Customer Reviews

Clash Of The Titans : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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

 

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I went into Clash of the Titans expecting the worst. When the news broke that Scottish composer Craig Armstrong - who had been attached to the film almost since its inception - was being replaced by Ramin Djawadi, and that the film's release date was being delayed several months so that the producers could cash in on the Avatar effect and add new 3-D special effects to an already effects-heavy film, my heart sank. However, after my first complete listen to the score, I found myself thinking "hey, it's not that bad". And then I stopped and thought again; have my standards dropped so low that `not that bad?' is actually seen as a positive remark? Have Hollywood's most expensive and elaborate productions become so bloated and self-serving that the music only has to not make the film demonstrably worse for it to be seen as a success? If this is where the major studios are pitching themselves these days, things truly are going from bad to worse.

I have been accused in the past of having a bias against the Remote Control organization, and in many ways this is true, but not in the way you might think. On the one hand, I absolutely approve of the way in which Hans Zimmer nurtures young musical talent, giving them the opportunity to become successful, to work on major motion pictures, and to establish careers for themselves in the cutthroat world of film music. The fact that he successfully launched the careers of composers such as John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams and others is laudable in itself. What I hate, however, is the way in which the company has virtually taken over the upper echelons of the film music world, to the detriment of other, independent composers who can't catch a break. Five of the 15 highest grossing films at the US box office in 2009 and seven of the 15 highest grossing films in 2008 were scored by Zimmer or someone who used to work for him. Such is their utter dominance of the "blockbuster sound" that producers and directors wanting a piece of the box office pie return time after time to the studio, not for new or innovative music, but for another variation on the last hit movie's score, one which won't upset the film's target demographic, and creativity be damned.

What this means is that, rather than expressing their own musical personality in an artistic way, the composers at Remote Control are forced to ape Zimmer's sound and maintain the corporate identity. Time after time, on film after film, the same predictable sound is unceremoniously grafted onto different films with little to no regard for their setting, or their time period, or any project-specific elements which would otherwise require original thought. The net result is that you end up with a series of scores which, despite obvious melodic differences, nevertheless sound more or less the same, irrespective of whether the film is about giant robots, samurai warriors, ancient Romans, iron-clad super heroes, or Greek gods. Case in point: this score.

I really don't want to rag on Ramin Djawadi. I'm sure he's a very nice guy who always wanted to be a composer, studied hard, works diligently, and provides exactly what the producer and director asked for. They go away happy, he gets paid handsomely. It's just that the score is so formulaic and so predictable, that you almost don't need to bother listening to it. Big orchestra? Check. Enormous bank of synths playing in unison with the orchestra? Check. Male voice choir from Crimson Tide? Check. Electric cellos from The Ring? Check. There is nothing about this score which tells you it's a score about Greek gods, or that it's set in classical antiquity. Nothing about the time period, nothing about the geographical setting, nothing about the inter-relationships between the characters. There's no specificity. With a few timing changes and a bit of clever editing, this score could be re-applied to Iron Man or Transformers or King Arthur, and you wouldn't know the difference. Basically, it's little more than well-recorded library music. I know I've written this in other reviews, but if it keeps happening, I have to keep pointing out the same fundamental flaws.

As far as the music itself is concerned, it's adequate enough. The album actually starts with a rather good song, "The Storm That Brought Me To You", written by Djawadi in collaboration with British electronica composer Neil Davidge of Massive Attack, and performed by the smoky-voiced Danish singer Tina Dico. Some of Davidge's electronic textures make guest appearances throughout the score, and he gets a full cue of his own, the 10-minute "Be My Weapon", towards the end of the album, although the harsh rhythms, snarling electric guitars and grating samples he employs do tend to be rather jarring when heard alongside Djawadi's more polished tones.

The score makes use of an 80-piece orchestra recorded in London, a choir of 40 vocalists, and opera singers, as well as various ethnic blown and plucked instruments, including a solo cello and a guitar viol, both of which were played by Djawadi himself. The main theme, first heard on low cellos and punchy brasses in the opening "There is a God In you", is an oscillating three-note motif, and is clearly intended to act as a recurring leitmotif for the heroism of Perseus. Perseus's theme re-occurs in several cues, often as a `moment of glory' in an action setting, notably in cues such as "Scorpiox" and "Eyes Down".

A more downbeat, reflective piece for strings opens "Perseus", acknowledging both his dangerous journey and the fate that awaits him; it gives way to the first appearance of the famous echoing male voice choir from Crimson Tide half way through it's 6-minute running time, and occasionally highlights a tinkling mandolin to give the piece a fleeting glance of local color. The tinkles briefly enliven parts of "Argos", "Bring Everything But the Owl" and others, but they are little more than passing lip service to the film's Hellenic setting.

There's also a more aggressive secondary 5-note theme for brass which crops up in the action cues, of which there are many. They tend to be of the `loud and propulsive' variety, and see the orchestra chugging away, usually accompanied by Davidge's electronic percussion, the male voice choir, and occasionally a thrumming electric guitar, to give some of the cues an unmistakable rock music vibe. The action cues are energetic enough, and undoubtedly provide the film with an appropriate internal tempo, but independently they seem somewhat random, relying on little more that high volumes and endless repetition of bulbous string ostinatos to get their point across. "Scorpiox" seems to be a direct relative of Steve Jablonsky's similarly-named "Scorponok" from his Transformers score, while later tracks such as "You Fall You Die", "Bring Everything But the Owl", "Djinn", "King Acrisius" and the overly-frantic "Eyes Down" revisit the breathless, unfocused, action style. Geoff Zanelli wrote the conclusive "Release the Kraken" based on Djawadi's ideas, but his increased contribution fails to enliven the score, despite his more liberal use of Perseus's heroic theme throughout the cue.

The score isn't all bad. The "Medusa" cue stands out as a creative high point, and sees Djawadi employing some very creepy processed vocal effects and unnervingly pitched violin writing to give the snake-haired gorgon a real sense of unsettling menace. The opening few seconds of "Djinn" are interesting, as they combine a quite evil-sounding throat-singer with fluttering pan flutes and processed Maurice Jarre-style electronics, creating a quite peculiar and effective sound. There are also a couple of very attractive and stirring moments; "Written in the Stars", the heavenly "Pegasus", and the trio that comprises "Killed By a God", "You Were Saved For a Reason" and "I Have Everything I Need" feature some emotional string, woodwind and light vocal textures that are quite lovely, while the ethereal "The Best of Both" features a dreamy-sounding female vocalist. However, these moments are few and far between, and are unfortunately drowned out by the pumped-up orchestral carnage elsewhere.

In addition to my apparent anti-Remote Control bias, I've also been accused in the past of looking down on blockbuster scores like this when I accuse them of having no depth or innovation or originality. "It's a movie about giant robots and CGI monsters", they say. "It's not supposed to be deep!" Well, that didn't stop John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith or James Horner or Danny Elfman or Bernard Herrmann writing excellent scores of depth and originality and quality and creativity for super heroes, B-movies, monster flicks and space adventures. Listen to Jurassic Park, Aliens, Batman, Jason and the Argonauts, and dozens of other scores, and tell me that great music can't be written for films intended to be populist entertainment. This continual dumbing-down and pandering to the lowest common denominator seems to be pervading everything in Hollywood's studio system, to the point where "merely adequate" is enough, so long as the profits remain in the black, and it's got to change. The bottom line is this: I don't want to write reviews like this. I want for every movie to have a great score, for Ramin Djawadi and everyone else to write superb, creative, fulfilling music, and for me to enjoy every note of every cue. However, until producers and directors start changing their attitudes, until composers are given more creative freedoms to be expressive without fear of having their scores rejected (or, better yet, until composers who are more apt to write challenging scores are given the gigs instead of toiling on low-budget films for free) I'm afraid I'm going to have to.

The score of "Clash Of The Titans" is, like the movie itself, an epic adventure. My favourite tracks are
"Perseus," "You Were Saved For A Reason," "I Have Everything I Need," "Killed By A God," "Scorpiox," "Medusa,"
"Eyes Down," "The Best Of Both," "Release The Kraken," "It's Almost Human Of You" & "The Storm That Brought Me To You." The only track that I feel is completely out of sync with the score is the mammoth "Be My Weapon." Other than that, I completely love the score, which is remeniscent of Hans Zimmer (listen to "Perseus" and you just might hear a certain resemblance to Mr. Zimmer).

I concur with the other reviews. This soundtrack is a solid epic movie score, but nothing amazing. I could listen to it again, but don't feel compelled to buy it and keep listening over and over. One thing that really disappointed me is that there's nothing that evokes ancient Greece. It would have been great to include a flute or harp piece or something that really set the movie in the world of the ancients. As it stands, it's generally just like any other epic soundtrack coming out nowadays.

The Cd and case came in great condition and it came a little early then expected. The music is awesome!

Very simple - The score of the Clash of the Titans is pretty good. I enjoy the mix of instrumental pieces, guitars, and drums. Given the revamp the movie went through, the music goes hand in hand.

Modernized soundtracks for fantasy movies often seem like attempts to save a few bucks instead of treating the material like it deserves. Though Hans Zimmer, Paul Haslinger, David Arkenstone and others have joyfully ushered us into the New Age Movie Score Era, and delivered some of my all-time favorite OSTs (like King Arthur), I'll always believe Big Movies demand Big Soundtracks from Big Orchestras.

Ramin Djawadi shows off his Bachelor's Degree from the Hans Zimmer School of Soundtracks: heavy drums, sweeping strings featuring cellos, french horns and tubas, vocal ensemble chants, etc. Unfortunately, this one misses its mark. There's very little here to invoke Ancient Greece, the 'Man vs the Gods' story arc or anything else the movie represents other than ACTION SEQUENCES! CotT is both very disjointed and extremely repetitive. Instead of exploring the themes and motifs they're buried underneath a frenzy of synthesizers, riffs and programmed trax; its like Gladiator got tossed into a blender with Human Growth Hormones. The end result is a schizophrenic slamdance that never really knows which way to turn.

Even the quiet moments are few and far between. Just when things slow down, out go the low strings and flutes and in come the drum tracks. This may explain the lack of a romantic theme and why even the gods themselves have no noticeable cues- nothing's allowed to stand in the way of a pulse-pounding timpani or a good Moog mash.

Some key moments:
The Storm That Brought You To Me: Begins with the now-unavoidable Mediterranean-styled guitar picks before the bass and drum arrive. Add the vocals and it becomes evocative, if over-produced and out of place- probably used for the end credits- but ends up as one of the better tracks. In the same vein as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, this one was obviously created for release as a single.

Perseus: Contains different arrangements the hero's motif- including male vocal chorus, electric cello and violins- exploring his journey. Not surprisingly, this motif is often used to carry the other pieces along.

You Can't Hide From Hades: Starts off by stealing the 'JAWS' theme before it morphs into a heavy bassoon and chorus that introduces the Lord of the Dead.

Scorpiox: Enter the modernized motifs. Riffs merged with lots of keyboards, bass-slapping and programmed drums.

Djinn: Return of the duduk and maybe even a digeridoo mixed with some bottom lifted from Batman Begins.

Written In The Stars: Opens the movie and introduces the 'Olympus' theme. A stirring, majestic motif but it's so minimal and under-developed it's a prime example of the music's overall shortcomings.

Eyes Down: Very frenetic but also very disjointed, a schizophrenic piece of music. The best example of why this score fails to deliver.

Be My Weapon: The whole thing was stolen from some DJ at a rave club. Has little to no variation at all, just goes on and on... and on. At the 5:00 mark there's a choppy transition before the thing completely tanks into something leftover from the nineties. Also the longest track at 10:00. It serves no purpose other than to give Neil Davidge a solo writing credit.

Release The Kraken: Doesn't even get his own theme; just more repeats with some new horns tossed in. The Grand Beastie itself doesn't even make an appearance until the 5:00 mark on a 6:00 track.

It's Almost Human Of You: Solo vocal and strings lead into the denouement. It winds up with a brief, heavy reprise of the Perseus motif, but at this point you're not even paying attention anymore.

Another sticking point is the tracks don't appear in sequential order; you can't get a sense of the movie, and after having seen it the disconnect is even worse. This one should serve as an object lesson for Hollywood: Blockbuster Movie=Blockbuster Score. I doubt even hardcore Zimmer fans will have much to say about this one. Though it's a yeoman effort for Ramin in his first attempt at a full scale soundtrack, it comes up very short and formulaic. Not a keeper at all.

When I heard this in the movie I liked it.In fact, whenever I hear soundtrack music, I like to hear it on its own rather than just in the picture as it evokes so much more for me than it would otherwise, and most of this composition is pretty intense. Track 20,"Be my Weapon" is ten minutes of heavy and powerful rhythms. It is one I listen to quite often.

The remake of Clash Of The Titans made news headlines for several reasons. The big one was that Warner Brothers decided to revamp the film in 3D at the last second just to get the inflated ticket pricing despite the fact that 3D was never ever planned for it in any creative sense. The second headliner was that Craig Armstrong's score was rejected and he was replaced by Ramin Djawadi.

A lot of people were disappointed by this, but the fact is that score rejection is becoming a huge thing. After The Wolfman fiasco and recently Atli Örvarsson being kicked off The Karate Kid we're seeing that score rejection is becoming more common.

From the time Ramin Djawadi was hired till the first dub he had 3 weeks to compose the score. So of course in the Hans Zimmer tradition of collaboration he had a few of his friends and collaborators help out. Neil Davidge, Geoff Zanelli, Dominic Lewis, Noah Sorota and Bobby Tahouri came on board to help with the insurmountable task of composing a feature score to a massive action film in only 3 weeks.

I fell in love with the score. It has the sound I love, sweeping ascending cues that carry you, a grounding and emotional main theme. All in all it is a great score. Is it anything new? Absolutely not. You can hear the Zimmer influence throughout it. At times I heard a touch of Pirates Of The Caribbean and some King Arthur style cues. However, It carries Ramin's sound that you heard in Iron Man but without the "rock n' roll" mentality. People wonder if he paid any homage to Laurence Rosenthal's score to the original, which he didn't. I see it as a good thing. I don't know why people want composers to reference the original scores for remakes. I love it when we get an original voice.

So, if you want a good old fashion Zimmeresque action score then here it is. Enjoy it because it's tons of fun. The only drawback is the inclusion of Niel Davidge's full on 10-minute grunge rock cue. It sticks out like a sore thumb and I would have much rather gotten some more story propelled score. I'm not complaining though because the album is packed as it is. Also, just an interesting side note. At the very end of the credits of the film they credit "Io's Theme" by Craig Armstrong. So it looks like just a snippet of his score survived the final cut.

My dislikes with this score are greatly outweighed by the things I liked... Ramin Djawadi is a superb fit to Leterrier's edgy style, and the boldness of the characters, savage setting, subtle romance undertones, and the theme of epic tragedy that permeate the film are all present and carried heavily by every track in this masterpiece of an album. "Be my Weapon" is perhaps my only complaint, as it is merely a techno rip-job that continues for 10 minutes. It has a hint of the actual music from the movie, but the music we were actually looking for in this track is not to be found. Other than that, the album is full of highlights, as I mentioned earlier... the themes of tragedy and friendship, as well as those of chaos, destruction, and an impending, unnavoidable -and possibly fatal- destiny all echo resonantly over and over. The heroic theme of Perseus is bold and very well-defined, wafting in and out of various tracks ("Perseus" and "There is a God in You"), and the beautiful use of strings in some of the tracks ("Argos") provide an awesome backdrop and feeling to the times of Ancient Greece. I would wholeheartedly recommend this score to any avid fan of the movie, or even anyone interested in an energetic and emotional composition that has the power to take one back to a time of adventure and wonder long, long ago.

This soundtrack is not that bad at all. Yes, it might sound a little formulaic and "familiar", but I think the Zimmer-style of music suits the film well. I watched the movie, which I probably wouldn't watch again; however, I've been listening to quite a few tracks off this soundtrack non-stop recently.

For me, it's a 3.5/5.

The movie, on the other hand, was a 1.5/5 for me... maybe I hyped myself too much about it...