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Co-Produced by:
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Michael Mason
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Co-Conducted by:
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Pete Anthony
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Release Date:
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June 18th, 2002
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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| | Debney | |
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The Scorpion King: (John Debney) Inspired by the legendary Egyptian
warrior introduced in the film The Mummy Returns, the third installment
of The Mummy series concentrates on The Scorpion King and his 16th
Century battle against an evil visionary and ruler of the famed city of
Gomorrah. Wrestling star Dwayne Johnson (otherwise known for some reason as "The
Rock") stars as the Scorpion King, bulging with 21st Century nutritional
supplements, but nevertheless battling evil henchmen to the sound of John
Debney's action packed score. John Debney, whose action music often needs no
supplements, follows Jerry Goldsmith and Alan Silvestri as the composers of the
films in the series. His music eclectic in style and his career spanning nearly
every possible genre, Debney is a master at both orchestral themes and synthetic
rhythms. Of all the composers producing large orchestral works in Hollywood,
Debney is the most talented at also creating satisfying rock and roll music as
well. These talents have landed him some less than desirable scoring assignments
(The Replacements a prime example) and until now, his mastery of the
orchestral and synthetic had not yet merged on a grand scale. The Scorpion
King changes all of that.
Imagine the Conan the Barbarian score accompanied by some rip-snorting
electric guitars, synthetic percussion, and drums... a score combining the
metallic enthusiasm of The Rock with the orchestral and chorus magnificence of
the score for Cutthroat Island. Debney's The Scorpion King will
either blow you away or, at the very least, leave you staggering from an
orchestral experience gone heavy metal. Many had been curious as to how the
melding of Debney's two worlds would sound, and most fans are pleased to say
that it is an enormous success. Indeed, The Scorpion King is a
fascinatingly original score. It plays to the stereotypes of Egyptian chord
progressions, explodes into its electric guitars whenever The Rock flexes a
pectoral muscle, and releases incredible amounts of choral and orchestral
majesty for the film's grand vistas. The score also lovingly rips off a few
motifs from other popular film scores, including the repeated striking of the
same note from Herrmann's 7th Voyage of Sinbad and the wavering
fluctuations of an octave from Davis' The Matrix. Some portions will
remind you of Goldsmith's The 13th Warrior as well. At any rate, though,
Debney's work is creative enough from the opening bar to compensate for any
intentional or unintentional liftings. Don't let that "Boo!" track at the start
of the album discourage you from the rest of it. If you've never heard a heavy
metal cue accompanied by full orchestra and chorus, it might catch you off
guard. The greatest aspect of Debney's score is the fact that he incorporates
the electronics --of which the guitars, synth, and drums were often arranged by
his own talents-- with the orchestra, highlighted by two harps, without allowing
the electronics to ever detract from the main group of players. The Scorpion
King is, at heart, a fully orchestral and choral score that is simply best
known for its occasional, awesome accompaniment of attitude, spirit, and power
from The Rock's electronic persona.
On album, the majority of the serious heavy metal power is concentrated near the
opening. The eighth track begins with a momentous blast of guitars and chorus
and the twelfth track is highlighted by two bars of similar guitar work; both of
these cues are among the highlights of the score --even for a die hard
orchestral film score fan. While some have said that The Scorpion King
does not have a central theme, the score indeed does have one. It is simply not
as well emphasized as the one in, for instance, Cutthroat Island. The
majority of action pieces are themeless, but still display a remarkable respect
for harmony and pleasant rhythms. Instrumentation is creative and sometimes
haunting during the slower, more reflective moments of the score. More cues of
the ethnic vocals would have been welcomed. The female vocals, while maintaining
that stereotype of the setting, serve well to represent the erotic nature of the
evil visionary. The final cue of the score features and almost
Stargate-like majesty, and tops off a strong, 40 minute album of this
Debney work. It's the best score from Debney in a while, and resurrects both the
orchestral and electronic halves of his career into a strong result. Only a more
dynamic and memorable theme, along with a longer overall length, keeps this
score and album from a top rating. It is nevertheless the best score of the
Mummy-inspired series to date. Be sure when purchasing the album to avoid
the song compilation that was released closer to the film's record April, 2002
opening. Film score fans should not be disappointed, so long as they can get
past the initial shock of the first track and enjoy the score as the
genre-crossing success that it is. ****
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Boo! (1:26)
• 2. Main Titles (1:38)
• 3. Night Attack (3:55)
• 4. Vision of Doom (1:05)
• 5. Pickpockets (2:43)
• 6. Valley of the Dead (2:12)
• 7. The Cave (3:38)
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• 8. Mathyus Arrises (1:26)
• 9. Balthazars Camp (5:10)
• 10. I Had a Vision (2:36)
• 11. I've Come for the Woman (3:26)
• 12. Die Well Assassin (3:43)
• 13. Balthazar Arrives (3:09)
• 14. The Scorpion King (3:26)
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Insert includes no extra information
about the film or score, except for a list of musicians who performed on the score.
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