Requiem for a Dream - Clint Mansell
December 17, 2002

     When the first theatrical trailer struck the world on the 30^th of September, fans throughout the world were awestruck at its beauty; and to do this day, they still are.  It was a joyous moment, one that every Lord of the Rings fans would not forget.  At midnight, Pacific Standard Time, they made available the best trailer in the history of… trailers, available to AOL users across the globe.  And what was available for the rest of the fans?  A stinkin’ RealPlayer version; so tiny, you had to strain you eyes.  Even so, it was a beauty to behold in one’s eyes.

     It was a whole three minutes of bliss.  First time through was mind-blowing.  But after about 100 consecutive times of viewing it, it did start to lose its sheen.  No worries though, once you polish it up again; it becomes just a beautiful as it was before.

     Oh yeah, back to the subject.  Excuse my distant musing.  So, when watching the theatrical trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, you’ll notice three different segments.  The first two segments have music from Howard Shore’s Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  ‘What was the music for the third section of the trailer?’ was the question that frantically pitched fans into an utter state of disorientation.  There was thought of it being part of the new score for The Two Towers; but although that would have been a good thing, it was not the case. 

      This amazing piece of music was later found out to be the theme song of the movie, ‘Requiem for a Dream’ by Clint Mansell.  Requiem for a Dream is about four individuals struggle in their lives as drug addicts.  It stars some notable actors, such as the now-Oscar-winning Jennifer Connelly.  It came out in 2000, so its fairly new.  I have no intention of seeing this movie.  Yet, I love the theme song, it is great.  But actually, the trailer music was much better than the original.  Apparently New Line altered it to a huge degree, to make, in my opinion, a much superior version.

     I suppose we will start of with talking of Clint Mansell’s version.  Well, it’s a bit plain.  A synthesizer is used for creating the melody, a kind of a gentle, distorted piano sound, with an orchestra of moaning violins and an organ playing at the background.  Yeah, pretty boring it seems, but it’s a gorgeous melody... that just happens to repeat itself throughout the song… yeah… heh…

     But now let us turn our heads towards the other direction: The Two Towers remix of Requiem for a Dream.  I remember when I first heard it.  It completely blew me away.  I’ve never heard anything like it.  But then I find out it’s not from good ol’ Howard and would not feature in The Two Towers score.  Disappointed?  A little, but I got over it… rather quickly.  Anyhow, the focal distinction of these two pieces is the power.  By power I mean depth and feel.  The Two Towers trailer music is very powerful.  At first it starts much similarly to the original, then it heightens in… well… power.  It strengthens and becomes more intense.  And it stays perfectly in sync with whole ambiance and tempo of the trailer.  And wow, both the senses of sight and sound merge together to create a perfect mold of pure splendor.  It’s just difficult to describe the whole essence of this remarkable creation.  But powerful, riveting, and emotional are just a few words.

     I suggest you sit in front of your television for a couple of hours to see if you can catch a TV spot of The Two Towers; I believe one of them feature this song.  Or, you can download the theatrical trailer at Apple or elsewhere on the net.  Even better yet, find a version on the ‘net.  Look under ‘Requiem for the Rings’ instead of ‘Requiem for a Dream’ and download the remix.  I was fortunate enough to find a six minute version which combines both versions which a fan had personally remixed, and it is truly wonderful, but I’m not givin’ it to ya.  So, to conclude, Clint Mansell’s Requiem for A Dream, along with our good friends at New Line, has given us a music piece worthy of Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.’

     Ah, I’m not much of a song reviewer.  I should just stick to meh movies, games and books. 

 - Bobo

Requiem for a Dream rating:
Requiem for the Rings rating: