This is a review of the motion picture score for V for Vendetta by Dario Marianelli.

This is part three of my 3 part series of Dario Marianelli scores. I wanted to show you a different side of Dario Marianelli and this is certainly different from Pride & Prejudice and Atonement. It’s an action score first, dramatic score second. He is definitely a drama composer, which is why listening to an action score of this magnitude is so fun. Everyone has an idea about what makes a composer great. Some say it is the ability to create their own excellent style and some say it is the consistency in the scores which they make. I would say Dario Marianelli doesn’t fit in either of those categories, but with scores like this, you can see whether a composer can do any genre and do it well, if a composer can do that, then we can talk about greatness. Here is the track list for V for Vendetta:

1. Remember Remember
2. Cry Me A River (Song by Julie London)
3. …Governments Should Be Afraid Of Their People…
4. Evey’s Story
5. Lust At The Abbey
6. The Red Diary
7. Valerie
8. Evey Reborn
9. I Found A Reason (Song by Cat Power)
10. England Prevails
11. The Dominoes Fall
12. Bird Gurhl (Song by Antony & The Johnsons)
13. Knives And Bullets (And Cannons Too)

I will only concentrate on the 10 cues by Dario Marianelli which is quite lengthy and total play time is 54:56. Like the last cue says, “Knives and Bullets (and Cannons too)”, Dario Marianelli has really went to the store and gotten some serious firepower. It starts off appropriately with the cannons or in this case Timpani drums. Unlike Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, this uses a lot of heavy percussion and horns of war.

It isn’t all war and explosions though. A lot of these cues start off fairly quiet, but most of them seem to end up in a massacre of sounds in the end. I’m very happy with the effort Dario Marianelli has made on this score. He even uses a synthesizer in there as well a few times, but unlike most of his peers, it is only used sparsely and he sticks to his classical instruments throughout. Dario Marianelli has produced a good action movie score and it’s only fitting that it goes out with a bang, namely Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with all the cannons blazing and fireworks exploding in the sky. It just goes to show that Dario Marianelli is more than just a drama composer and can do action and suspense just as well. Listen to V For Vendetta below:

[tags]dario marianelli, soundtrack review, movie score review, soundtrack, movie score, movie music, film music, film score, dominoes fall, pride prejudice, timpani drums, action score, dramatic score, v for vendetta, reason song, story lust, julie london, cat power, cannons, atonement, play time, dominoes, firepower, cues, antony, greatness, explosions, bullets[/tags]

STOP! Make sure you check out the Movie Scores and Soundtrack Reviews section for more movie soundtracks and movie scores before you go!