I told you in it that the track titled "The Cell" plays over LECTER's introduction to prison and his meeting Barney. Well, that scene was apparently cut (along with a few others that I'll write down in a later email). Apparently the track "THE CELL" was source music to that scene. That's why I thought it fit so well with it. Like TonysGirl said in her review, it does infact play over the scene where Graham visits Lecter in prison (also).

There are a few other discrepencies in the soundtrack of the screening copy and the final film...

Another piece of music that was cut was a string hit when Dolarhyde meets Will's son.

read TonyGirl's Review on RED DRAGON. I have to disagree with her full force. Unlike her, I have seen the movie and music entwined, during the viewing of a VHS screener that a friend of mine gave me.

The SCORE fit perfectly with the movie, which can be viewed as--by far--the darkest Lecter Film Yet. I really can't see how anybody would be disappointed with this music, from it's opening string plucks to it's romanitc underscore of FRANCIS and REBA aswell as a memorable theme to FANCIS' CHILDHOOD and the eventual RED DRAGON, and/or tooth fairy (a repeating theme played on BELLS).

I was amazed. The MAIN TITLE THEME fits perfectly to the opening credits (an omage to PSYCHO).

It's definitely ELFMAN'S best out of 2002. It's better than HANNIBAL and actually pays tribute to HOWARD SHORE'S Silence Of The Lambs--low woodwinds running circles around that original 1990 score.

TonyGirl says... "Even The Cell, which is supposed to underscore Graham?s first meeting with an imprisoned Lecter, falls flat. There is no foreshadowing, no element of surprise, and no rising crescendo accompanying Graham to the cell. Who could forget the eerie strings as Clarice Starling walked down the damp, dark hallways of Baltimore State Hospital? Now, there is nothing. There is no feeling of a monster slowly being revealed to us."

Well, actually, "the cell" plays over the scene when Lecter is first put IN prison and meets Barney. It worked good in the movie because the tense music shows us all how VERY pissed off Hannibal is at incarceration. And to speak of ELFMAN'S use of strings like that! His orchestrations proove his most complicated string work yet. ALMOST ALL THE SCORE IS STRINGS!

The MUSIC is great, the ULTIMATE ELFMAN SCORE--more thematic than the previous two.

If there is anything to be said about Danny Elfman's RD score, it is LOUD. After nearly going deaf after listening to it on my car stereo, I can only imagine how it will sound in a 21st century movie theater.

'Disappointing' is also another way to describe Elfman's newest work. Although my review could be a bit premature since I have not had the pleasure of seeing the movie and hearing the score together, I don?t think my view will change.

Compared to Howard Shore's creepy, yet distinctive SOTL work and Hans Zimmer's, dark, romantic and haunting Hannibal score, Elfman?s work sounds forced.

The only way to describe the score is a little bit of SOTL, a dollop of Planet of the Apes, and a smidgen of Batman, which was Elfman's best work.

Unfortunately, the score?s most gripping and tense moments come ONLY in the first three tracks: Logo, Main Title and The Revelation, with the latter being the most tense, moody and exciting piece of music you'll hear in a motion picture score this year. If only the rest of the score could have been as dramatic and moving as The Revelation, it would have been an incredibly aural and moving experience.

Even The Cell, which is supposed to underscore Graham?s first meeting with an imprisoned Lecter, falls flat. There is no foreshadowing, no element of surprise, and no rising crescendo accompanying Graham to the cell. Who could forget the eerie strings as Clarice Starling walked down the damp, dark hallways of Baltimore State Hospital? Now, there is nothing. There is no feeling of a monster slowly being revealed to us.

Even the track titles are slapdash - He's Back and my personal favorite Tiger Balls (no joke) don't really say anything. Was Elfman trying to be controversial, funny or just boring? I don't know, but I'm still scratching my head.

Overall, compared to the two previous soundtracks, RD sounds flat and lifeless, which is a bit of an insult to the fertile mind of Hannibal Lecter. He deserved better.

Lester here, bought the soundtrack last nite at Borders for about 15 dollars. Well worth it. Danny Elfman incoporates the Silence of the Lambs chilling unflashy score with Hans Zimmers beautiful and touching score from Hannibal. Plus, Elfman adds in a little of his own.

No lyrical songs on it, thank god. And, I give this Soundtrack a 7.5/10.

Hannibal was better (9.5/10), but they are both spectacular.

More to follow (including, perhaps, my own review!)...