Jack Reacher: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack accompanying the Christopher McQuarrie-directed 2012 film of the same name starring Tom Cruise, and features an original score composed by Joe Kraemer. Kraemer, who previously scored McQuarrie's debut directorial The Way of the Gun (2000) had hired to score the film in July 2012. The score was performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony and recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. A soundtrack album for the film was released on December 18, 2012, by La-La Land Records in CDs, while the digital distribution was handled by Paramount Music.
Development Kraemer was announced as the composer for the film in July 2012, having already started work on it. After spending eight weeks working with McQuarrie on materials to present to producers, Kraemer's hiring was approved and he directly began working on the film's opening eight minutes.
The film is noted for its balance between music and silence, with music primarily absent or reserved during a majority of the film's action sequences.
Track listing
Reception Music critic Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote: "Although Jack Reacher is not a flashy score that will garner legions of fans, the score does what it does very well, and that blockbuster main theme will be a favorite of many." James Southall of Movie Wave commented: "This is an impressive score, intelligently-written and while it lacks crash-bang-wallop thrills, that’s perhaps what makes it even more entertaining."
Daniel Schweiger of Assignment X wrote: "More than adding the remaining 10 inches and 90 pounds to comfortably fill Tom Cruise’s physique into Jack Reacher'''s literary frame, Joe Kraemer proves himself as this year’s best bad-ass musical makeup artist, one who will hopefully be committing far more major Hollywood crimes to come after this."
Brent Simon of Screen International wrote: "while Joe Kraemer contributes a serviceable score, the director also makes notable use of music’s frequent utter absence — particularly in a solid car chase scene and shootout in a gravel quarry, in which grinding gears and gunshot echoes, respectively, are artfully elevated to tense emotional markers." Richard Corliss of Time wrote: "Joe Kraemer’s thumping score, which, during helicopter shots of the crime scene, explodes like God’s farts over Pittsburgh." In contrast, Jason Pirodsky of The Prague Reporter'' criticised the score as an "unmemorable dud".
Kraemer's score has been longlisted as one among the 104 contenders for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 85th ceremony for films released in 2012.
Credits Credits adapted from CD liner notes.
Nico Abondolo – bass Richard Altenbach – violin Steven Becknell – percussion Charlie Bisharat – violin Chris Bleth – oboe Annie Bosler – percussion Bruce Botnick – engineer, mixing Jacqueline Brand – violin Robert Brophy – viola Roberto Cani – violin Heather Clark – flute Stuart Clark – clarinet Giovanna Clayton – cello Paul Cohen – cello Kevin Connolly – violin Rose Corrigan – bassoon Wade Culbreath – percussion Tim Davies – orchestration Brian Dembow – viola Thomas Diener – viola Stephen Dress – bass Andrew Duckles – viola Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick – cello Bruce Dukov – violin Stephen Erdody – cello Alan Estes – percussion Dave Everson – percussion Nina Evtuhov – violin Judith Farmer – bassoon Alma Fernandez – viola John Finklea – music editor Marlow Fisher – viola Allen Fogle – percussion Vanessa Freebairn-Smith – cello Lorenz Gamma – violin Michael V. Gerhard – executive in charge of music Julie Gigante – violin Dan Goldwasser – executive in charge of music, session photographer Gregory Goodall – percussion Craig Gosnell – trombone Agnes Gottschewski – violin Richard Grant – auricle programming Tim Greiving – liner notes Justin Hageman – percussion Jennie Hansen – viola Dylan Hart – percussion Thomas Harte Jr. – bass Tamara Hatwan – violin Gary Hickman – Tuba Oscar Hidalgo – bass Paula Hochhalter – cello Michael Hoffman – trombone Steven Hoffman – trombone Alex Iles – trombone Pamela Jacobson – viola Dennis Karmazyn – cello Phillip Keen – trombone Randy Kerber – keyboards Joe Kraemer – composer, conductor, liner notes, soundtrack producer Aimee Kreston – violin Armen Ksajikian – cello Timothy Landauer – cello Songa Lee – violin Natalie Leggett – violin Phillip Levy – violin Lorand Lokuszta – violin Timothy Loo – cello Maya Magub – violin Shawn Mann – viola Darrin McCann – viola Serena McKinney – violin Christopher McQuarrie – liner notes Edward Meares – bass Joseph Meyer – percussion Bruce Morgenthaler – bass Helen Nightingale – violin Michael Nowak – viola Brian O'Connor – percussion Katherine Oliver – bassoon Adam Olmstead – digital recording Geoffrey Osika – bass David Parmeter – bass Nicolas Philippon – bass Radu Pieptea – violin Katia Popov – violin Susan Ranney – bass Jason Richmond – soundtrack co-ordination Rafael Rishik – violin Jay Rosen – violin Geri Rotella – flute Peter Rotter – orchestra contractor Zack Ryan – orchestration Bart Samolis – bass Neil Samples – violin Marc Sazer – violin Steven Schaeffer – percussion Kim Scholes – cello Andrew Shulman – cello Randy Spendlove – executive soundtrack producer Tereza Stanislav – violin Lisa M. Sutton – violin James Thatcher – percussion Sarah Tpercussionblade – violin Doug Tornquist – Tuba Jo Ann Turovsky – Harp Michael Valerio – bass Matt Verboys – executive in charge of music Josefina Vergara – violin Irina Voloshina – violin Dave Walther – viola John Walz – cello David Washburn – trumpet Booker White – music preparation Roger Wilkie – violin Don Williams – percussion Ralph Williams – clarinet Phillip Yao – percussion Yelena Yegoryan – violin Xiao-Dan Zheng – cello
References