Man on Fire
Director Tony Scott's tale of an ex-Marine-turned-bodyguard (Denzel Washington) who responds to the kidnapping of his young charge and her family with a violence-drenched cycle of revenge and torture is driven by the filmmaker's typically manic visual sense. English composer Harry Gregson-Williams, whose conjured similar action-oriented synth-symphony fusion scores forThe RundownandSpy Game, deftly expands the dimensions of that bi-polar musical sensibility here, infusing it with gentle ethnic folk touches and the ever-savory sonic contributions of Lisa Gerrard. The composer matches Scott's visually jarring action sequences with a melange of strangled guitar riffs, metallic rhythms and aggressive electronic soundscapes, contrasting them masterfully against quiet piano passages and brooding symphonic pastoralism. Contemporary Latin ballads by Gabriel Gonzalez and Cuban singer/songwriter Carlos Varela help cement the score's foreign intrigue, while Gerrard (arguably the MVP of soundtrack utility players) contributes a smart remix of the title track and collaborates with Gregson-Williams on the haunting "The End," which also features her distinctly exotic vocals. The result is a spiritual cousin to Hans Zimmer's similarly compelling brew of electronica and world music forBlack Hawk Down.-- Jerry McCulley