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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another James Horner Score, 31 Dec 2003
Critics of James Horner will have a ball with this score - criticising it, that is. There are easily 10 previous Horner scores that you can hear in the score for Ron Howard's The Missing. Take your pick: from Apollo 13 to Legends Of The Fall to Mighty Joe Young to The Perfect Storm. Fact is all the scores Horner composes aren't as similar as the critics make it out to be - but in composing scores, as Hans Zimmer would tell you, a couple of familiar notes here and there would easily sound the similarity alarm in the listener's heads. Horner composes different themes for the scores he composes, and usually uses different styles. The problem is, Horner uses the same instruments pretty much most of the times, and I believe this is the main reason you can so easily identify 'a Horner score'. A good example is the shakuhachi.And in a film with American Indians as one of its elements, you just can't escape the shakuhachi, among others. So I'll just say it early on - this score will sound a lot like Legends Of The Falls because of the instruments used. However it's not to say it's unlistenable or it's a bad score. Those of us who love percussion will enjoy the action parts of the score as Horner once again whips up percussion beats using various instruments and mixes them up, a la Braveheart (whoops, he's done it again). The score is largely made up of drama, however, and while they are good, they are not ... exceptional. Horner typically inserts vocals, this time American Indians chants. Problem is, unlike the Qawwali wailings in The Four Feathers which shocked some and excited others, the chants here are inconsequential - they are so in the background that you almost don't notice them (until the last minute ... how amusing). And, as usual, you get the Horneresque long end credits track which summarises up the whole soundtrack. In the end, I can't say I would recommend this score, but all Horner fans should have this, if only for completeness. Not a bad score, but not memorable either.
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~ Ann Atkinson
~ Jerry Goldsmith
~ Judith Farmer
~ Marco Beltrami
~ James Horner
