2012

As Roland Emmerich's films have progressed over the years they sure have gotten dumber. After a somewhat promising start with films like The Patriot and Stargate, Emmerich ended up falling into the style where his films became goofy. The most recent, 2012, really takes the cake. For some reason Emmerich ended up dropping David Arnold after his first few projects (that was a pair that could have worked well) and instead went with Harold Kloser and Thomas Wander (Wanker doesn't look good on an album's credits) who consequently scored this project.

2012 is a moody score, to say the least. Pounding bass is combined with deep brass. For the scenes in the film where the world is going to hell in a handbasket, percussion, electronics, and fast paced orchestra are all combined to create a thrilling sound. Unfortunately, that's about all you get from 2012. Each track is repetitive, consisting of mostly melodic sound. Sometimes there is actually some sort of theme, the best example being 'Ashes in D.C.'

What's disappointing about the score to 2012 is that there were so many oppurtunities to create a fun and explosive score. Did it have to be a David Arnold soundtrack? No, but a little creativity for such an over the top project would have been inspired. The problem with the album is that Harold Kloser and Thomas Wander both take the project too seriously, only occasionally showing brief hints of impressive orchestral themes. The rest is a throw away.