Troy

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Much has been said about Troy, whether it is the movie of Wolfgang Peterson with its enormous visualization of the 10.000 battleships in one shot or about the cast that once more has Orlando Bloom (man, he took a jump in the movie business galore), or about the fact that James Horner scored it, or at least replaced Gabriel Yared in the outcome after his score was rejected. The fact of the matter was, I saw it coming the moment Gabriel Yared was assigned as the composer. I just knew he would not stay on board to the end. The fact of the matter is, I never saw Gabriel Yared as a composer who could accomplish this and therefore I expected him to be fired from the position. But stupid as it may sound, he may have written the best score out of his career, just like Howard Shore was the most inappropriate composer for LOTR and that he threw every preconception away with his amazing trilogy of scores. Now, many people already heard Gabriel Yared's work through his site (offering MP'3 versions of his rejected score) and therefore they can decide so far who has written the best of the 2 in the end. I can (for the moment) only assume what James Horner has written in a deadline of weeks just for Wolfgang Petersen. A deadline as this is stupid and unacceptable because no composer can come up with interesting innovating material in weeks, especially for a motion picture lasting 3 hours long. And especially not Horner since he will be recycling material from the start, knowing his emphasis lies in the fact that he rips and borrows what he may found suitable in the end. Well, in that regard Troy seems still acceptable by all standards but the fact is, I hear not much interesting material in the end in the 75 minute long CD of Warner Sunset because its Horner doing a quick composing job, and not having the strength nor the originality of coming up with music that defies the look of the film, because as epic as it may sound, its not interesting to accompany a film as this in the end, as score album.

To immediately confirm this is by throwing the first score track already on the examination table. '3200 Years Ago' just opens as Mighty Joe Young did, with the choir and percussion and the fact that I liked the opening of Mighty Joe Young is a shame for Troy's opening to be exact. The further use of Tanja Tzarovska (the same solo vocalist Gabriel Yared used in his rejected score) is as uninspiring as the next. So far for the opening, but at least 'Troy' confirms more belief in Horner's handling with a majestic if repetitive wonder of fanfares of the main theme for the pride of the city, its kinda Battle Beyond the Stars and Star Trek 2 and listens for its minutes well. And at least the action tracks or the first ones of its kind have some strength in them too, 'Achilles Leads the Myrmidons' has the choir, the main theme and a secondary good sub theme with a large ending, making this all quite good and something Horner hasn't done recently as much as this, but the fact that it constantly revisits to the now over familiar evil four note motif of Willow is a thorn in the eye of this track's potential. Its good listening but no grander as it could have been without its motif. 'The Temple of Poseidon' has the solo vocal, a fanfare for some wonder and the evil four note motif, so let's pass quickly this one up for 'The Greek Army and its Defeat', a 10 minute action track that has one thing better then the rest, the power behind the percussion which is excellent. Its building suspense like Horner has done before plenty but the percussion and several ideas are far more interesting then again the four note motif returning again, and again. The fanfare main theme at least at the end is good enough for a mention or two. The softer material by then enlists the next rip-off which is Braveheart. 'Briseis and Achilles' has first softly the song's main theme (David Arnold's Stargate material) but it moves then further to the same Princess and her love from Braveheart and the fact that also Horner is constantly returning to this, becomes as dangerous as the overzealous use of the evil four note motif now already so many times before. The choir and the great sub theme is noticed in 'The Trojans Attack', but so is the 4 note motif with percussion.

The rest that follows isn't exactly dazzling either, the lack of truly interesting material begins to shine through and the lack of time for the development will more then likely be the cause for that. 'Hector's Death' (a nice spoiler track since they inserted large pictures with the names in the booklet so anyone that didn't see the film, and doesn't know his history, such as myself can forget about enjoying this film any further, perhaps the evil four note motif was a warning in advance?) is only having percussion and some boring use of Tanja Tzarovska while the final 2 tracks give us a whopping 23 minutes of less inspiring Horner music. 'The Wooden Horse and the Sacking of Troy' has the darker fanfares, the secondary theme, the solo vocal and the song theme but really doesn't sustain any large interest overall. And 'Through the Fires, Achilles ... and Immortality' is only warning us more with the evil four note motif from the start, the vocal and some Lawrence of Arabia fanfares (that do sound nice when they perform the song theme) while the solo vocal and choir make way for the secondary bronze versions of the good sub theme of track 3, while all heard at least a moment of interest returns to greet the ending. Basically, these final minutes are an indication that this release is 20 minutes too long because it doesn't bring any new music, just a send off with material we already knew, and Horner definitely didn't have the time to come up with variations of the evil four note motif or the spark to bring new material in the end, so it was Horner's fault for assigning him to a project as this, because he doesn't need the money to make his day, so he could have rejected the turn by himself. The lack of truly interesting material, apart from the secondary theme or the fanfares is what makes of Troy an acceptable album, only because of the time constraints and the fact that Horner at times did good work. But of course the question is whether Gabriel Yared's effort was better then the one we received in the end, and whether all the commotion was worth it or not. The song which is as unfitting as my dog in three musketeers clothing is what stops the album and shows one thing, Horner did it for the commercial intentions and there is nothing wrong with that, but Troy was in the end always a Pandora box not to be opened. And he did open it!

\ตตต/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. 3200 Years Ago (3.36)

2. Troy (5.01)

3. Achilles Leads The Myrmidons (8.30)

4. The Temple Of Poseidon (3.27)

5. The Night Before (3.28)

6. The Greek Army And Its Defeat (9.38)

7. Briseis And Achilles (5.19)

8. The Trojans Attack (5.01)

9. Hector's Death (3.27)

10. The Wooden Horse And The Sacking Of Troy (10.02)

11. Through The Fires, Achilles ... And Immortality (13.27)

12. Remember Me: Josh Groban & Tanja Tzarovska (4.18)

Total Length: 75.23

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: James Horner ===