The Phantom

As a superhero, The Phantom almost seems like a bit of a wannabe. He's one of those superheros who doesn't have any special powers, he can't fly (Superman) doesn't have an abnormal ability (Spiderman) or even any cool gadgets (Batman) in fact all he does have is a purple suit. Very intimidating. The net result is that this big screen working of the character comes out more like a lame Indiana Jones adventure yarn than a gizmo and visual effects filled extravaganza. For my money, I thought the film was pretty awful, Billy Zane looked half asleep most of the time and Catherine Zeta Jones gave an absolutely dreadful performance as a kind of femme fatale. The directing and action were admittedly better than the acting, but everything was helped immensely by David Newman's thrill ride of a score.

Of course, any sub-Indy Jones film is liable, if the composer isn't careful, to end up with a sub-John Williams adventure score. As John Williams' efforts for the infamous archeologist are so memorable, it's difficult to escape their confines completely, but David Newman's music is far from feeble immitation and has enough of its own personality. Of course, there is a central, heroic theme which is given its first major outing in The Phantom. It is a sad fact that many composers who attempt to ape John Williams' leitmotif approach simply fail because they repeat the major theme over and over with little or no variation. It is refreshing then to find that Newman is much more imaginative than that and while the theme is used frequently, he has enough re-interpretations to keep it fresh and avoid the score being just one long repeat of the main theme.

To add something to the traditional orchestral pallette, Newman has woven in enough extra ideas including tribal percussion, the odd strange synth effect as well as chanting chorus all of which is used sparingly so the impact is heightened when something is added to the standard orchestra. Of course much of the running time is spent in action music territory which is often quite thrilling. The main theme doesn't quite function as a thrill button moment of heroism, but as more of a form of musical glue to keep the score a cohesive whole, but just about avoiding outstaying its welcome. There are some quieter moments, the steamy and mildly romantic Must be the Humidity as well as a brief and strangely twisted bit of big band music for Diana Must Leave. The lengthy final cue starts with action, but eventually passes into the modest end credits which reprises the more romantic music to form a rather subdued coda to the rest of the score.

As with many David Newman scores, I would have to admit that there isn't exactly much that you couldn't find in any number of John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith action scores. Having said that, I don't think one would likely mistake Newman's work for the work of either of those two great composers. He hasn't deliberately attempted to write a score that strays from the genre boundaries, but does infuse enough of his own personality to prevent it from resting in generic hell. Anyone with a genuinely good adventure movie would certainly do well to hire Newman as he is more than capable of writing music that incorporates old fasioned orchestral grandeur as well as a few modern electronic touches that serve to enhance rather than create the texture of the music. There are a few occasions where the largeness of scale that Newman uses for his action music does mean that you rather hope for a little more respite in between, but otherwise enjoyable, often thrilling and highly recommended.