In The Valley Of Elah Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score In The Valley Of Elah by Mark Isham.

At a glance:

Geek Score: 90
Total Minutes Of Excellence: 25
Album Excellence: 54.3%

How are the scores calculated and what does it mean?

In The Valley Of Elah is a 2007 American thriller film directed by Paul Haggis and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Jason Patric. In Monroe, Tennessee, Hank Deerfield, an ageing warrior, gets a call that his son, just back from 18 months’ fighting in Iraq, is missing from his base. Hank drives to Fort Rudd, New Mexico, to search. Within a day, the charred and dismembered body of his son is found on the outskirts of town. Deerfield pushes himself into the investigation, marked by jurisdictional antagonism between the Army and local police. Working mostly with a new detective, Emily Sanders, Hank seems to close in on what happened. Major smuggling? A drug deal gone awry? Credit card slips, some photographs, and video clips from Iraq may hold the key. If Hank gets to the truth, what will it tell him? The score is composed by Mark Isham.

In 2007 or 2008 when I heard this I loved this score I remember. Isham had a few great years around this period, at least it matched my current music taste at the time. Time changes everything though and I look forward to finding out if it still holds up. The score begin with ‘A Journey Begins’ and it’s typical of Isham’s style at the time. Lots and lots of plucking, and that was pretty cool back in the day and it still is (in smaller doses). The theme is a simple one, building up a bit of momentum. It’s actually nice, just as I remember. ‘The Morgue (5)’ is first of two morgue cues. The rather upbeat opening theme turns to sadness here. It’s probably the main theme of the film when the father finds his son. That deserves some sad music and it gets it. It’s minimalistic and emotional though which is nice. I get to feel something. I feel for the mourning father.

It’s the minimalism I enjoyed most from Isham in this period and I think I got a bit tired of it for a while after a heavy Isham period around 2007 and 2008. Now it’s back though and I’m loving minimalism again and 2015 has brought it back in full force. So this is the right time to reassess Mark Isham scores. It is a fine listen, nothing too spectacular, I just get a very nice feeling as I listen to it. It suits me right now, a quiet score with a few highlights here and there. It’s a score without any memorable themes, but it’s a great “in the moment” score to pick up and listen to if you want to relax.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. A Journey Begins
2. The Morgue (5)
4. The Morgue (22)
5. Killing Field
8. Emily Provokes
9. Viewing
10. You’re A Good Father
13. A Murder
14. Torture
18. Upside Down