Search - O.S.T. :: Dark City

Violent, dark, nostalgic... You'll need new adrenaline gland

Bram Janssen | The Netherlands | 07/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Trevor Jones' score for "Dark City" is a dark, violent nightmare trip to another universe. Even the quieter, subtler moments don't get spared from a general feeling of unease. Even though the music is rich with synthesizer effects, the music still manages to sound authentic and exceedingly creepy.



The main theme is a musical piece like steam-powered locomotive: a driving baseline over a synthesized Gregorian choir, with slowly culminating percussion and exploding into a mushroom cloud of brass and string -- which by all means compares best with a pitch-black, nightmarish, "underwater" version of Alan Silvestri's music for "Predator."



The action cues in "Dark City" are amongst Jones' best - arguably THE best he ever did. When the main theme isn't ripping your adrenaline glands apart, the music for the many fights and chases in the film will. "You Have The Power" (which underscores the final - Neo versus Smith-like - battle between the protagonist and the leader of the Strangers) is amongst the darkest, most driven action music written for film in the 90s. It's enormous and will leave you behind sweating and gasping for air.



Yes, the music settles down every now and then as well, but the easier piano or string cues are - almost - always accompanied by unsettling synthesizer effects, the slow baseline from the main theme, or a creepy choir-effect. And even when it's not unsettling, it's always melancholic, nostalgic and unspeakably sad.



I suppose, to counter all this violence, the album's producers decided to put some regular songs on the album, which I think are unremarkable and superfluous. The exceptions are the two nightclub songs performed by Anita Kelsey, who dubbed Jennifer Connelly's singing in the movie. These are very nice and really fit in with the rest of the album.



All in all, I think this is Trevor Jones' crowning achievement of the 90s. And for a score that's so dark, violent and nostalgic, that's saying a lot.



This one gets four stars.



Bram Janssen,

The Netherlands"

A Milestone in Movie Scores!

panagathos | 12/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Trevor Jones became my favorite composer after I heard this album 4 years ago. His score is outstanding. The amazing thing with Jones is that he is capable to compose both brutal (like the main theme) and romantic (like #11, or the theme from "Sea of Love") cues that hook every listener. And I am not talking about just good music. I am talking about excellent melodies of rare beauty. The Dark City soundtrack is magnificent and worths 10 Oscars! Brutal, heavy, dramatic fully thematic and with the (virtual) orchestra at the last track giving a unique performance!! Buy it without hesitations. Jones score THE score of 1998!!"

Jones delivers a dark score

Brandon Cutro | Tyler, Texas United States | 12/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack, while good does disappoint me in the fact that it is half songs and half score. The songs I could much less do without, even though they are not that bad, while the score is pretty good. Trevor Jones' score is very dark, hence the title of the film and mixes synthesizers with orchestra. The orchestrations in the score are very thick and heavy and the result is a wall to wall sound. As Danny Elfman used a male choir in his dark score to Batman, Jones uses one in this score to convey the darkness and oppression. Cues such as "Into the City" and "The Wall" feature some awesome action music that Jones is good at. "Emma" is a soft and gentle cue with guitars and "Memories of Shell Beach" is a delicate string theme. Another track to mention is "The Strangers Are Tuning" which contains lots of drums and tons of brass. However, the best track of them all is the last one "You Have the Power" which is an awesome 12 minute finale that utilizes all of the themes heard in the previous tracks, with a barnstorming action cue to open the track and a full orchestral tour de force to finish it off. I suggest getting this soundtrack and unless you enjoy the songs that appear first, skip them and go to the score because that is where the music is at. Lots of orchestral power make this a great score and a bright future for Trevor Jones."