The newest addition to Renovatio Records’ catalog is Christopher Young’s complex score for the 1995 sci-fi action thriller Virtuosity, directed by Brett Leonard and starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, with supporting roles played by Kelly Lynch, William Forsythe, Stephen Spinella, William Fichtner, Louise Fletcher, and Kevin J. O’Connor. Washington plays Parker Barnes, a former cop imprisoned after killing a terrorist that murdered his wife and daughter. In a not-so-distant future, Barnes is being used by the government as a guinea pig to test a virtual reality system designed to train police officers. The goal of the VR system is to capture Sid 6.7 (Crowe), an artificial intelligence program that was developed as an amalgam of psyches of the most violent serial killers in history. Eventually, Sid manages to escape from cyberspace and creates himself as an android in the real world. Thus, Barnes is reactivated as a cop because he is the only person that has ever been close to capturing Sid in VR. As expected, a number of thrilling action and chase sequences ensue, as Sid wreaks havoc and commits acts of terrorism, torture and murder across the city of Los Angeles.
Even though it is just a retelling of the familiar plot formula in which a rogue cop is reactivated because he is the only one capable of dealing with a dangerous villain, the film offers plenty of interesting ideas. Just having an artificial person walking the streets as any regular person is enough to get one’s attention. Plus, Crowe plays Sid with such charisma and fun that you cannot wait for the next scene involving the character. The story interestingly touches a bit upon the psychology behind a programmed personality like Sid’s; he’s just an interactive “software in the flesh” that is constantly in motion and analyzing people so that he can adapt his profile, using his vast library of psyches to raise the bar of those who challenge him. Since the terrorist that killed Barnes’ family is part of Sid’s personality, the stakes are higher making the action sequences a lot more engaging. And it is in Barnes and Sid’s confrontation where the heart of the film really lies; one character looking for redemption and proper justice, and the other just toying with his chaser. All of this makes of Virtuosity an enjoyable thriller, worthy of appreciation, in spite of its flaws.
For the score, composer Christopher Young was brought by producer Gary Lucchesi, who had worked with him previously on Jennifer 8. Young’s approach for the music is quite interesting as well, resorting to complex techno-electronic music for the first two thirds, while adopting a full orchestral soundscape for the film’s climax. The electronic cues have pulsing rhythms to accentuate action and suspense scenes, offering plenty of enjoyable synthetic textures, techno loops, and electronic guitar riffs. The orchestral cues, on the other hand, fittingly provide an organic feel to the struggle between the hero and the villain. As expected, throughout the score there’s a palpable emotional baseline focused on Barnes. The cue “The Evaluation” introduces Young’s main idea for the titular character, a progression of a repeating four-note figure, usually performed by solo guitar or piano. This motif perfectly encapsulates the character’s melancholy, its dynamism allowing Young to play around with the idea throughout the score. Notice, for example, the final part of the track “The Loyalizer”, in which the figure descends in key each time it’s played, encompassing Barnes’ emotional downfall after allegedly having just killed an innocent person by accident. Young also incorporates elements and melodies from Peter Gabriel’s song “Party Man” into the score; this material is namely associated with Barnes' lost family. The orchestral arrangement of this song heard in the optimistic “Safe”, when Barnes has finally found redemption and broken free, is one of the score's highlights. All in all, Virtuosity was a clear indication of what Young’s mind was capable of producing. The entire score is a dynamic non-stop entertainment, with surprises on each turn.
At the time of the film’s premiere in 1995, an all-song album was released by Radioactive Records, with the only existing presentation of the score being a promotional release assembled by Young himself and Douglass Fake. In 2019, Intrada Records provided the first commercial presentation of Young’s score, in the form of a generous 76-minute CD that contained all of the composer’s contributions to Virtuosity. This new release by Renovatio Records compiles the best cues from the score, in chronological order, intertwined with some of the most memorable songs from the film, namely “Young Boys” by Lords Of Acid, “The Loyalizer” by Fatima Mansions, as well as Peter Gabriel’s own “Party Man”, featuring The Worldbeaters. With just over an hour of music, let yourself be captured by the musical reality of Christopher Young!
