Now that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have won the Golden Globe for Best Original Film Score, I thought I should try to explore my thoughts about Trent Reznor and Film music.
I read the other day that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been asked to score the US remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
SIDEBAR – This is not a post about whether or not a remake should be made at all, only a couple years after the original foreign film was released (2009). Nor is this a review about Jacob Groth’s effort on that film.
The first thought I had about the news of Reznor and Atticus was that I wouldn’t like their score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and that maybe Trent should stick with writing his Nine Inch Nails music in his electronica/pop genre, because, in my opinion… he has created a lot of music that I love and have listened to for years!
After, thinking about it, I’m wondering to myself why I have contempt prior to investigation.
I’m still deep in consideration, but here’s what I know right now…
Out of all the scores that I’ve purchased this year, The Social Network is the only one that is almost entirely electronic.
When I first heard who was scoring The Social Network, I was looking forward to hearing it! I knew that Reznor could do many things musical. Combine that with the guy who wrote the very cool score for The Book of Eli, and I don’t really see how it could be bad.
Finally I heard it.
The Social Network was a great underscore for the on screen manifestation of Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay. I write underscore because, to be honest with you, aside from the electronic version of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, it isn’t really all that memorable to me besides being Reznor’s first foray into film scoring. And while it was different sounding compared to film scores released around the same time, it isn’t a stretch from what I was hoping Reznor could do. And in thinking of things that he’s already done like The Downward Spiral, The Social Network just seems like B-side Reznor noodleing. Harsh, but that’s how I feel.
If I had to guess, it sounds like Atticus deferred to Reznor. I can hear elements of him buried at sporadic intervals throughout the score, but overall… it feels like Reznor to me.
With all that said, I should also write that their first joint effort does not a voice make. (God that sounds pretentious). I guess I hope that when they do team up again for their next effort, I want them to flex their musical muscles, and blow me away like I know they can.
Commentary from a musical brain 