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Silvestri's score is purely orchestral and choral, with no discernable synthetics, and woodwinds and percussion are used extensively for ambient dread. Brass plays an increasing role for action genre purposes in the latter half, though listeners will likely latch on to the choral, flute, and violin passages of beauty that lace the tragic portions. The composer places the two primary themes in constant battle against each other, their interplay critical to dialing up and down the position of the leads against each other. This frequent overlapping is commendable, though the constructs are fairly static and repeated endlessly in similar fashion throughout the score, leaving the narrative with only the cranking of intensity to denote the true danger at the end. The main theme represents Bridges' bomb squad leader, and it also taps his fears and troubled past. Its appeal comes in a traumatic, descending, seven-note phrase with infrequent secondary development of a 4-note phrase sometimes appended to it. An answering phrase is five notes ascending on brass with defiance that commonly follows and becomes its own motif of resilience. The theme is heard first on lonely piano at 0:51 into "The Escape," followed by the answer after a pause. It's elongated against the score's escape motif with shorter answer sections in "M.I.T. Arrival." A flute rendition at the start of "Flashbacks" is interrupted by horrific crashes, and the theme bursts at 1:42 during "Blanket Gets It" in panic with tolling chimes and the revelation of its longer main line. The answer phrase only punctuates the start of "Bomb Site" several times, where the primary phrase is pushed to a subservient role but does access its own longer version eventually. The main theme is tenderly stated in "Bake Sale Spy" with the answer phrase spoiling the sensitivity, and it's adapted into a layered moment of agony in "Playing the Angle," the answer phrase joining the escape motif for thrusting anticipation late. The idea explodes at the outset of "Trolley Bomb Site" with militaristic tragedy, agonizes in fragments in the middle of "Cortez Goes Boom," and consolidates its pain in the massive opening of "Red Herring du Jour." It's worried in the restraint of "Shut Him Down," "Explosive Headset," and "Too Easy," and becomes inextricably intertwined with the villain's swirls in "Kite Fixer" and "Searching the Docks," receiving an adaption of its answer phrase in the heftier "Gaerity's Hideout."

The score's most poignant cue, "Saint Max," opens with a solo flute rendition of Silvestri's main theme before a large rendition at 3:56 is a highpoint of the score, aided by choir. The fullest variations of the theme are expressed at this moment of grand despair. Trying to remain defiant against the more prevalent villain motif in "Computer Search," this idea is more somber and yearning on cellos and flute in "You Don't Know Me," in which the answer phrase is marginalized, and is defiant against the villain's motif in "For Your Lovely Wife." The theme shifts to alarmed brass in "Final Fight," adopting some of the Tchaikovsky performances' personality for continuity. Silvestri really makes use of all the theme's phrasing alternatives in full action form during this cue, and it gains power on horns at the end, carrying that mode into "Brakeless in Boston" with even more brass layers. The villain's theme for Jones' vengeful killer is appropriately manic, built upon swirling runs on woodwinds. Although many of the character's scenes were ultimately laced with rock songs, this idea is repetitive enough to still serve its purpose. Subdued against a metallic flourish and clanging at 1:32 into "The Escape," this material is very faint at the start of "Bomb Squad" but returns later and shifts to bass woodwinds. It enjoys enhanced volume at the beginning of "Serendipity" with an ascending bass string motif and fleshes out more of an imposing melody against the swirls in "Gaerity Sets Up Shop." Those possible lines of melodic expansion don't really go anywhere, though, as the motif carries over in prior form to the start of "Blanket Gets It" and continues its insanity quietly at 0:46 into "Playing the Angle." It underpins the main theme in "Trolley Bomb Site," torments the second minutes of "Red Herring du Jour" and "Too Easy," and becomes more restrained during "Kite Fixer" against main theme fragments. Slowly emerging throughout "Searching the Docks" with a more metallic personality, this almost hypnotic effect haunts the middle of "Saint Max" but transforms into a little more lucid form in higher ranges during "Computer Search" and "At the Dolphin." It taunts the main theme in "For Your Lovely Wife" and appropriately recurs in heightened and accelerated tones in "Final Fight" against repeated main theme renditions, continuing that posture in "Brakeless in Boston," where it's aided by random percussive thrashing. Despite the lack of any enduring melodic core, this identity ultimately serves its purpose reasonably well.

The secondary themes in Blown Away will likely appeal to Silvestri's collectors. One is an escape motif with a military rhythm akin to Predator 2 and very typical to the composer's normal methods. Heard immediately on snare in "The Escape," this movement augments the villain's theme later in the cue. It's more straightforward at the stoic outset of "M.I.T. Arrival" and rips for a brief moment at 1:12 into "Bomb Squad," joining with main theme's answer phrase. The idea matures with true Predator form on percussion in "Playing the Angle" and accompanies the adversaries' themes in "Trolley Bomb Site." The emotional core of the work is Max's theme, a very long-lined and almost romantic identity for the protagonists' uncle, appropriately played by Lloyd Bridges. Caught underneath the villain's fluttering motif at 2:26 into "The Escape," this evocative theme builds a little strength on strings against the escape and villain motifs together. It's subtle late in "Bomb Squad" but earns its pay in "Saint Max." Reprised at 0:25 into that cue, the theme culminates in its latter half with religious choral tones in support for a momentous performance. It later accompanies the villain material in "At the Dolphin" as well. Finally, Silvestri's adaptation of the traditional Irish tune from the 17th Century, "Prince's Day," is applied twice in the score for the Irish element. Stated prominently but with reserved tones on choir only during all of "Prince's Day (Main Title)," the composer closes the score with lovely penny whistle and string rendition of the tune in "Everybody Loves a Hero." While these "Prince's Day" performances and similarly attractive "Saint Max" are outstanding melodic highlights, they are generally overshadowed in the score by the mass of the composer's troubled suspense material featuring the two battling primary themes. The score wasn't available on its own (aside from the typical bootlegs to roam the market) until 2013, when Intrada Records pressed over an hour of music that included many of the Tchaikovsky recordings to keep the narrative intact. The middle of the score has some dull moments of suspense that drag on too long ("Red Herring Du Jour" and "Nail Bomb"), and the Tchaikovsky insertions may not agree with all listeners, but collectors can rearrange the militaristic highlights ("The Escape" and "Playing the Angle") with the three or four passages of melodic grace to extract the very best into a noteworthy, albeit short presentation. Don't approach this score anticipating any sustained sense of excitement, because it's a more sophisticated thriller content to punish you with challenging thematic interplay.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.31 (in 58 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.21 (in 42,809 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 73:14