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The Hunger Games: (James Newton Howard/Various)
There seems to be an infinite number of perspectives that a person could
use to praise or denounce the concept and execution of 2012's hit movie,
The Hunger Games. The Suzanne Collins bleak world was an
immediate goldmine for Lionsgate, netting hundreds of millions of
dollars of profits within weeks of the release of first of the author's
three novels. As offensive as the story of
The Hunger Games may
be to parents, its inherent value as social commentary has to be
considered. In a post-apocalyptic North America hundreds of years in the
future, the wealthy aristocrats of the nation of Panem amuse themselves
and punish the surrounding, impoverished districts of suffering people
by forcing teenage representatives from each area to annually kill each
other in televised, gladiatorial-styled games hosted by the capitol
city. When two young acquaintances from District 12 decide to team up in
their efforts to thwart the production mechanisms of the game, there are
real consequences for the viewers of the spectacle and those who run it,
setting the stage for rebellion and other social upheaval in subsequent
movies in the franchise. There is no doubt a range of offensive subtexts
in
The Hunger Games, and these issues spilled over into
controversies involving race and body image upon the film's release.
Still, critics praised the concept's thoughtfulness and the target
teenage audiences ensured the franchise's future by keeping this first
entry's showings packed. The soundtrack for
The Hunger Games is
about as polarizing as the film itself, a source of some of the
production's controversy and experiencing personnel and strategic
mishaps. Director Gary Ross, who had only worked with Randy Newman in
his prior major efforts, decided upon the pairing of composer Danny
Elfman and songwriter and record producer T-Bone Burnett, raising high
expectations for the kind of hybrid score that could result. Ultimately,
this partnership dissolved, officially due to scheduling conflicts, but
rumors stating Elfman's dissatisfaction with the production leaked as
well. Whether by Burnett's guidance or Ross' misdirection, the
soundtrack became a haphazard mess of a plethora of original and
existing instrumental placements and songs. At the last minute, James
Newton Howard was brought on board to write a score in three weeks that
would itself be moved or partially dismissed in favor of silence.
Howard, having stepped in to save
King Kong seven
years earlier, was not adverse to working in problematic productions,
though
The Hunger Games had the unique distinction of causing
major disgruntlement during its recording process. The recording of the
score in London caused the musicians' union in Los Angeles to picket
another Lionsgate production, particularly placing orchestrator and
conductor Pete Anthony (who was president of the union) in a difficult
position after he had allegedly participated in this score's execution.
Meanwhile, Ross' decision to allow many of the scenes in
The Hunger
Games to exist without any music at all caused a significant portion
of Howard's 80 minutes of music to go unused. Additionally, almost all
of the most memorable music in the movie was licensed from or written by
other artists. Burnett himself, for instance, composed a popular lullaby
("Deep in the Meadow") for an important character relationship.
Meanwhile, Burnett collaborated with Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of
Arcade Fire for other notable sequences, including the "Abraham's
Daughter" song for the end credits. The latter pair wrote arguably the
most famous piece of music for the film, the "Horn of Plenty" serenade
of Roman fanfares that was arranged and incorporated in part by Howard
in the orchestral and choral score. On top of that, Taylor Swift and The
Civil Wars provided supplementary songs, and the production licensed
everything from the vintage "Hypnotic Brass Ensemble" to a track from
The Chemical Brothers'
Hanna soundtrack. In line with the latter
inclusion are several similarly atmospheric and sometimes disturbing
selections, including Chas Smith's "A Wasp on Her Abdomen" and Laurie
Spiegel's "Sediment," neither of which could be classified as any more
pleasant than the mind-numbing personality of
Hanna. Other source
placements abound, and to Burnett's credit, these sounds often yield a
similar blend of disenfranchised minimalism and slight bluegrass style.
The score by Howard particularly picked up on this direction, though
don't be surprised if you find yourself questioning the boundaries
between the source music and the original score. Orchestral music from
other sources was licensed as well for
The Hunger Games, further
muddying the picture. A vaguely Middle-Eastern character to Howard's
part is another allusion to Roman influence over a similarly depraved
world, extending the feeling of vaguely displaced reality that permeates
much of the movie's overall soundtrack.
With the song compilation album "inspired by"
The
Hunger Games (which doesn't even include any of the licensed outside
sources and is connected to the movie only by its offering of the three
end credits songs) topping sales charts, the score and its surprisingly
short album have gone far less noticed. Wild fans of the concept will
find key music from the film missing from both albums, something of a
minor tragedy given that the solo female singing (the lullaby) and other
source placements would have enjoyed a comfortable home alongside
Howard's score on the 44-minute album that instead only provides his
orchestral material. Some of the veteran composer's music as heard in
the film is reportedly missing from the album (not including a
significant portion, by some accounts up to half an hour in length, that
was rejected from the movie), though two the cues that were struck from
the final cut are provided. It's easy to get the impression when
listening to the score-only album that you are hearing just a fraction
of the musical personality of
The Hunger Games as a whole, and
that may be reason alone to dismiss the product as a failure. The
quality of Howard's contributions will range depending on the listener's
attachment to the concept and acceptance of the composer's less obvious,
more atmospheric endeavors. Fans of
The Hunger Games who really
appreciated the softer sections of
I Am Legend will likely be
highly impressed by the textural intelligence and melodic development of
his score. For others, the lack of emotionally overwhelming thematic
grace, a clear identity for the lead character, sustained or original
action material (a result of the film's equal lack of lengthy fighting
sequences), or distinctive narrative flow will cause
The Hunger
Games to reside closer to
Green Lantern on the scale of
Howard's fantasy achievements. On a first or second casual listen, this
score could be extremely boring and emotionally distant. In such
experiences, the composer's alienating tone will be the defining
characteristic of the work. Occasional exotic woodwinds, the alternating
use of cold dulcimer and cimbalom to denote a sense of "home," a
fiddle-styled violin for a bluegrass spirit of Burnett inspiration, and
wildly clicking percussive effects together produce a dispiriting
environment in which periodic vocal layers, somewhat tired electronic
sounds, and more conventional orchestral meanderings attempt to steer
the score's recurring constructs. Only in "Muttations" does Howard
unleash a full-blooded action cue, almost closer to the horror realm,
and it's an extremely brash and challenging diversion from the otherwise
simmering remainder.
The problems detailed above about Howard's struggles to
find the right sound for
The Hunger Games should not encourage
one of his collectors to disregard the score completely, however. The
composer does feature a variety of intelligent ideas, including some
themes, that he utilizes to yield fleeting but highly effective
emotional interludes. The aforementioned dulcimer and cimbalom identity
for District 12 is introduced immediately in "The Hunger Games" but
doesn't really have a substantial impact until its development in "We
Could Go Home." A series of three note string phrases in "Katniss Afoot"
may be the closest listeners will hear to a theme for the lead
character, the idea recurring to denote the notion of movement in
"Searching for Peeta." Two themes of evil show the procedural dread and
pompous glitz of the lavish aristocracy and its capitol city in an
effective dichotomy. The former is embodied by the rising four note bass
string rhythm in "Reaping Day" and "The Countdown" while Arcade Fire's
"Horn of Plenty" furthers the Roman suggestions in Howard's full
adaptation of the melody and its preview in "Preparing the Chariots."
Two themes of redemption counter these representations of darkness,
however, one a clear highlight of the score (the "death theme") and the
other a hidden one (the "tragedy theme"). The more obvious of the two is
the death theme for the character of Rue and other combatants, a
standard Howard expression of orchestral sorrow heard in "Rue's
Farewell" and "Tenuous Winners/Returning Home" that will solicit the
most attention of any of the dramatic cues on the album. A separate
tragedy theme seems like one aimed more at social commentary, sometimes
stated by solo cello in a rising series of notes heard first in "The
Train" and returning in "We Could Go Home" and "Tenuous Winners." None
of the original Howard themes will compete in listeners' memory with the
fanfare in "Horn of Plenty" or the pretty lullaby by Burnett absent from
the first two albums. It's difficult to recommend the rather short,
score-only album for these and a variety of other reasons relating to
continuity. Even if you consider Howard's score (including the unused
cues, which are impressive additions) as a separate entity, you
encounter issues with understatement and thematic muddiness. Like most
decent Howard scores, there are individual moments of melodrama or
intriguing percussion employment that will merit repeat attention. As a
whole, however, don't be surprised if you find a large number of
non-concept enthusiasts writing
The Hunger Games off as a
disappointment. Regardless of where you exist in this spectrum of
opinion, it's difficult not to ponder what Elfman would have conjured
for this franchise.
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| Bias Check: | For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.31 (in 54 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.25
(in 59,409 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a list of performers and a note from the
director about working with Howard.
