Chris Beck

Composer : Christophe Beck

Conductor : Pete Anthony

Orchestration / Arrangement : Kevin Kliesch

Producer : Christophe Beck and Casey Stone

Performed by : Hollywood Studio Symphony

Label / No. : Varese Sarabande 302 066 729 2

Year of release : 2006

CD release: 2006

Total duration : 52:54

Reviewed by: Mike Beek

The Sentinel sees Michael Douglas cast as a disgraced FBI agent, framed, blackmailed and desperate to prove his innocence, whilst also trying to foil an assassination attempt on the US President. This tense and exciting political rollercoaster, also starring Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger and Eva Longoria, is helmed by S.W.A.T director Clark Johnson, who brings Gerald Petievich’s novel to the screen.

Providing the musical backdrop for the film is Christophe Beck, whose career is going from strength to strength since his first worldwide exposure on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series’. Since those series’ ended, Beck has found himself plying his trade against a number of different genres, though largely comedies it seems. The Sentinel is of course no laughing matter and the composer has put together a score that relies heavily on programmed elements, coupled with some ballsy orchestral performances by members of the seemingly omnipresent Hollywood Studio Symphony.

The album often plays like a ‘chillout’ CD, with a number of cues relying solely on programmed loops, cool rhythmic hues and laid back sonorities - ‘Sanctuary’, ‘The Back Door’, ‘The Affair’ and ‘Assassin Down’ are prime examples... Of course the orchestra provide the meat of the piece and, while they bring a much needed weight and legitimacy to the score, the programmed loops are ever-present and act as a base for all the cues. This synthetic music is of course ultra contemporary and seems to be a must have element in today’s modern thrillers, though the heavy strings and often snarling brass manage to retain that classic generic edge.

The brassy/string elements are a highlight in the score and, when coupled with the ubiquitous rhythmic looping, actually get the pulse racing quite nicely. ‘Maryland’ features some great tympani lines, as well as some exciting metallic percussion, while ‘No Second Shot’ and ‘The Sentinel’ feature much of the aforementioned snarls and growls from the brass section.

Thematically there is little to mention, except for a motif introduced in the ‘Main Titles’, performed by the brass section. It is a six note refrain that is returned to throughout the album, mainly on strings and sometimes on trumpet. Other than that the score largely relies on its rhythmic elements, ambient ‘filler’ and some repeated lines.

This is an album that took me some getting into, but it achieves a palpable amount of excitement in places and some real tension in others (‘The Mall’ for example). Christophe Beck has created a score that is wholly contemporary, whilst adhering to some of the generic staples of the genre. The Sentinel isn’t by any means groundbreaking or indeed particularly surprising, but it illuminates the composer’s adequacy in this genre. Beck has three other scores on his 2006 schedule and that in itself reveals his continued popularity in Tinseltown.