The Tourist
James Newton Howard
" After the action theatrics with Angelina on Salt, James is doing a little sightseeing instead "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
A romantic thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, The Tourist is a remake of the 2005 French film Anthony Zimmer. It stirred up some controversy when the movie received 3 Golden Globe nominations for best motion picture, actor as actress, despite being unsuccessful with both audiences and critics alike. The box office results don't favour the nominations either, making a lackluster impression in the first couple of weeks. And for score audiences, a small controversy was noted earlier ago, once composer Gabriel Yared was replaced by James Newton Howard. Luckily the nice men of Varèse Sarabande offered the listeners a taste of both composers. Three minutes of Yared and 61 minutes of James Newton Howard's music.
Replacement scores normally mean that the original score wasn't the kind of music the producers or director wanted. Considering Gabriel Yared and James Newton Howard have been through this kind of replacement before, The Tourist promised you something already from the start. What the whole album offers us is a combination of the romance that blossoms for Johnny Depp's character and the suspense that triggers the life of Angelina Jolie. Her taste opens "Tracking Elise" and "Burned Letter" while his side romanticizes the first part of "Paranoid Math Teacher". The suspenseful chase music is not that exciting (light snippets of Salt do come to mind from time to time), but the romantic aspect does deliver something interesting.
"Paranoid Math Teacher" opens lovely with a tender love theme (with additional accordion), but it's the memorable version in "Elise Offers a Ride" that will win you over for sure. Absolutely lovely and romantic, it is the string, piano and accordion version that sells this track in under two minutes. Other warm-hearted performances of this particular love theme are heard in "Bedroom Dreams", "A Very Nice Hotel" and "Elise & Alexander". It must be said that various other romantic themes pop up in my head once listening to this particular theme. The Holiday is the most notable one, others like Life in Beautiful do that too (this due to the strings at the end).
That doesn't mean everything's romance and sunshine in The Tourist. "Arrival at Venice" does tend to sneak to the suspenseful undercover situation of Elise (definitely some Salt deja vu's here), the playful sneakiness that dances in "Rooftop Run" is noticeable, while the same can be said about the action packed "Chase Through the Canals" that does try to bring back that heavy Salt feeling. Sadly the seven minute "The Infinite Price" and the three minute "The Janus Safe" dares to deliver you a rather forgettable experience.
There are a couple of other moments in the score that sum up parts of The Tourist's charm. One such moment is "Bedroom Dreams" and you can honestly dream away with this moment, especially once it offers you the love theme on piano and a climatic string crescendo. The other moment is the wonderful charming delight of "Arriving at the Ball". Even without stating the main love theme, you feel the passion dancing during this particular track. The dramatic conclusion in "Rain of Bullets" is very nice too.
The Gabriel Yared piece is short waltz that's heavy on the strings, cello and sitar. Quite frankly it listens more exotic than the entire score of James Newton Howard, but it is clear that the romantic passion that's flowing through this track is partly aligned with the music here.
By the way, the liner notes are funny to read too. The director said that when using temp track cues, he was able to discover that James Newton Howard was the composer he was looking for. Yet when you discover that through temp track music, why on earth hire Gabriel Yared first? I know he's the director's most favourite composer, but I suppose that this isn't funny for Gabriel Yared to read, and I doubt the one solo track of his rejected material will change anything. Either way The Tourist is an acceptable spy score and at times charming romantic score. And in my mind it is clear that the romantic music does outshine the suspenseful material, and this due to a most lovely romantic theme. So I guess most of you will want to stay to that side of the soundtrack.
Tracklisting
1. Tracking Elise (1.35)
2. Burned Letter (2.22)
3. Paranoid Math Teacher (3.33)
4. Arrival at Venice (3.07)
5. Elise Offers a Ride (1.53)
6. A Very Nice Kiss (2.04)
7. Bedroom Dreams (2.59)
8. Piecing it Together (3.11)
9. Rooftop Run (5.18)
10. Chase Through the Canals (5.45)
11. Because I Kissed You (3.35)
12. A Very Nice Hotel (2.27)
13. Arriving at the Ball (2.05) Excellent track
14. Your Choice in Men (2.04)
15. Sudden Departure (2.03)
16. The Infinite Price (7.30)
17. The Janus Safe (3.02)
18. Rain of Bullets (1.30)
19. Aftermath (0.52)
20. Elise & Alexander (2.42)
21. Personal Cheque (1.58)
22. Dance in F * (2.42)
* Composed by Gabriel Yared
Total Length: 63.55
Replacement scores normally mean that the original score wasn't the kind of music the producers or director wanted. Considering Gabriel Yared and James Newton Howard have been through this kind of replacement before, The Tourist promised you something already from the start. What the whole album offers us is a combination of the romance that blossoms for Johnny Depp's character and the suspense that triggers the life of Angelina Jolie. Her taste opens "Tracking Elise" and "Burned Letter" while his side romanticizes the first part of "Paranoid Math Teacher". The suspenseful chase music is not that exciting (light snippets of Salt do come to mind from time to time), but the romantic aspect does deliver something interesting.
"Paranoid Math Teacher" opens lovely with a tender love theme (with additional accordion), but it's the memorable version in "Elise Offers a Ride" that will win you over for sure. Absolutely lovely and romantic, it is the string, piano and accordion version that sells this track in under two minutes. Other warm-hearted performances of this particular love theme are heard in "Bedroom Dreams", "A Very Nice Hotel" and "Elise & Alexander". It must be said that various other romantic themes pop up in my head once listening to this particular theme. The Holiday is the most notable one, others like Life in Beautiful do that too (this due to the strings at the end).
That doesn't mean everything's romance and sunshine in The Tourist. "Arrival at Venice" does tend to sneak to the suspenseful undercover situation of Elise (definitely some Salt deja vu's here), the playful sneakiness that dances in "Rooftop Run" is noticeable, while the same can be said about the action packed "Chase Through the Canals" that does try to bring back that heavy Salt feeling. Sadly the seven minute "The Infinite Price" and the three minute "The Janus Safe" dares to deliver you a rather forgettable experience.
There are a couple of other moments in the score that sum up parts of The Tourist's charm. One such moment is "Bedroom Dreams" and you can honestly dream away with this moment, especially once it offers you the love theme on piano and a climatic string crescendo. The other moment is the wonderful charming delight of "Arriving at the Ball". Even without stating the main love theme, you feel the passion dancing during this particular track. The dramatic conclusion in "Rain of Bullets" is very nice too.
The Gabriel Yared piece is short waltz that's heavy on the strings, cello and sitar. Quite frankly it listens more exotic than the entire score of James Newton Howard, but it is clear that the romantic passion that's flowing through this track is partly aligned with the music here.
By the way, the liner notes are funny to read too. The director said that when using temp track cues, he was able to discover that James Newton Howard was the composer he was looking for. Yet when you discover that through temp track music, why on earth hire Gabriel Yared first? I know he's the director's most favourite composer, but I suppose that this isn't funny for Gabriel Yared to read, and I doubt the one solo track of his rejected material will change anything. Either way The Tourist is an acceptable spy score and at times charming romantic score. And in my mind it is clear that the romantic music does outshine the suspenseful material, and this due to a most lovely romantic theme. So I guess most of you will want to stay to that side of the soundtrack.
Tracklisting
1. Tracking Elise (1.35)
2. Burned Letter (2.22)
3. Paranoid Math Teacher (3.33)
4. Arrival at Venice (3.07)
5. Elise Offers a Ride (1.53)
6. A Very Nice Kiss (2.04)
7. Bedroom Dreams (2.59)
8. Piecing it Together (3.11)
9. Rooftop Run (5.18)
10. Chase Through the Canals (5.45)
11. Because I Kissed You (3.35)
12. A Very Nice Hotel (2.27)
13. Arriving at the Ball (2.05) Excellent track
14. Your Choice in Men (2.04)
15. Sudden Departure (2.03)
16. The Infinite Price (7.30)
17. The Janus Safe (3.02)
18. Rain of Bullets (1.30)
19. Aftermath (0.52)
20. Elise & Alexander (2.42)
21. Personal Cheque (1.58)
22. Dance in F * (2.42)
* Composed by Gabriel Yared
Total Length: 63.55