Memo to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, on seeing his film still
\nunderneath the CD tray for
\nThe Mummy Returns<\/i>: Dude, where are you supposed to keep your
\nwallet in that costume?<\/p>\n
Okay, that’s a cheap way to start a review, I admit. But when
\nyou take a serious action\/horror movie like this, add in
\nserious-sounding music from Alan Silvestri and realize that you’re
\nlooking at the latest franchise in motion pictures, something has
\nto give in the light-hearted department.<\/p>\n
Fact is,
\nThe Mummy Returns<\/i> is a serious soundtrack – in fact, it may
\nbe too serious at times, leaving the listener who hasn’t included
\nthemselves in the throng who have seen this movie (ahem, cough
\ncough) a bit lost at times.<\/p>\n
At the start, one has to wonder why Silvestri became involved
\nwith the music at this point. No disrespect is meant towards
\nSilvestri (who has easily proven himself to be one of the most
\nrespected composers of film music), but wouldn’t the logical choice
\nhave been to stick with Jerry Goldsmith, who crafted the music for
\nThe Mummy<\/i>? I would have been concerned that switching
\ncomposers would break the continuity of the music between the two
\nfilms. Then again, maybe that’s what the powers that be wanted in
\nthe first place.<\/p>\n
There are a few examples of working in the Middle Eastern flavor
\nof the setting into the music (“Imhotep Unearthed” being the one
\nthat springs to mind), but more often than not,
\nThe Mummy Returns<\/i> takes on an almost
\nIndiana Jones<\/i> approach to the music, rising and falling with
\nthe action perceived by the listener. While this is a powerful tool
\nfor raising and lowering one’s heart rate (as well as spurring on
\none’s imagination), it draws attention away from the plot of the
\nmovie, turning it into another action-adventure soundtrack.<\/p>\n
This isn’t to say that selections like “Evy Kidnapped,” “The
\nLegend Of The Scorpion King” and “The Mummy Returns” are weak.
\nIndeed, these tracks have enough power to keep the listener
\ninterested, even if one hasn’t seen the movie yet. But one area
\nwhich could have stood some improvement was in the final mixing.
\nWhoever was working the volume control knob should get a lesson in
\nequalization; there were times when the music was almost absent due
\nto the volume being so low.<\/p>\n
The one nod to pop sensibility – the inclusion of a new track
\nfrom Live – doesn’t light the fuse like one would hope. “Forever
\nMay Not Be Long Enough” doesn’t have the power or hooks that many
\nof Live’s best-known songs do. And while judging the upcoming
\nrelease from Live on this one track alone isn’t fair, it does lead
\nme to wonder if “Forever May Not Be Long Enough” is a sign of
\nthings to come.<\/p>\n
\nThe Mummy Returns<\/i> has enough adrenaline to keep your heart
\nracing at times, but could have used a little more of an Egyptian
\ntheme running through its selections. Without that, you’re left
\nwith merely the soundtrack to an action-adventure movie – albeit
\nnot a bad soundtrack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5729],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39531","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-soundtrack","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39531","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39531"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}