Grade Blood Diamond by James Newton Howard

[BLUMENKOHL 1,086]

JNH is back for one more score this year, Blood Diamond, so time to score once again!

I have to give this an A, love the main theme, love the action music, and it works quite well in the film. It's not quite as magical as Lady in the Water (I thought he nailed the concept of "water" perfectly with that score) but it is another winner for him this year.

Thus far, the JWFAN.net community has rated:

Lady in the Water by James Newton Howard A-

X-Men: The Last Stand by John Powell B

007: Casino Royale by David Arold B

The Da Vinci Code by Hans Zimmer B-

Apocalypto by James Horner C

Charlotte's Webby Danny Elfman C

Superman Returns by John Ottman C-

All the Kings Men by James Horner D

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Dead Man's Chest by Hans Zimmer F

[Trumpeteer 302]

I saw this last night. Good movie, though the politics are muddled. I think Edward Zwick has a problem with that. "Glory" was better when it was just about black soldiers marching to war and not so good when it was about them being black soldiers marching in the Civil War.

"Blood Diamond" the score was pretty good, but here's the thing: It felt and sounded like something Hans Zimmer would do, and for the entire movie I thought it was written by Zimmer. Even though the score has been discussed here for a while, it didn't register with me until the end credits.

This was a better score for JNH than "Lady in the Water," which was not as good as "The Village" or "Signs." Maybe I hated "LitW" so much that I didn't regard the score too much.

Jeff -- who thinks the best score of the year is "The Fountain"

[futuremartymcfly 0]

In the two seconds since I voted, I forgot wether I put an A+ or an A, either way, I believe this is an A score. It has some Media Venture sound in it, with the eletric guitar becoming a little out of place occassionally, and the theme sounded slightly like Zimmer, as Trumpeteer just stated.

However, JNH manages to restrain the synths, and keep the orchestration complex enough to where its fresh, and pretty darn good.