[Thor Joachim Haga]

Just came back from it.

First of all, let’s all lower our expectations, shall we? Given the whole hooplah and secrecy and sneaky marketing surrounding this, you’d think it was another masterpiece on the table. It’s not. It is – however – a pulpy B movie heightened by a master director.

For those of you who don’t like Spielberg, you’ll probably enjoy the first part with all the sleuthing and operations and putting the “Macguffin” pieces together. But you will probably dislike the last part, which is Spielberg being Spielberg – very melodramatic (critics will claim it borders on sentimentality).

But as a fan, I gobble it all up. One of the most striking visual elements was the use of mirrors, windows and screens – suitable for a story that in many ways is “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. That it’s a film about empathy, and that this fits with our current geo-political climate, is fine enough. But my takeway was a very musical, smooth paranoia escape thriller, with plenty of playful Spielberg/Kaminski touches (incidentally, good ol’ Michael Kahn is credited as producer, not editor this time).

But let’s get rid of that “best Spielberg film since the 90s” hypberbole I’ve seen online. That’s not true. It is simply a good quality yarn.

The music? It’s good. As others have pointed out, the first half, two thirds are sparsely spotted. Williams taps into agitated strings, growling brass, even some synths. This is very much in line with stuff like A.I., MINORITY REPORT, WAR OF THE WORLDS, MUNICH. I dig the rhythmical bits for what they are, for chase scenes and conspiracies, but the only memorable theme of note is the “connection theme”, as I call it (the bit from the opening of “listen…” that sounds like “Cinque’s Theme” from AMISTAD, but hey – AMISTAD kinda showed up in THE PATRIOT too, so it’s a score with tentacles!).

Of course, as has also been reported, Williams gets to work out more in the last 30-45 minutes. A very interesting bit is a haunting, undulating bit (with some synths again, even cautious choir) that reminds me of “Monica’s Theme” and the retrieval of memories from David towards the end of A.I. Which is also kinda fitting, given what the scene accompanies. I call it the “memory theme”.

But again, these thematic bits stand out from the more suggestive suspense cues – until it all soars out over the end credits, with a proper extension of the “connection theme” and other bits.

Is it his best since 2005? Not sure. Need to hear the album first. But the best bits are certainly on par with the best bits from WAR HORSE or THE FABELMANS, which I consider his best since that “glory” period.

Hmmm….that was basically a whole review, wasn’t it? But I’ll organize this into a proper review and publish in about two weeks, when most of the “buzz” has subsided. Not ideal, but I don’t have the time before.