S.W.A.T.

Not, as you might have thought, a film about an extremely diligent student, SWAT (or rather S.W.A.T. - but I can't be bothered to use the. so often) is a spin off from the short lived 70's television series, of which I'd bit not previously heard. This update stars the curiously uninspiring Colin Farrell along with the king of cool acting, Samuel L Jackson (we won't mention the credit card ads, ok Sam?) and is about an elite police team. Would it be a personal insult to Elliot Goldenthal to describe the score as what one might expect if he worked for Media Ventures? Quite probably. However, with the electric guitars and industrial strength percussion of the opening Bullet Frenzy (is it me or doesn't that sound like it ought to be a track from one of the The Matrix scores?), it's not an entirely unfair description of SWAT.

After the almost relentless Bullet Frenzy, Don't Shoot Me Baby is one of the handful of laid back cues which have a slightly more generic urban groove to them, but it's still potent; you can feel the mean streets. However, it's with the tub thumping action that Goldenthal's way with the orchestra, and his ability to use samples and electronic manipulation effectively, comes to the fore. My Big Black Assault Weapon is brief, but the echoing trumpet motif (a million miles from Patton, mind you) manages to invoke a curiously retro feel, while clearly being a 21st century track. Later, Bullet Run For Your Life, Crash Landing and Bullet Frenzy II continue the imaginative mixture of acoustic and digital. There isn't much in the way of a recurring theme; SWAT 911 and SWAT Sticker feature the TV show's original theme, the former performed by Danny Saber and the latter, an even more effective arrangement by Goldenthal. However, the lack of a strong central melody isn't a problem when all the brief ideas - percussive and melodic - work together so well, even if they are only used the once.

SWAT is hardly the most challenging film that Goldenthal has scored (although probably some way ahead of Batman and Robin) and while it's not exactly his most complex and accomplished score, it is certainly several cuts above the quality expected for this kind of flick. There is the typical Goldenthalian nervous energy running through the action music which pushes it from bombastic aural wallpaper to a state of tense frenzy heightening the excitement rather than just competing with the sound effects. Having said that, the percussion does keep things a little more linear, providing a consistent pulse and rarely allowing any slack and little calm. Even the seemingly quiet tracks seem tense. The album is rounded out by two stylistically appropriate songs that shouldn't be passed up just because they're not Goldenthal. A loud, aggressive action score, but with bags more invention and personality than that implies. Recommended.