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Orchestrated by:
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Alexander Courage
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Release Date:
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January 27th, 1998
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you never tire of stereotypical Jerry Goldsmith action
and horror scores, no matter how derivative and predictable they are.
Avoid it... if you lament the lack of a distinct personality in
many of the late-era Goldsmith autopilot scores.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Goldsmith | |
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Deep Rising: (Jerry Goldsmith) Somewhere in the
process of making Deep Rising, director Stephen Sommers and his
crew must have realized that the film was well on its way to failure on
a historical level, and that something unique would have to be done to
make the whole thing memorable. Apparently, that's where the relentless
gore came into the equation, for it's hard to recall any film that shows
more grotesque body mutilation than Deep Rising (and that
includes Starship Troopers). The setting for this ultimate
display of blood spraying is the luxury liner Argonautica, the target of
a mercenary group who plans to raid its safes. Unfortunately, some
octopuss-like monster of poor CGI rendering has already boarded the ship
first, killed most of its inhabitants, and eagerly awaits the fresh
blood of B-movie actors. The bad acting and poor plot were only made
worse by the really unconvincing presentation of the monster. That, and
what's the point of casting Famke Janssen in a wet T-shirt role if she's
going to wear a bra? The early 1998 horror flick vanished as quickly as
it had become a blip on the radar, receiving far less press than the
real-life food poisoning outbreaks on cruise ships that seem far more
popular of an event. The laughable qualities of Deep Rising also
had a lasting impression on composer Jerry Goldsmith, who decided after
his collaboration with Sommers on this and The Mummy the next
year that he was tired of earning his money on the backs of such trash.
Unfortunately, he would continue scoring trash over the course of his
final dozen or so scores before his death, making his fans wish he had
come to this conclusion a little earlier. Goldsmith did, however, have
the capability of cranking out some fine (or at least interesting) music
for these terrible horror and suspense films at times in the late
1990's. Deep Rising, sadly, is not one of those entries. You
occasionally hear composers stuck in autopilot mode when they're going
through their motions, earning that paycheck, and obviously putting a
minimal amount of thought into a score. This is exactly what Goldsmith
did for Deep Rising, a score with very few (if any) ideas that
the composer's fans haven't heard several times before, and for far
better films.
A score like Deep Rising is really hard to
assign a rating to, because it actually has some very well developed
ideas and listenable passages. But while there are three easily
digestible and somewhat enjoyable major cues in the score, the rest of
it is as bland and predictable as anyone could have expected. The
memorable cues all involve the three themes that Goldsmith employs in
Deep Rising. The first we hear is a throwback brass decent for
the monster itself, a two note slur very menacingly presented at the
outset of "Underwater Grave" under some striking string dissonance. The
film's title theme then erupts with rather heroic brass over a bed of
both drum pads and authentic timpani, as well as a heightened mixing of
Goldsmith's ever-tingling treble-range electronic rhythm samples.
There's a faint sense of the great heroes themes of times past in
Goldsmith's career, especially from the 1970's and early 80's, but
without the genuine power to back it up with muscle. The monster's theme
foreshadows the surprise for the mercenaries at the start of "Boarding,"
a cue that leads to a solemn snare-backed brass theme for their raiding
party. With its surprisingly lyrical construct, this theme is the
highlight of the score. A frantic variation of the theme would explode
at the opening of "Hang On," during which Goldsmith later uses soft
alternations of woodwinds (over an almost tropical percussion rhythm)
similar to the mesmerizing performances in Star Trek:
Insurrection. That final cue then launches into a reprise of the
title theme, this time with the timpani mixed a little more to the
forefront, and rides it to the conclusion. The nearly nonstop action
music in the rest of Deep Rising is truly Goldsmith on autopilot,
with few moments of memorable rhythms to return to. The synthetic
effects heard prominently throughout them are very similar to those
you'd hear in his final two Star Trek scores, with passages
easily interchangeable. A sensitive interlude for solo oboe in "Leila's
Gone" is interrupted by drum pads too quickly to satisfyingly change the
mood of the overall product. Even at 32 minutes, the all-score album
almost plays too long, though it's easy to be attracted back to a
simple, thematic rhythm like that in "Boarding" for repeat listens. But
the overarching creativity usually present in Goldsmith's music is
absent from Deep Rising, leaving the score as a two-dimensional
shadow of scores like the related Leviathan, which more
effectively convinces you of its evil heart. **
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Underwater Grave (2:38)
• 2. Lost Communication (2:57)
• 3. Collision Course (1:15)
• 4. Boarding (3:47)
• 5. Wet Repairs (2:26)
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• 6. Let's Make a Deal (6:54)
• 7. Wall of Water (3:19)
• 8. Leila's Gone (2:05)
• 9. E Ticket (3:37)
• 10. Hang On (2:55)
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Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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