Friday, March 30, 2012

Film Score Friday! James Newton Howard - The Hunger Games


The Hunger Games released a week ago along with a 'soundtrack' of songs inspired by The Hunger Games. However it was until this week that we got a taste of the music we actually heard in the film done by the very well known James Newton Howard. This time around I actually got a chance to see the movie, and I'm working on trying to get a review out for the movie itself.

This score is a sweeping epic, that fits perfectly to the film, as expected from someone like Howard. I'm not super familiar with the other scores Howard has done other than his collaboration on Batman Begins and Dark Knight with Hans Zimmer, and A Beautiful Mind although I can say it has some similarities to the more somber moments in A Beautiful Mind, and the piece 'Learning The Skills' almost reminds me of something from Dark Knight at first but it quickly changes to it's own piece.

Rue's Farewell is a notable piece in that it works fantastically well for the scene it's accompanied with. IT's quieter and sad, but it does a great job with the scene.

The score has a motif which plays through a few of the songs. It's hard to explain in text but there is a like three note sound that plays through a couple of the songs to help bring the score together as a whole, which is definitely a great touch.

The most notable piece for me, not that it's my favorite track on the score, but because it's the most different is 'The Horn Of Plenty' which is the only track to feature a choir in the background of the track and has this almost anthem like feel to it.

Overall it's a good score to listen to even if you haven't seen the film yet. While he's not my all time favorite composer, Howard is a fantastic one who proves himself over and over. He's done very well with this score.

Here's a cool track from it:


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