Verdict
Summary
Tyler’s work over the years has heavily supported some of the biggest and best action films we’ve gotten lately, and his score to Criminal is not only unique in his filmography, but it’s an excellent foray into a new frontier I hope to hear more of from him in the coming years.
Review: A few weeks ago, Millennium Films released Criminal to theaters and it’s largely gone unnoticed. If you haven’t seen it yet, the movie gives Kevin Costner the kickass comeback movie he deserves. Costner plays a no-emotion incarcerated criminal named Jericho Stewart (pretty rad name), who becomes an unlikely candidate to swap memories with a dead CIA operative, played by Ryan Reynolds. Jericho takes the dead guy’s memories and goes rogue with the CIA chasing after him, and it leads to some slam-bang action scenes where Costner gets to be a badass. The movie is pretty good, but Costner is great in it, so if it’s still playing at a theater near you, check it out while you have a chance.
The soundtrack to Criminal – composed by Brian Tyler and Keith Power – is excellent, by the way. Tyler, who has become one of Hollywood’s biggest and best (and most versatile) composers, delivered a strong, urban / industrial score for the film, but it’s not just pulse-pounding music, no, it’s quite touching in parts, with a theme song called “Drift and Fall Again,” sung by Lola Marsh and co-written by Keith Power. While the score is geared to please the ears of anyone who enjoys heavy synths and post-rock ambient sounds, the song (also written by Tyler) is affecting and memorable and can be enjoyed as a single. Tyler’s work over the years (he did the scores to Rambo, The Expendables 1-3, Thor: The Dark World, and Fast and Furious) has heavily supported some of the biggest and best action films we’ve gotten lately, and his score to Criminal is not only unique in his filmography, but it’s an excellent foray into a new frontier I hope to hear more of from him in the coming years.
