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Conan the Destroyer: (Basil Poledouris) With the
stunning success of John Milius'
Conan the Barbarian two years
earlier, a sequel featuring Conan once again in Robert E. Howard's
Hyborean age was inevitable. Not returning for the sequel, though, was
the same brutally classic vision of the fictional age that Oliver Stone
and John Milius had created in the first film. Some will argue that
follow-up director Richard Fleischer, a veteran filmmaker in his own
right, built an extension of the Hyborean age in the sequel film,
exploring a different avenue that developed other aspects of Conan's
character and his surroundings. Others will argue that
Conan the
Destroyer was a monumental failure simply because it lost the
classic realism and solitude that made the first film so enticing. The
majority of audiences agreed with the latter opinion, tired of Conan and
exhausted by the 1980's bombardment of fantasy adventure films set in
ancient times. Other than the executive production team, only three
elements returned for the sequel: actors Schwarzenegger and Mako, as
well as composer Basil Poledouris. Despite early ideas of utilizing a
pop/rock score for the first film, Poledouris had beaten the odds and
produced one of the finest pre-historic orchestral scores in the history
of film. Decades later,
Conan the Barbarian still stands as
perhaps the most outstanding achievement of Poledouris' career, and a
concert of music from that score would represent the composer's final
public appearance shortly before his death in 2006. Thus, the return of
his musical tone for
Conan the Destroyer was an immediate
necessity. Poledouris' score suffered from some of the same exhaustion
that hindered the film, even though the composer once again attempted to
recreate a sound for ancient times that did not follow any of the
rhythmic or lyrical rules of modern music. His work reflected the
director's lighter, more humorous take on the series and offered a work
that is less weighty in its dramatic gravity.
Because of this shifted emphasis, the score for
Conan the Destroyer moves with greater agility on its feet while
also utilizing a less domineering thematic presence. Many of the major
themes from the first film do make cameo appearances in the sequel,
though Poledouris usually alters their structures or only states them in
fragments. Thus, listeners hoping for straight forward and obvious
recapitulations of the previously established themes will be
disappointed. Likewise, Poledouris' new motifs for the score are not as
singularly memorable. Returning is the opening Crom theme from the first
film (though its primary statement at the outset of the sequel is absent
from the 1992 album release), representing the universe of Conan, as
well as portions of the underlying rhythms and secondary phrases of the
"Riders of Doom" cue that often accompanies movement on horseback (in
"Elite Guard Attacks" and "Dream Quest," among others). Conan's own
theme (originally from "Riddle of Steel") is less utilized,
unfortunately, though the "Valeria Remembered" cue does offer a hearty
performance of the love theme from
Conan the Barbarian. The slow,
pounding theme for the religious mass at Thulsa Doom's mountain in the
first film makes an oddly out of place, ill-advised appearance in
"Approach to Shadizaar." Sorely missing is the vivacious civilization
theme, which is odd, given Conan's return to the same locations (and
meeting the same camel of punching fame) in
Conan the Destroyer.
Poledouris instead offers two adequate new thematic identities in the
sequel, represented in "Elite Guard Attacks" and "Crystal Palace."
Especially of note is the Western-styled theme similar to the later
Cherry 2000 at 4:00 into the latter cue. The action-packed
confrontation and battle music in these cues exists at nearly the same
level as Poledouris' previous effort. He also transforms the overarching
Crom theme for the series into an effective dueling motif that
culminates into a major force in the massive "Conan & Bombaata Battle"
(a cue that also makes strong use of the sequel score's rhythmic
fighting motif).
Unfortunately for
Conan the Destroyer, the
recording quality and performances are significantly lacking. The score
was recorded with only a single orchestra in Rome this time, minus the
chorus. The performances by the "Unione Musicisti Di Roma" orchestra are
hideous in parts, with the horns often missing key notes entirely during
important sequences. Much of the brutality inherent in the original
score's recording is lost in this flimsy entry, despite valiant efforts
by some of the bass woodwind players to create the same depth. The light
and festive percussion offers tingling metallic sounds with equal
effectiveness, but the remainder of the orchestra's sections seems
incredibly unpolished. This problem is accentuated by the fact that
Poledouris wrote
Conan the Destroyer in the same demanding
fashion as
Conan the Barbarian, so the flaws stand out very
obviously. The sequel score also sounds increasingly dated in its
recording technology, with an even more archival, muted ambience in
several key cues. So dry is the recording that the cymbals crashes sound
as though they've been reduced to children's size. Thus, you have a very
strong composition nearly ruined by its performers, and Poledouris fans
should continue to hope that
Conan the Destroyer is re-recorded
properly someday (along, of course, with the majority of the first
score). The album for
Conan the Destroyer is just as out of print
as the Varèse Sarabande companion for
Conan the Barbarian,
also released in 1992. This time, however, the album could be missed
without much great loss to even an avid Poledouris collector. Another
good alternative for those unsatisfied with this score is the Universal
Studios "The Adventures of Conan: A Sword and Sorcery Spectacular" live
action production of 1983, which featured original Poledouris music for
the concept that foreshadows several ideas explored in
Conan the
Destroyer, but with arguably superior performances. Ultimately,
however, neither of these follow-up works can compete with the mastery
of the music for the original
Conan the Barbarian, a qualified
classic in the genre.
***
| Bias Check: | For Basil Poledouris reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.48 (in 30 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.42
(in 27,554 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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