James Newton Howard is one of my favorite composers. Though he collaborates with M. Night Shyamalan on horrible movies, the music is quite good - especially so in their latest work, The Last Airbender.
The Last Airbender originated as a Nickelodeon cartoon, and it had its own music that was certainly worth listening to. When Shyamalan and Howard announced they were going to compose original music, fans were disgruntled. However, the music is so good it's likely the fans will change their minds, despite the movie's quality. Simply put, it's fantastic.
Howard has composed one of the best scores of the digital age with his incredible creativity and orchestral harmony. If you enjoyed his previous scores, but longed for him to put together some true orchestral harmony without losing his very original stile (intentional misspelling), you'll find all you've wanted in this engrossing score.
Airbender Suite: *****
Earthbenders: *****
The Avatar Has Returned: *****
The Four Elements Test: *****
Journey to the Northern Water Tribe: *****
Hall of Avatars: *****
Prologue: *****
The Blue Spirit: *****/****
The Spirit World: *****/****
We Could Be Friends: *****
We Are Now the Gods: *****
Flow Like Water: *****
The order of the tracks is fairly wonky, with Prologue appearing as the seventh track. It would make far more sense with Prologue being switched with Airbender Suite.
The first major theme to appear shows up in Prologue (I treat it as the first track). It appears at the 00:56 mark, a beautiful string theme of pairs of ascending chords. It works stunningly well, and though it may not be the most stunningly memorable main theme you've heard, your mind is likely to change when you hear its reprisals.
From there, the track enters into a more ethnically centered percussive section that works rather well, but its not reprised anywhere else. The theme is later reprised again in Earthbenders at the 1:20 mark, in a calmer form played on lower strings. From there, it builds up, and becomes more firm, until ending the reprisal at 1:55. Later in the track, around 2:42, the theme is again reprised in a more bombastic manner. It's reprised again in The Four Elements Test at 3:45, in a stunning form. Though it fades out briefly, it comes back in a softer mode.
It also gets a wonderful statement at 00:52 of Journey to the Northern Water Tribe. Here, it sounds truly epic, with brass, strings, and choir all playing/singing the main theme. It then gets a brief show at 2:25 of the same track.
It's hinted at briefly in We Could Be Friends at the 3:00 mark, though it never develops.
Flow Like Water gives the theme a fantastic statement at 3:45. It's the best presentation of the theme, with the mesmerizing strings meshing perfectly with the brass statement. It works brilliantly, and it's difficult not to enjoy.
Another recurring theme for the score first appears in Hall of Avatars. It dwindles about lightly at first before playing in full at 1:30. It's a depressingly beautiful piece with strings and brass, and it works remarkably well. However, it never gets a reprisal until Flow Like Water, where the first 3 minutes are devoted almost completely to the idea. It's beautiful.
Yet another recurring theme is one played on the cello. It first appears in Earthbenders as a series of strums that work their way downwards. It makes many reappearances throughout the score, from 2 minutes in Journey to the Northern Water Tribe, to 1:20 into The Spirit World. It also gets a great reprisal in Flow Like Water's opening seconds. It appears frequently throughout the score, a dark theme that indeed flows like water, with its notes flowing downward before having higher instruments repeat the theme.
The more violent side of the tale are represented by some appropriately pompous and bombastic military-like themes. It first appears in The Airbender Suite, at 7:20. It later gets another reprise at 2:00 for The Blue Spirit. The theme explodes at 3:50, with the powerful, rising theme consistently building up afterwards.
An interesting form appears in the opening of We Could Be Friends, a surprisingly militaristic track for such a mild-sounding title. The summarized theme works surprisingly well for such a condensed form of the track.
We Are Now the Gods reprises the track for the last time at 1:45 and 2:00. It has a very John Williams feel to it, due to it being played in brass.
There are also some other themes included that never really expand anywhere. The opening of Prologue, and its ending, both include interesting thematic possibilities that are never explored elsewhere. Airbender Suite also includes some interesting ideas in its opening, and the final 2 minutes of We Are Now the Gods is an amazingly beautiful piece that should have had its own piece. Sadly, they're never reprised elsewhere.
Nonetheless, the themes are incredibly impressive and it's unlikely you won't enjoy theme.
The Good:
- Amazing themes
- Imaginative development of said themes
- Orchestral harmony is fantastic
- Militaristic side is powerful
- Flow Like Water
The Bad:
- Some beautiful themes are used only once
- Nearly every track is a suite; thus, the majority are a little too long and have too many ideas inside them.
The score is truly impressive, though its packaging isn't all that great. Almost every track is a little too long for its own good, packing too many ideas into each one. Had the packagers recorded reprisals and themes apart from each other, it would be much easier to swallow.
Nonetheless, the score is truly a powerhouse. Its incredible orchestral harmony rivals Lord of the Rings' amazing scores, and its themes, while likely not to become iconic, are still wonderful. If Shyamalan really does expand this terrible movie into a trilogy, I sincerely hope Howard is attached. As long as the scores are done by Howard, I will support the making of the movies. Howard has done an incredible job for a fantasy score, and I'm surprised that this is his first milieu into the fantasy-epic genre - his music dovetails with the feel perfectly.
Overall: 10/10