Storm That Brought You to Me" must be a joke of the gods anyway. Luckily "There is a God in You" begins a bit more interesting. Using the suspenseful cello sound of the trailer, it somehow delivers us a theme I can live with, even though it never gets to the point it actually becomes epic. But by then you've realized this is not going to be the epic orchestral winner of the day. No, you'll get the sound Djawadi has learned to deliver.
In "Perseus" the element of temp track is starting to wander through, and not surprisingly it's the sound of the Kraken of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. A dramatic choral anthem that works quite nicely is the other element you need to remember of it. Yet sadly after all that effective if expected music, we are treated to music that is too less for a motion picture story like Clash of the Titans.
"You Can't Hide from Hades" is dark and uninteresting, "Djinn" delivers suspenseful percussion while "Eyes Down" dares to throw good elements (the main theme) through a Bourne inspired action track of frantic pace. The music between tracks 16 and 19 even fail to deliver something noteworthy.
There are more interesting cues to speak for however. In "Medusa" a sad song is heard using solo vocal and violin, in "Scorpiox" the sound of the trailer now forms the basis for the Kraken's rhythm and building suspense, the mentioning of the theme does even make it the most pleasurable track of the disc. The track "You Were Saved for a Reason" shows some emotion through the stirring emotional dramatic theme and "Release the Kraken" brings the best and worst of both worlds, meaning it shows us some nice main theme statements formed on the Kraken's rhythmic pattern (which is old news by now).
The problem is that the more you hear the music working effectively, the more you start lingering to what could have been. I know today some people ask what kind of tone they need with their music and that the composer has very little to say in that matter, especially if you're not one of the top composers in the business. Here the saying was obvious: recreate POTC (mostly Jack Sparrow's sound) and make it memorable. And despite the lovely main theme version on spicy cello in "You Fall, You Die", you get exactly that.
But the major problem of this score is the lack of interesting music after a while, the typical weary action sound that is apparently so custom for whatever genre they're supposed to appear in and the absolutely dreadful "Be My Weapon". If action music has come down to continues rhythmic techno music, then the hell with filmmusic. The unsatisfying end of "It's Almost Human of You" delivers nothing more than a restatement of the dramatic theme with the Kraken's sound.
If one would compare Clash of the Titans with the other blockbuster of the summer Robin Hood, then it is safe to say that Djawadi's score sounds a lot more interesting and richer. The problem is that Jack Sparrow's sound keep crawling through the music, that non epic filmmusic keeps filling today's blockbuster scores, and that apparently Greeks were fond of techno music. I'm disgusted about the mere fact it has come down to this. I'm therefore glad several composers still dare to deliver us something memorable. Or is it really all because producers don't want to have fresh music anymore? First the ideas for a film, now the music. What's next? CDR pressed soundtracks for purchasing?
Tracklisting
1. The Storm That Brought You to Me: Tina Dico * (4.50)
2. There is a God in You (1.39)
3. Perseus (6.34)
4. You Can't Hide from Hades (3.31)
5. Medusa (4.07)
6. Scorpiox (3.24)
7. Argos (1.54)
8. You Fall, You Die (1.14)
9. Written in the Stars (2.55)
10. Pegasus (2.22)
11. Bring Everything (But the Owl) (1.48)
12. Killed by a God (1.51)
13. Djinn (1.56)
14. Eyes Down (4.20)
15. You Were Saved for a Reason (1.20)
16. Redemption Through Blood (2.15)
17. I Have Everything I Need (3.16)
18. King Acrisius (2.27)
19. It's Expensive Where you are Going (2.50)
20. Be My Weapon (10.09)
21. The Best of Both (1.30)
22. Release the Kraken ** (6.03)
23. It's Almost Human of You (3.16)
* composed by Neil Davidge
** composed by Geoff Zanelli
Total Length: 75.18