Film Reviews

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Soundtrack Review

31st Jul 2014

Michael Giacchio steps in to have a bash and a bong on the Apes soundtrack. And there are plenty of bongs and bashes to hear on this decent foray into soundtrack work for the long running franchise. And franchise work seems to be what the composer specialises in at the moment after successful runs with Star Trek and Mission Impossible (With Jurassic World looming next year).

Whether you are a fan of Michael Giacchino’s work or not – his pallet is becoming all the more clear as his work continues. Fans of his work a decade ago in shows like Lost will see that his lingering, plinky-plonky, piano work is his “go to mode” for the quieter moments of the film. We suspect when his direction is “character inner-reflection” he opens the piano lid and then fingers away the repeated notes.

For the grander scale compositions he is more than capable however of getting right to the core of what is on screen. Naturally, as a large part of the cast consist of apes living in a forest, you can be sure that the music is going to get somewhat tribal. There are also faint echoes of Jerry Goldsmith’s original work, but this is Giacchino’s work through and through.

We suspect Giacchino is yet to produce some of his best work yet to come and that his name will become all the more familiar to fans of music scores the world over. This is a strong effort that suggests he’s more than capable of the sum of the parts that were needed to fulfil the job.