The Number 23

Harry Gregson-Williams

Director Joel Schumacher casts a pall of obsessive paranoia over this dark Jim Carrey star vehicle, resuming a compelling collaboration with U.K.-born composer Harry Gregson-Williams that's already produced wildly disparate scores for Veronica Guerin and Phone Booth. Gregson-Williams's work here seamlessly weds the electronica of the latter with a large orchestral palette, pushing the envelope of one-time mentor Hans Zimmer's trademark fusion gambit in the bargain. The composer's brooding organic textures burble with minimalist rhythms and synthesized percussion FX, punctuated by haunting solo passages by trumpeter Jon Hassell and Hugh Marsh's electric violin--a masterful soundscape of tension and psychological unease that's arguably the 21st-century extension of Herrmann's and Goldsmith's own landmark work in the thriller genre. The classically trained Gregson-Williams largely professes ignorance of both computer technology and contemporary pop music forms, yet his challenging, texturally rich work here ably shows why he's been asked to collaborate with such modern artists as Jane's Addiction, Peter Murphy, and Hybrid. --Jerry McCulley

The Number 23 Album: