Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you're extremely devoted to Basil Poledouris' music for Conan the Barbarian and you would accept a nominal but disappointing expansion of the same sound. Avoid it... if you hold Conan the Barbarian with such high regard that you can't tolerate hearing a poor performing group mangle parts of its lesser sequel. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 33:10
(some listed track times on the album are slightly incorrect) All artwork and sound clips from Conan the Destroyer are Copyright © 1992, Varèse Sarabande. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/18/03, updated 3/24/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2003-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
