This weeks soundtrack releases reviewed

TYLER BATES Reprise***

Watchmen

Although Watchmenhas none of the gleeful sturm and drang of 300, Bates's previous score for director Zach Snyder, it nevertheless displays the young tyro's knack for genre subversion, most recently with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Bates combines brooding electronica, snarling post-rock and evocative classical Americana with simple themes and jittery polyrhythms. He supplies the requisite adrenalin and heart for an (anti)-heroic action movie but fails to deliver a sustained and integrated score with a cohesive thematic narrative and strong dramatic drive – qualities that distinguished earlier scores such as Get Carterand Slither. With an emphasis on style and invention, Watchmensucceeds best as a collection of arresting action cues: The American Dream, Just Look Around You, It Was Me, All That Is Good. www.watchmenmusic.com

JOCELYN CLARKE

Download tracks: All That Is Good, Just Look Around You