WATERWORLD

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD

Rating:

Original Review: Back in 1993, before it was knocked off its perch by a certain other ocean-based epic, Kevin Costner's Waterworld was the most expensive movie ever made. Amid stories of sinking sets, a suffering cast, a disillusioned crew and a notorious bust-up between director and producer, one of the movie's definite successes was James Newton Howard's rousing and enjoyable score: a cleverly concocted combination of Korngold-style cues for the spectacular action sequences and calming new-age synthesisers to underscore the film's more reflective moments. The score actually gets off to a rather slow start, beginning with a synthesised drumbeat and various Horner-style ethnic flutes wailing in the background of the 'Main Title', but as soon as the action begins in 'Escaping the Smokers', it hardly ever stops. The score's best moments all occur during the rollicking action cues for the film's set pieces, such as 'Smokers Sighted', 'The Skyboat', 'Helen Frees The Mariner', 'Slide For Life' and 'Deacon's Speech', and here Newton Howard really lets his orchestra do it's stuff with an excellent series of structured, vibrant and powerful compositions, brimming with bold trumpets, soaring strings and thumping percussion. Newton Howard also makes excellent use of the haunting tones of the L.A. Master Chorale under the direction of Paul Salamunovitch, especially in the cues 'The Atoll' and 'The Bubble', which have a definite mysterious, awe-inspired feel to them. The only thing which grates with me a little is the fact that the score lacks a really memorable main theme - which is a real shame, because movies of this type generally benefit from having some kind of tangible, recognisable melody running through it. There is one minor theme which crops up every now and again - the heroic trumpet-based "Mariner Theme", first heard at 1:32 of 'Escaping the Smokers' and which reappears sporadically throughout the score (most notably in the cues 'Slide For Life' and 'Main Credits'), but other than that there is no real binding element to hold it all together and give it a sense of coherency. Although Newton Howard's cues are intelligently written and portray the film's action very well, there always seems to be this gnawing feeling that they could have been written for any action film ever made, and hence the score suffers from a lack of an individual identity. I suppose this is not really Newton Howard's fault - he was brought on board Waterworld at the very last minute to replace Mark Isham, remnants of whose score can still be heard in the movie (listen out for a music box-type theme: that's his!) - and considering the time constraints placed upon him, Newton Howard has worked miracles to come up with a score this good. For fans of rousing action and good, old fashioned adventure, Waterworld is a solid buy.

Track Listing: Running Time: 68 minutes 40 seconds

MCA Soundtracks MCD-11282 (1993)

Music composed by James Newton Howard. Conducted by Artie Kane. Orchestrations by Brad Dechter, Jeff Atmajian, Robert Elhai, Chris Boardman and James Newton Howard. L.A. Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich. Special vocal performances by Katrin Kern and Marisa Chandler. Synthesisers by Steve Porcaro and James Newton Howard. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Bruce Botnick. Edited by Jim Weidman. Album produced by James Newton Howard and Michael Mason.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1998. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.