Phantom (Original Soundtrack)

by Jason Ankeny David Newman's score for the comic book adaptation The Phantom never quite achieves the kind of rousing, outsized action the genre demands. Despite a muscular performance by the London Metropolitan Orchestra, the music is ultimately undone by an absence of heroic, larger-than-life melodies as well as its stunted thematic development. Despite some interesting twists on the standard superhero score, most notably the inclusion of a male chorus and its evocative chanting, Newman fails to write a memorable, defining theme for The Phantom, and the entire score suffers as a result. The music is undeniably visceral, but it's too fragmented to contribute the textural support the onscreen narrative requires.