What better way to greet in the new summer movie season than by
\nlooking back at the biggest movie of last season? Granted,
\nSaving Private Ryan<\/i> did go on to make more money overall,
\nbut in the hot summer months, it was this low-budget, indie flick
\n(sarcasm there) that placed the most butts on the seats and
\nexemplified what a summer movie is about.<\/p>\n
Now, note: this isn’t a review of
\nArmageddon – The Album<\/i>. That review was already done almost
\na year ago, by me. Instead, here’s the music for the movie. The
\nscore was composed by former Yes member, Trevor Rabin.<\/p>\n
If you remember the movie, you’ll recall the themes that the
\nmovie uses. Here, they are all in full view. The album starts with
\nthe bonus
\nArmageddon<\/i> suite – which is alright. However, Rabin has
\ntaken a liking to doing these suites that compile all the main
\nthemes of a movie he’s done. Not bad, but I’d prefered some more of
\nthe album’s music.<\/p>\n
The album is a study of contrasts, if you will. On one hand, you
\nhave the soft, melodic, quiet pieces. Stuff like “Harry And Grace
\nMake Peace” and “Armageddon Piano.” On the other, there’s the
\nbombastic stuff like “Launch” and “Long Distance Goodbye.” In the
\nmiddle, you have some material to remind you of what the characters
\nare – rednecks. (Sorry, couldn’t help it). “Oil Rig” and
\n“Armadillo” sound somewhat similar at the beginning, but play them
\nthrough to the end and you’ll see the differences. However, their
\npoint is to fit the scenes with the movie and they do that.<\/p>\n
So, what are this album’s problems? Well, let’s take it from the
\ntop. First, all the tracks are out of order. “A.J.’s Return”
\ndoesn’t take place before “Oil Rig” and “The Death Of Mir” and
\n“Evacuation” happen one after the other, but here, they’re
\nseparated by other tracks. I don’t know why they did this, but this
\ncan be annoying. After all, you buy a film score and expect it to
\nfollow the movie’s pace – not set its own. That is what I’m
\nguessing took place – they switched them around, so it would sound
\nmore even.<\/p>\n
Second, the majority of this album is rearrangement of the same
\nfour themes. Sometimes soft, sometimes loud, but they’re the same
\nthemes that we know. Now granted, that works in the movie and does
\nso well. The repeating themes help establish a feel for the movie.
\nHowever, when separated, they tend to get somewhat repetitive. That
\nisn’t good on an album.<\/p>\n
Third, well, watching the movie there were certain points were
\nthe music becomes an integral part. However, those cues are nowhere
\nto be found in the album. What am I talking about? Remember the
\nmovie? There’s a scene where the astronauts are all getting ready –
\nit’s right before the President’s speech. The cue there is heroic –
\nthough repeating the main theme again. Yet, it doesn’t lose any of
\nits flavor. The cue is nowhere to be found on the CD.<\/p>\n
Or how about the climax of the movie – Bruce Willis’ death. As
\nhe presses the button, the life of his daughter – not his own –
\nflashes before his eyes. It’s the heart of the movie – that he
\nwould make the ultimate sacrifice for one he loves. The music
\nbecomes both triumphant and tragic at the same time – even though,
\nonce again, it’s just the main theme reworked. Now, how can that
\nNOT be on this CD? The final track somehow manages to cut that out
\nand gives you the moments before and after the explosion. That’s
\nwrong.<\/p>\n
So, overall, how do I feel about the score? The movie is a
\nguilty pleasure of mine – along with wrestling and AC\/DC. So I knew
\nwhat the score was about when I bought it. The main themes are all
\nnice and fun – and, when reworked, manage to bring out a certain
\namount of emotion. But the way this CD has been wrangled cannot
\nhelp people appreciate it. Hopefully, one day, it’ll get
\ncorrected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":27583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7060],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-38958","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-original-score","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38958"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}