Customer Reviews

9 [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A post-apocalyptic animated adventure, 9 is the first feature length film from director Shane Acker, who received a Best Animated Short Film Oscar nomination in 2005 for the short film on which this movie is based. The film is set in a future time when humanity has been wiped out following a devastating war, and has been replaced by a new species: sentient rag-doll like creatures known as Stitchpunks. The Stitchpunks - who are all named for the numbers 1 to 9 - spend most of their time running from the massive roving animal-shaped robots hunting them, until the youngest Stitchpunk, the 9 of the title, encourages the others to fight back. The film has an impressive voice cast including Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and John C. Reilly, is produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, and has an original score by comparative newcomer Deborah Lurie.

Lurie has been around the peripheries of the film music world for nearly a decade, orchestrating for John Ottman and Mark Snow, writing additional music on films such as Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and several recent Danny Elfman scores, while providing original scores for Sleepover in 2004, An Unfinished Life in 2005, and Sydney White in 2007. 9 is by far her most high-profile assignment to date, and although her hiring to score this film might be seen as a little unusual, in fact she has a working history with several of the major parties, having written additional music for Bekmambetov on Wanted amongst others. It's always gratifying to see young composers hired to score major movies, and even more gratifying for a woman to score something other than a costume drama or a `sensitive' film. Debbie Wiseman, Jane Antonia Cornish and the late, great Shirley Walker have all shown that women can compose action-packed sci-fi music with the best of them - and now Lurie adds her name to that list.

Lurie's score is big, loud and exciting, written for full orchestra, choir and electronics, but the one thing truly missing from the score is a theme - which is somewhat curious, as Danny Elfman has a prominent credit for writing "themes" on the score's CD cover. Elfman has, of course, written many excellent themes in his time, but 9 doesn't seem to contain one of them. Elfman's style is so unmistakable that you would think anything written by him would be immediately obvious, but this is not the case here. Even in the most blatantly thematic cue, "The Seamstress", the thematic part of music never progresses much beyond a simple ascending brass melody. There are a couple of moments of ooh-aah choral prettiness, in "Sanctuary" for example, which could be the work of Elfman, but overall the `themes' - if they exist - are so subtle that one has to wonder why Elfman was hired at all, as Lurie could surely have written something similar with ease. Maybe having his name on the CD cover is a marketing tool.

What we have instead is an enjoyable, exciting action score which is curiously anonymous. There's nothing inherently wrong with the music at all: it creates a menacing atmosphere, contains several excellent action moments, and a couple of sequences of touching down time, notably "Reunion", which features a lovely section for guitar and flute, the lyrically playful "Twins", and the tragic-sounding "Burial". Lurie clearly knows her way around an orchestra, and more often than not uses live instruments to lead the way, only resorting to electronica to add to her sound palette when necessary. This element alone puts her ahead of many of her contemporaries.

The only problem with the score is its lack of identity; there's nothing to separate 9 from the dozens of other sci-fi action scores written each year, no central musical element that identifies it as being this movie's score and nothing else. It's a shame, because Lurie clearly has the talent to create an impressive sound with her orchestra; if there had been some kind of melodic hook to go with it, it would have added volumes to the score.

Having said that, the action music is very good indeed, with dominant thrusting rhythms, a forceful brass section, and some clever clanging percussive effects to represent the relentless metal beasts with which the Stitchpunks do battle. Cues such as "Winged Beast", "The Machines", "Return of the Machines", "Reawakening" are loud and powerful. When the chanting choir appears during "Slaying the Beast" and "The Aftermath" the sense heroism in the music increases dramatically, while the vivid synth effects and almost Goldenthal-esque brass writing in "The Seamstress" add a wonderful level of danger to the moment.

The score's finale, consisting of "The Purpose" and "Release" contains some of the best action music on the album, very energetic and creative, with some especially dramatic and commanding brass writing, eventually building in emotional fashion to a soaring, hopeful, orchestra-and-choir climax that is quite beautiful. The album concludes with a very good prog-rock song, "Welcome Home" by Coheed and Cambria, taken from their 2005 album `Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness', and which featured prominently in the film's trailer.

I'm a little torn in how to effectively summarize 9. On the one hand, I'm delighted that Deborah Lurie is scoring this film in the first place - it's another crack in film music's glass ceiling. The score contains a great deal of very good action music, and some lovely moments of choral beauty, which in itself makes the CD worth recommending. But, as I said, the only thing holding it back is its lack of a truly individual identity, and the seemingly minimal involvement of Danny Elfman's theme-writing prowess. Some may like it; some may consider it anonymous. I just hope it works as a stepping stone to allow Lurie's career to go on to bigger and better things.

It took a double take to notice that it wasn't actually Danny Elfman who wrote the score for "9" but Deborah Lurie. It then took a quick search to figure out who she actually was and what she had done before. Having listened to "9" for the better part of a day now, over and over again, I can't wait to hear what she does next.

Elfman's involvement is clear but minimal, drawing from his previous Terminator score for any kind of a theme on his part. The rest of the score is a moody, sweeping and rather tense collection of world-building and at times anonymous themes that highlight both the action sequences and the more emotional moments. High points from the score lie at the beginning and end, with "The Seamstress", "The Purpose" and "Release" rising one after the other into an epic finale.

While it may not have the catchy (and almost annoyingly repetitive) themes a la "Wanted" and "Hellboy II", the soundscape Lurie paints perfectly describes the world and doesn't saturate it with an overwhelming theme. Sometimes the score doesn't have to "be the most important part", it simply needs to "be", and let the film play out, aided simply by a beautiful soundtrack that plays just as well off-screen as I imagine it does on.

I've always been something of a fan of Danny Elfman's scores, and this was no exception. While "9" does not feature the whimsical jingle bells of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or the haunting choirs of "Edward Scissorhands," it does provide a more exciting, action-filled score that suits the film perfectly.

The only flaws with this soundtrack is that pieces of the score are missing and that the track order does not follow the story. I'd forgive the first, but after getting so attached to my "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride" soundtracks, I'd expect this to be in sequential order.

If you are looking to download essentials, buy the tracks "Slaying the Beast," "Winged Beast," "Release," and the ever-haunting "Burial." Of course I also like "Twins" and "The Aftermath," but those four can be enough to cover it.

As for "Welcome Home," it's a very intense, interesting song and probably the reason most people would even consider buying this movie's album, but please check out those tracks by Elfman and Lurie. They are unique and yet familiar, just like this movie.

Machines versus rag dolls, who will win? In a nutshell, that's the short version of this story, but of course there is more to it than that. The helpless humans faced a grim battle against the machines and lost (sounds familiar?). A scientist gave life to 9 rag dolls before he passed away and the world is in their hands. Tim Burton is listed as a producer of this animated movie and when I saw Danny Elfman's name attached to this, well... you know what I was thinking. Alas (read my rant after the jump) it wasn't to be, but what I found instead surprised me. This movie has a strong cast including Christopher Plummer, Elijah Wood, Martin Landau and Jennifer Connelly. Already doing well at the box office, it's up to Deborah Lurie to finally shine or will she?

Here we have the marketing agency with their weird ideas again. "Let's attach Danny Elfman's name to this and it will sell like hotcakes!". Maybe so, and maybe he wrote the themes (what themes?), but the big question is why they hired Elfman to do the themes in the first place when Deborah Lurie is more than capable, oh so capable. Clearly a marketing ploy if I ever saw one because the themes are nothing special, by that I mean that Elfman or anyone could have written these (no offense to Elfman of course). You can hear them in the cues `Burial' and `Winged Beast' to name a few. Nice anonymous themes, but it's the overall mix with the great music composed by Deborah Lurie that makes this score fly above the radar.
This score screams attention and it is filled with lush orchestral sound from start to finish. It has epic battle themes in `Winged Beast' and `Slaying the Beast', particularly the latter one goes into a massive spectacle of choirs, or should I say battle cries towards the end. Then there are quieter cues like `Burial' and `Release', but it's quiet in a good way. This movie looks spectacular and it got a score to match. The adventurous score Deborah Lurie has created (ok, with some help from Elfman apparently) is a great example of what's right with today's film scores (when done right).

Lurie uses a lot of strings, percussion and metal filing sound to enhance the soundscape and it works great. The music tells a story in itself, and on the big screen it should be pretty spectacular. I particularly like the action cues like `Winged Beast' that has a strong and heavy sound to it. Lot's of percussion on top of pacey strings with some metal-ish sounds that almost sounds like screams. Yes, I admit I got goosebumps when I heard it (I was alone in the house at the time). `The Machines' is a short militaristic action cue with a hypnotic rhythm. It's a shame it's only a minute long. More action is thrown at us in `Slaying the Beast' with the highlight at the end (hint: Epic choir screams). I wish more people would use choirs these days. It seems only Jablonsky and Zimmer are not afraid to use them.

Let's quiet down a bit and talk about the sensitive delightful cues that are `Burial' and `Release'. The beginning of `Burial' is a very magical sounding intro with just a hint of melody before a flute gives us the nice but anonymous theme. Anyway, it's not the theme that makes this cue great, it's the subtle underscoring and orcestration by Deborah Lurie. It's short but so so good. `Release' is the ending cue in 9 and it's quite beautiful. The strings softly plays the main theme before it becomes more eerie (but still quiet and soft). It has a hint of a fourth theme in there, which sounds enthralling, but alas, there's not much of it. A fitting end to a great score which has that old adventure sound (modernized of course).

Yes Deborah Lurie has done a lot of right with 9. When you look at that CD cover, watch the trailer (all before seeing the movie), then listen to the score, you'll immediately nod and think: "This is perfect for this movie". (The score is actually featured in the 2nd trailer, so duh!) Well at least that was my thoughts, and I bet I am not too far off. Lurie's lush orchestral sounding fantasy score grabs your ears from the beginning and keeps you close. This is a score you shouldn't miss, and if you never heard Deborah Lurie before (or didn't like what you have heard in the past), then this is the score to get.

The CD is the EXCELLENT SCORE for the MOVIE "9"..The BONUS TRACK is a WONDERFUL example of the music and lyrics of Coheed and Cambria-Which is Why I purchased this item.....Coheed and Cambria=Beautiful Music+Great Voices+"Deep" Lyrics......They are TRUE MUSICIANS!!!

The cd comes with 19 songs. The songs that are played during the movie. The 18 songs are ok but the last one Welcome Home-coheed and cambria BLEW my mind!!Overall The cd was well worth it!

This score was a very pleasant surprise. Take your chances and listen to it.

I have listed a track by track "star" rating with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest....
Discover my blog for more soundtrack reviews on the recent Game, Julie and Julia, Star Trek, and Terminator Salvation, etc....
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I have so excited on seeing the movie. I loved Acker's short and was thrilled to hear it was coming to movies. Danny Elfman's scores are too much for words. The sountrack is as epic as the animation.