While the 1998 film A Perfect Murder remakes
Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Dial M for Murder,
James Newton Howard's new score assiduously avoids paying homage to
Dimitri Tiomkin's stunning work on the 1954 original, instead favoring the quintessentially modern approach
Howard first staked out via his classic soundtrack for The Fugitive. Contrasting intimate electronic atmospheres with pulsating, taut rhythms,
A Perfect Murder is a relatively simple score that mistakes mood for depth.
Howard's brooding, portentous themes complement the onscreen suspense but lack the structural complexity to stand as a distinct listening experience. The most atypical entry, the exotic "Ever Been to Belize?," is also the most striking, a brief respite from the overall monotony. ~ Jason Ankeny