Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you are not bothered by a lack of distinctive personality in some of Jerry Goldsmith's most predictable and pedestrian action scores. Avoid it... if you tend to be bored by Goldsmith's action music of the 90's when he simply goes through the motions without providing a unique style to each individual score. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
U.S. Marshals: (Jerry Goldsmith) After the critical and popular success of The Fugitive several years earlier, it was disappointing but not surprising that producer Arnold Kopelson would yank the fiscal chain for a watered down sequel. Returning for U.S. Marshals in 1998 was U.S. Marshal Sam Girard, with Tommy Lee Jones reprising the role that won him an Academy Award for the original. Most of the plot elements in the sequel were simple re-writes and manipulations of the same storyline of The Fugitive. Girard chases another protagonist, fleeing from a spectacular crash and trying all the while to prove his innocence while on the run. Even if Wesley Snipes hadn't diluted the talent pool of the film with his non-existent performance, the insertion of traitor Robert Downey Jr. (who'd a thunk it?) sealed the deal. The film is one chase scene after another, and sadly few of those scenes can rival the tension and intelligence of similar situations in The Fugitive. Audiences didn't seem to care much about the sequel, easily identifying the project's intent as a profit machine rather than high art. An almost all-new crew for U.S. Marshals included a change in composer; James Newton Howard was nominated for an Oscar for the original film's score, which was somewhat of an oddity given that it's nowhere near the top ranks of his own career. But to delight of many, new director Stuart Baird would reunite with the legendary Jerry Goldsmith for the sequel. Their combined effort for the 1996 action flick Executive Decision was competent in sum and contained some enjoyable parts. For U.S. Marshals they would understandably abandon Howard's themes and approach, opting for a trademark Goldsmith action score. One of the interesting aspects of Goldsmith's work for this project is his attempt, whether instructed to do so or not, to combine the style of his 90's action music with some of the style from his similar 70's and 80's assignments. There are pieces from all over Goldsmith's career to be heard in U.S. Marshals, but unfortunately the merging of those styles here does not live up to expectations. Perhaps from a technical standpoint, U.S. Marshals is more than just an average regurgitation of Goldsmith's 1990's action sounds. His staggered rhythms, very low range piano, and percussive ripping and tearing is a reminder of the more brazen, relentless attitude from themes for films like Capricorn One. Accompanying these sometimes odd reinventions are a plethora of Goldsmith's action techniques of the 90's, especially in his handling of brass and theme. There is a significant contribution by synthesizers in U.S. Marshals, mirroring the composer's usage of electronics in his last three Star Trek scores. This last point gives U.S. Marshals several relative similarities to the composer's just-completed Deep Rising, a score that has more funk and guilty pleasure than U.S. Marshals, but suffers from the same lack of genuine personality. The anonymity of Goldsmith's music for U.S. Marshals is precisely the problem; it's a pedestrian score so consistent and predictable in its final recording that it once again conveys a sense of a master composer on auto-pilot... a habit that Goldsmith was annoyingly making in the mid-90's. A bland motif for the film is eventually revealed to be a full-blown theme; Goldsmith uses a pair of five-note motifs at home in any of the Star Trek scores or Air Force One and performs them with persistent medium-range brass throughout the score, altering a note or two in the string to maintain slight variations for different situations. Only in "Free to Go" does Goldsmith reveal with the entire ensemble that this motif is actually part of a larger theme, albeit a simplistic one. This final fully symphonic track, finally allowing the strings a useful contribution, is worthy of compilations but not of the price of the 30-minute album. For such a derivative score, there are surprisingly few direct and precise references to be made to other efforts. One notable connection is the introduction of a foundation early in "The Front Gate" that would become the villain's theme in Star Trek: Nemesis. This is a score begging for some discerning instrumental creativity, something to elevate it beyond the norm. Perhaps a fresh set of synthetic rambling sounds mixed with a greater gain could have saved U.S. Marshals. As it is, the score is unsatisfyingly dull. ** Track Listings:
Total Time: 30:21
All artwork and sound clips from U.S. Marshals are Copyright © 1998, 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 3/11/98, updated 4/3/07. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
