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Highlander: Endgame: (Stephen Graziano/Nick
Glennie-Smith) In the end, there can only be one. That is, unless you
have several motion picture sequels, a few television series, and an
array of comic book spin-offs. Even fifteen years after the success of
the original
Highlander film, the concept's cult following seemed
to have an immortality all in itself. The television series of the
mid-1990's picked up the slack for the truly terrible direct sequels
that had been inexplicably launched at the big screen. Miramax didn't
let the fact they obviously weren't familiar with the genre stop them
from cashing in on the possibility of merging the two storylines in
Star Trek: Generations fashion. In the plot of this final
installment, the legendary Connor MacLeod and his small screen
equivalent, Duncan MacLeod, team up to fight yet another nasty immortal
(is there an endless supply of these power-hungry dorks?). Realizing
that Christopher Lambert was starting to show his age (which may or may
not be an acceptable turn of events for an immortal warrior, not to
mention that he'll never look as cool as Sean Connery), a mighty climax
of the storylines is a necessary passing of the torch, and if plain
common sense doesn't spoil the film for you, then the track listings of
the album certainly will. It would make sense that after the franchise
rotated between countless composers through the years, this final
production would provide for a momentous score to symbolize everything
that had transpired in the previous fifteen years of the story,
something to make fans' heads roll with delight. Alas, it was not to be
so. Media Ventures product Nick Glennie-Smith, whose scoring career was
already headed down the tubes by 2000, wrote a score for
Highlander:
Endgame but reportedly departed the production at the last moment,
refusing to allow his name to be attached to it. The same thing,
interestingly, happened to him on
The Rock, and perhaps it's
because of this little problem he kept having that his career never went
anywhere. In the final hours, Miramax brought in trailer and television
music master Stephen Graziano to fill in the remaining material,
combining it with some of Glennie-Smith's score to form a muddled
result.
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What the two composers' music (along with that of a
couple of other contributors to single cues) has in common is a reliance
on synthesizers and a handful of specialty instruments. The lack of a
symphonic score for this last
Highlander film is really
disappointing, for the score sounds distinctly cheap in all of its
parts. Even within the composers' own music, the primary style changes
genres frequently and the little thematic development is too sparse to
be effective. There are pieces of traditional Scottish themes and
instrumentation mixed with hard electric guitars, harmonicas mixed with
fantastic female vocals, and bagpipes dubbed over standard, trashy Media
Ventures keyboarding. If a cue starts to click, and a few of them do
start to crank up the mysticism, you can rest assured that you won't
hear that motif again. The highlight of the soundtrack is, perhaps not
surprisingly, the arrangement of two traditional Scottish songs
performed in Enya style by Jennifer McNeil. The first of these is
significant because of its usage in the television show. Graziano's
original material is more innovative per se than Glennie-Smith's,
utilizing McNeil's vocals and energetic electronic rhythms in an
almost-Gothic atmosphere. The ripping of electric guitars for the
slashing fight sequences is easily his music's greatest weakness.
Glennie-Smith produces exactly what you'd expect from a Media Ventures
veteran: electronic chorus, broad brass and string samples, and simple
chord progressions. It is very functional music, and in "Killing an Old
Friend" and the latter half of "Heather Cuts Her Hair," it is
predictably attractive, but overall his contribution is nothing
spectacular. Because of its functionality and whimsical changes of tone
and style, which is probably logical given the drastic time shifts of
the saga, fans of the film will likely find much to enjoy on the album.
That inconsistency is a double-edged sword, however, and don't be
surprised if you keep coming back to only the vocalizations of
traditional arrangements. The final track is an unrelated and
unimpressive tribute piece by neither composer and does not appear in
the film. Despite some strong stylistic expressions in parts, the album
is not quite as immortal as many might have hoped.
*** Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
The insert contains extensive notes about the franchise and both primary composers.
It also features some of the best artwork ever pressed on a GNP Crescendo product.
