Minority Report (soundtrack)

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Williams normally enters Spielberg productions at an early stage, well before the film's shooting. For Minority Report however, his entry was delayed as he was scoring for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and joined the film when it was nearly completed, leaving him minimal production time. The soundtrack is inspired from Bernard Herrmann's work.[1] While scoring for the film, Williams decided not to focus on the science fiction elements, and made a score suitable for film noir. He included traditional noir elements such as a female singer (vocal harmonies by Deborah Dietrich) in the Anne Lively scenes, but for the "sentimental scenes", which Williams considered unusual for that genre, led to soothing themes for Anderton's ex-wife Lara and son Sean.[7] According to music critic Andrew Granade, the track "Sean's Theme" is described as the only one "instantly recognizable as one of Williams'".[8] Spielberg typified it as "a black and white score" and said, "I think Johnny [John] Williams does a really nice bit of homage to Benny Herrmann."[9]

In an interview which appeared in The New York Times, Williams said that the choices for many of the pieces of classical music were made by the studio. He also said that while he did not know why certain pieces were chosen, Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (commonly known as the Unfinished Symphony), which features prominently in the film,[10] was most likely included because Anderton was a big fan of classical music in the script.[11] Some of the other choices, such as Gideon's playing of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach on an organ in the subterranean prison, were also in the screenplay, and he figured that "They are some writer's conception of what this character might have listened to."[11] Williams did choose the minuet from a Haydn string quartet (Op. 64, No. 1) which plays on the radio in the scene where Dr. Hineman is gardening in her greenhouse. He said he picked the piece because "It seemed to me to be the kind of thing a woman like this would play on the radio."[11] James R. Oestreich in The New York Times characterized the score as "evocative" and said it was "thoroughly modern" while also being "interlaced with striking snippets of masterworks", including the "lopsided waltz" from the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, known as the Pathétique.[11]

The soundtrack opened to mostly mixed critical response, praising Williams' composition, orchestration, and the approach done for the score, but criticised the predictability on the tunes, and heavily reliant on incorporating other composer's work.[11] William Ruhlmann of AllMusic called the score as "a pretty hackneyed piece of work, since Williams' musical storytelling touches on numerous clichés in conveying dread and suspense".[12] He added that "the tone is simply not natural for him, and he falls back on stereotypes that sound like they come from movies from the '40s and '50s" while also interpreting on his inspiration from composers John Carpenter and Philip Glass in creating discomfiting effects. Ruhlmann, however praised the end credits track "A New Beginning" as it "sounded like Williams' theme" and called it as "one of his typical warm, melodic themes".[12] James Southall of Movie Wave praised the "effectively dark soundscape" but also criticised the predictable score production.[13]

Filmtracks.com called Minority Report as "a comparatively conservative effort that relies on Williams' general orchestral skills rather than branching off into new territory. That is a shame, because with the talent that the maestro had displayed on a regular basis, as well as the constraints of conventional sequel scores, it was disappointing to hear him miss an opportunity to go off on a wild excursion into the musical unknown. If the film itself is compared to a pre-crime case, then Williams scored the present investigation rather than the time and place at which that crime will eventually take occur."[10] For the expanded edition, the review further stated "The additional, technically proficient but cold material passes by without the gripping depth of emotion that we have come to expect from Williams, and the interesting references to [Bernard] Herrmann's work and periodic bursts of riveting action are somewhat diluted by the pleasantly positive finale meant to satisfy Spielberg's need for hopelessly optimistic Hollywood endings. The action cues are split apart on the longer album, spreading out the rhythmically cohesive moments. Only a handful of the chase sequences are intriguing enough in their construction."[14]

Music critic Andrew Grenade, however praised the soundtrack, giving 3.5 stars out of 5, with Williams' use of electronic instrumentation compared to his work in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), female vocalists as well as the oriental drumming in the brief moments, which led to compare Tan Dun's approach in the score of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).[8] The use of new instrumental timbres and source music from other classical compositions, was praised, and called as the "delightful aspects" of the score.[8] Irrespective of the critically mixed reception, CBR.com listed it as "one of the best scores of John Williams",[15] whereas Screen Rant and Los Angeles Times called it as "one of the underrated scores by the composer".[16][17]

Credits adapted from CD liner notes[18][3]

• Osborne, Robert (2013). 85 Years of the Oscar: The Complete History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States: Abbeville Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7892-1142-2.

• Minority Report (Original Motion Picture Score) at AllMusic