Visit the Movie Wave Store | Movie Wave Home | Reviews by Title | Reviews by Composer | Contact me D-WAR Latest McScore is faintly enjoyable at times - but nothing new A review by JAMES SOUTHALL Music composed by STEVE JABLONSKY Rating * *

Performed by UNNAMED ORCHESTRA conducted by BLAKE NEELY Additional music JONATHAN FLOOD PIETER A. SCHLOSSER Orchestration ROSSANO GALANTE Engineered by JEFFREY BIGGERS Music Editor TOM TRAFALSKI Produced by STEVE JABLONSKY Album running time 44:01 Released by MILAN Catalog number SB90109C Album cover copyright (c) 2007 Sony/BMG.; review copyright (c) 2007 James Southall

Sure to be one of the most important motion pictures of all time, D-War is about various monsters attacking the inhabitants of earth.  South Korean-made, with a cast of virtually unknown American actors, sitting on the shelf for three years before getting a release, generally abysmal reviews - the omens were not good, but somehow it has grossed a fortune in international markets before even opening in the US.  The film's score - by Steve Jablonsky - has already been released in South Korea, and Milan is slated to do so in more traditional markets. I hate to harp on about it, but once again I must say that this is another of those Remote Control scores which could accompany absolutely any type of action film - there's no personality of its own, and had it been presented as "More music from The Peacemaker" it would have been no surprise to me.  However, it wasn't, it was presented as D-War and, while I hardly expected a Remote Control composer to bother trying to do anything as extravagent as Ed Shearmur's Reign of Fire, there's always that little bit of hope that one of them might try to break free and write something that isn't generic. "Generic" is the word of choice to describe this score, though - it's like the boring bits in between the explosive action cues in Hans Zimmer's old action scores.  No personality of its own, no memorable themes until right at the very end for the lovely last couple of tracks, completely bland orchestration - it's a surprise that a foreign director would actively seek out a score like this.  However, I'm sure a great many people will find a lot more to recommend about this album than I can: for all its obvious flaws, fundamentally if your thing is Hans Zimmer-style action music then this will be your thing, and it's certainly not as bad as some of the scores in that vein have been. The music has been heard so many times before, it's beginning to not really matter how much fun it might be - it's still not as fun as The Rock and The Peacemaker, and without any discernable identity of its own, I'm not sure I see the point any more.  If you know you like this sound, you'll love it I'm sure - but if you can only take it in small doses, you're unlikely to find much here for you.  Disappointing - even if it's awful, the film is the type which is more than capable of inspiring fine film music. Tracks Immogi (2:19) The Legend Awakes (5:57) Village Attack (5:40) Love Theme (1:40) Yeouijoo (2:57) General and his Army (1:00) Second Life (1:18) Destiny (2:55) Battle in the Sky (2:24) Hypnosis and Flashback (2:32) Cafe Attack (1:58) Rooftop Showdown (2:31) The Altar (2:22) Buraki (2:52) D-War (1:01) Farewell (2:41) Arirang (3:16)