Mission to Mars

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

I remember the movie and I remembered immediately what I said afterwards. Apart from the plot which was stupid, I also thought the music sounded wholly inappropriate. And a listen on disc confirms this clearly in my opinion. Since this is my first Ennio Morricone score I review, it is indeed hard to see something of the whole career of Mr. Morricone, something is not right in saying this composer writes bad music. But since listening in the same time to Wolf and Disclosure, it is obvious there is a certain part in me that simply doesn't like this personal style. Wolf was mainly a boring listen but Mission to Mars actually overdoes it, and you listen straight through it, if it wasn't for the running time that actually holds you hostage in a sound that doesn't fit with the picture. Ennio Morricone may have a personal style and I sincerely believe this is not one of them but I still considered it suspicious that several movies simply contained inappropriate music and those were written by Ennio Morricone. Anyway, Mission to Mars has become the debate as this is really movie music that does the movie justice, or speaking vice versa it can be stated equally as well.

This score simply sounds from start to finish odd, at times the idea or perfection behind it is good and even very commendable, but then the other things are simply non fitting. What I mean with non fitting is clearly presented in the next tracks. 'A Heart Beats in Space' opens and closes with a synthetic heart beat (which isn't odd at itself) and we encounter a subtle female choral singing, nothing bad here. But then the actual theme is heard which I sincerely don't like (or can't quite seem to like) and the same for the reappearing droning sound which presented in Wolf the chase sequences of Jack Nicholson. 'A Martian' is the same with showing that fanfare I dislike. 'And Afterwards?' is absolutely dreadful. It simply uses a plethora of weird sounds, from flutes, sound effects created by the chorus, synthetic tones which probably portray the Morse code when they are trying to contact the possible entity. Anyway this is six minutes of really dreadful music and simply hurts when listening to it. 'Towards the Unknown' was one of the tracks I criticized during the movie. Here, rightfully or wrongfully an organ is portraying the danger, more constantly the same idea is repeated and this for 8 minutes, making it a drag of a track.

'Sacrifice of a Hero' is the last problematic track. Here good things and bad moments are mixed together, such as heroic moments followed straight after it with a flute that achieves to do nothing right. More, the sound effects sound almost Gremlins like in this track, you probably remember the scene where Stripe at the end jumps out of the little fountain and starts moaning, well same thing here. I am not kidding. Seriously, there is a dash of good music also to be found on the score. The end of 'Sacrifice of a Hero' offers a mournful good trumpet solo and 'Where?' offers for the first time good orchestral moments with great choral development, giving it for once a real sense of awe and wonder. And 11 is not bad either, with a short and soft piece of music. So, you then finally come to the conclusion that musically, it isn't bad but interesting it is definitely not. This is such a score I will probably never listen to again (at least not in full meaning a soundtrack release of 62 minutes is completely inappropriate). And it is the same like Wolf (which bares resemblance with this score), I simply don't like spending my time into it. You know how I feel now after listening to this score? Well, I rephrase it in the words so something connects right with the movie. Mission to Mars is definitely not the score I would pick along with me if I was actually making a trip towards the Red Planet. Because then I would personally hit the wrong code, just to get that twister on me, just to be rid of the score. Isn't the way to go is it?

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. A Heart Beats In Space (7.58)

2. A Martian (6.05)

3. A World Which Searches (2.58)

4. And Afterwards? (6.32)

5. A Wife Lost (3.26)

6. Towards The Unknown (8.14)

7. Ecstasy Of Mars (2.57)

8. Sacrifice Of A Hero (13.19)

9. Where? (5.32)

10. An Unexpected Surprise (2.32)

11. All The Friends (2.38)

Total Length: 62.19

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=== Link to Composer Site: Ennio Morricone ===