Soundtrack Review: Fast & Furious (2009)
If you're new here, you may like to get all my posts in your feed reader using my RSS feed or get all Soundtrack Geek posts by Email. Also check out Soundtrack Fans, a new social network for soundtrack fans. Thanks for visiting!
This is a review of the motion picture score Fast & Furious by Brian Tyler.
“While overlong and familiar, Fast and Furious is still entertaining and a good step up from its straight-forward predecessor”
The test of how much you REALLY like a composer is measured by your ability to tolerate sameness. Sometimes this gets laughable; an Amazon review of Transformers excuses the Batman Begins rips because they are lovingly done so. WHAT?! Anyways, Brian Tyler has been a sensational action composer, but even diehard fans have to admit his style is quite familiar by now. Fast and Furious is thus a good test of how willing you are to excuse a Tyler score that breaks no new ground, for it is heavily indebted to his past works, especially those from last year.
Action
Obviously the readers are here for the action, and as expected Tyler delivers, thankfully with a more varied and developed approach than the one in Tokyo Drift that had a killer first cue but was pretty samey by the end. Here things get off to a rumbling, electronic start in “Landtrain”, which slowly builds up its orchestral presence until it races off in its second half. The three-note race motif from Tokyo Drift return in “The Tunnel” and “Dom vs. Brian”. The former cue has brass work and a grungy style that surprisingly mirrors “Pursuit at Port Au Prince” from Quantum of Solace, though the cue is imbued with enough rocking Tyler sensibilities to make most listeners overlook this. The latter is the most exciting cue on the album, mixed with a surprisingly large high string presence and a well-textured electronic backup. Those looking for a reprise of this score’s predecessor’s style should delight in parts of “In The Name of the Father” and the first half of “The Showdown.” “All of these cues bear stylistic similarities to Tyler’s action canon, especially the driving rhythms of Eagle Eye and the rumbling percussion and brass usage from Rambo. While Tyler may lose points for failing to surprise listeners, the energy thrown in prevents the approach from sounding tired.
Main Theme
The main theme here is a mournful guitar tune that could’ve come straight out of a Western, appropriate for the film’s Mexican plot and moving here on album. A lack of variation is ultimately the same problem that existed for the main theme in Tokyo Drift; what is restrained yet stirring in “Letty” gets a bit familiar by the end. A notable exception is the surprising “Suite”, featuring moments of melodic grandeur no one thought they’d hear from anything in this series. Another guitar theme enters in “Amends” and is quite reflective in “Brian and Mia” (and somewhat stylistically indebted to “Neela Drifts”), and the meditative spirit continues in the opening of “Vaya Con Dios” and most of the final five cues. A few other minor motifs arise but none are particularly memorable. Overall, the style and themes doesn’t break any new ground for the composer (as the recent score for The Lazarus Project will attest), but Tyler deserves some commendation for giving a film like this an actual, emotional identity (yes, I’m glaring at you, David Arnold). As to be expected from an entry in this series, there will be a number of “hip, cool” electronic tracks. The work here is more hard-edged than in this score’s predecessor; one only has to compare the first tracks of this type on each album, those being “Saucin’” and “Fast and Furious”, to notice the difference. This time it feels a bit more at home in the body of the material, and they’re certainly more at home here than the few inserts in this year’s Dragonball: Evolution (and far better than any of the rocknroll style in Iron Man), though any traditional score fan will still lament a bit. Even the people who love this kind of stuff (even I’ll admit cues like “Accelerator” can be head-banging fun) will be puzzled by the repetitive, offbeat vocal insert in “Outta Sight”.
Conclusion
The underscore is where the real surprises are though. Wait, you didn’t take that sentence seriously, did you? “Revenge”, “Vaya Con Dios”, the first half of “In The Name of the Father”, “Tracer”, “Fate”, “The Exchange”…all are technically nice but also reprises of textures and instrumentation heard before in Eagle Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, hell, even Timeline. This gets a bit more problematic when the second half of the album is mostly dominated by this identity; top-heaviness is a notable trait even on some of Tyler’s better albums like Timeline and Children of Dune and a bummer here. Listeners who dislike this kind of arrangement will get complacent, while even Tyler’s action fans will feel the album loses steam in its final third. While overlong and familiar, Fast and Furious is still entertaining and a good step up from its straight-forward predecessor, and if you aren’t bothered by the issues mentioned above (read: you’re a rabid Tyler fan) than this should probably count as a must have.
1. Landtrain (6:25)
2. Fast and Furious (2:10)
3. The Border (3:21)
4. Letty (2:13)
5. The Tunnel (3:35)
6. Amends (2:46)
7. Dom vs Brian (6:51)
8. Hanging With Dom (2:29)
9. Suite (4:02)
10. Revenge (2:32)
11. Accelerator (2:04)
12. Vaya Con Dios (2:00)
13. In The Name Of The Father (4:20)
14. Outta Sight (2:59)
15. Brian and Mia (3:18)
16. Tracer (2:04)
17. Letty’s Cell Phone (3:44)
18. Real Drivers (2:30)
19. Fate (4:28)
20. The Exchange (4:15)
21. No Goodbyes (1:23)
22. Vengeance (2:57)
23. Memorial (1:42)
24. The Showdown (2:05)
25. Judgment (1:48)
Listen to Fast & Furious by Brian Tyler below:
Film Review for Fast & Furious
Other articles of interest:
(15 votes, average: 7.73 out of 10)
Loading ...If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Only heard the first cue thus far, but let it be known to all, that I, who gave Tyler’s much-loved EAGLE EYE 3/10 and was largely unimpressed with Tyler’s ‘08 output, even though I very much consider myself a fan, thought the last 6 or so minutes was f**king incredible! Everything that was great about Tokyo Drift with added thrills to match the high octane. Amazing! Best cue of ‘09 so far? I don’t know, but this score has my full attention now!
Had lots of action! and i wouldn’t mind seeing it again. It maintains an interest level all throughout the movie which keeps us away from getting distracted.
Soundtrack Seek
This is definitely better than the Fast & Furious 1 and 3. Though I feel a bit short-changed by the smilarities to Bangkok Dangerous, as you mentioned.
Steves last blog post..Anger Management (Recording Sessions) by Teddy Castellucci
Reply
Jorn Tillnes Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Funny you should mention that. I felt some parts of Dragonball was similar as well. Hope he’s not doing a loop. Still, I do enjoy his latest effort. There’s enough there to keep me satisfied.
Reply