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Chain Reaction: (Jerry Goldsmith) In an attempt to
continue the success of the films inspired by the Academy
Award-nominated
The Fugitive in 1993, Fox's
Chain Reaction
offered another variation on the good-guy running from a good-natured
cop routine. This time, the two primary fugitives are scientists who are
part of a university experiment that successfully yields clean and
abundant energy by extracting hydrogen from water. When assassins kill
the other scientists and set off an absolutely enormous explosion to
destroy their laboratory, the two heroes are set up and accused of
murder. Their boss escaped the blast, of course, but as Morgan Freeman
could be in a number of circumstances, you're not sure if he's on their
side or not. The film takes an interesting concept and compelling group
of characters and allows it all to degenerate into a standard chase
story, however. The actors really aren't believable in their roles, the
chases had been largely done before, and aside from the spectacular
shockwave scene early in the film, there is little refreshing for the
senses in
Chain Reaction. It's not surprising that director
Andrew Davis was also involved with
The Fugitive (and
Under
Siege, among others), though his choice of composer was not typical
for him in this 1996 entry. Collaborating with James Newton Howard for
the scores to his films more often than not, Davis has shuffled between
several other composers for a one-time pairing. The only collaboration
between Davis and Jerry Goldsmith would be for
Chain Reaction, a
project that suited the veteran composer well at that time in his
career. Coming off of a period in the early 1990's when he seemed
content writing for films along Joe Dante lines (ridiculous comedies and
tender character stories), Goldsmith made a sudden return to extroverted
action scoring with
Executive Decision and
Chain Reaction
in consecutive order. Unfortunately for the composer, he was unable to
recapture a truly aggressively dynamic personality in his action
material until later in 1996, when both
The Ghost and the
Darkness and
Star Trek: First Contact proved to be superior
ventures in the same general mould. Then again, the quality of the music
in all of the aforementioned films seems to have paralleled the quality
of the overarching productions themselves.
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Once again, Goldsmith's score is one reason to watch
Chain Reaction in a midnight television showing, the composer
supplying music that is not radically new but one step ahead of the
other production aspects. Much better than in
Executive Decision,
he formulates a theme for the primary characters and adapts it well
throughout the film. The action motifs are very familiar, though, in
their staggered rhythmic formations and instrumentation. Goldsmith's
normally tingling and slashing electronics are diminished in placement,
replaced with a chime-like keyboarding effect and occasional electric
guitar. The guitar chips in with performances that represent the
always-cool Keanu Reeves, a move that wasn't unexpected in the middle of
the 1990's, and Goldsmith pulls it off with the restraint necessary to
make it a decent addition to the ensemble. The sensitivity of his themes
for
Chain Reaction is foreshadowed in the opening cue and "Open
Minds," and this side develops into a full, romantic performance in the
finale, "Out of the Hole." The opening cue offers Goldsmith the
opportunity to provide the comprehensive suite of themes for the film at
the start instead of the usual end credit placement. After setting the
stage well with this opening cue, Goldsmith resorts to standard action
procedures for most of the remainder of the film. The detractions from
Chain Reaction are the areas in which Goldsmith took identical
material and expanded upon it in
Executive Decision, including
the direct crossover of the trumpet and horn figures identical in both
films (and most notably in the meaty "Ice Chase" cue here). Only
"Assassins" has a truly unique performance of action ideas in this
score, with rambling timpani bursting onto the scene as the experiment
is invaded and destroyed. A slamming "hammer on metal" sound effect
accompanies the electric guitar performance that follows the
assassination with great effect, and this, along with a few other
sounds, makes a strong pace-setter for the action sequences. So while
the brass and strings may be performing the same old usual Goldsmith
action structures, there are a few redeeming elements to keep the music
somewhat fresh. The last cue saves the score from its dangerous slide
towards mediocrity. Overall,
Chain Reaction works better than
Executive Decision on album partly because of its design and
partly because nearly all the major cues in
Chain Reaction
(except for one notable sequence) made the equally short album. Still,
only devoted Goldsmith collectors will likely find merit in repeated
listens to this score, especially when compared to the composer's rich
library of similarly conceived material.
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| Bias Check: | For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.26 (in 113 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.32
(in 133,462 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes notes by both the producer and director about the score and film.
