• Composed by Ramin Djawadi

Continuing the long-established trend of movies based on video games being released to critical acclaim, Uncharted has set the box office alight with its tale of a grouchy archaeologist (played by veteran British character actor Tom Hollander) scouring the world in search of the ark of the covenant proving to be an instant hit with audiences around the world. Composer Ramin Djawadi wrote one of his best scores last year for Eternals so seemed to be a solid pick for the movie (though the obvious choice would surely have been Greg Edmonson). As with his recent Marvel score, this one starts with a simple but pretty attractive main theme – simple being very much this composer’s modus operandi – it has a certain ear-worm quality to it and I admit to liking it quite a lot even if it is somewhat generic. It does at least stick in the memory after it finishes, at one time a basic expectation of a film’s main musical theme but these days about as common as a goat in a bikini.

Speaking of bikinis, I once read that back in ancient times the Celts would craft them out of wood during the winter months and then store them ready for summer, and on average it took them two minutes to make. Had this album been available to those Celts then they’d have been able to play the main theme, start crafting a bikini and by the time they had finished, so would the main theme – which would be absolutely perfect, because then they would be able to stop the album and not have to listen to the rest of it. Unfortunately, it isn’t particularly interesting at all: lots of electronic textures, drum loops, a bit of sneaking-around heist-type music and directionless action music with little coherent connecting tissue. It’s a shame – it feels a bit like the sort of thing Djawadi used to do earlier in his career. The occasional very nice bit of gentle guitar music is the only time it feels like there’s any real soul behind it, and even if the film isn’t much cop, that falls way short of what you’d expect of the music. Don’t expect to hear Edmonson’s theme from the video games anywhere, either. A missed opportunity.

Rating: **

facebook.com/moviewave | twitter.com/MovieWaveDotNet | amazon.com