follows the legacy of Damien Thorn into
his adult years. Now with disciples around the world and in control of
his own destiny, the Antichrist is confronted by the newly developed
knowledge that the second coming of Christ is imminent. Seeking to
protect his power and continue his ascent to greater positions of
influence, Damien (now portrayed by Sam Neill) continues his killing
spree by targeting both innocent babies born at the exact time of the
second coming and fending off attacks from a group of priests well aware
of the battle to ensue. The tale culminates into a final battle between
Damien and the powers of goodness, and only through one of the
Antichrist's few weaknesses is he defeated before he can kill off an
entire ensemble cast of supporting characters (as he had done in the
previous two pictures). Producer Harvey Bernhard considered composer
Jerry Goldsmith to be an absolutely essential member of the production
team on all three films, retaining his services immediately upon Fox's
green light of the sequels. Unlike the characters on screen, the music
was meant as a tool of continuity between the three films, one voice
that could serve as a clear identifier of the series for audiences. The
Oscar-winning success of the composer's score for
, and instead of simply regurgitating the famous
theme of "Ave Satani" once again for
,
Goldsmith took the franchise's structures in an entirely new direction.
Perhaps this move shouldn't have come as a surprise, for the composer
was in the midst of the most fruitful period of his career by the time
of the third film, and inspiration never seemed to be a problem for him
during this time. Several basic ingredients from the first film are
carried over to the third, including the use of Goldsmith's usual
performing group, the National Philharmonic Orchestra in London (mostly
without electronics), for one recording used in the film and on album.
Also returning is the dominant use of chorus and the related
unconventional techniques of vocal performances that Goldsmith had
introduced in
. In these general areas,
fits into the series. But in every other manner, the score
is a separate entity, standing firmly on its own and completely ignoring
the thematic constructs that Goldsmith had used in the previous two
entries.
The lack of structural continuity between
The Final
Conflict and
The Omen is both a plus and minus (in extremes,
it would turn out). Let's first explore the positives, for they are
many. Without a doubt,
Damien: Omen II was a score of
regurgitation. It took an outstanding set of ideas and pushed them in
impressive variations, thus earning strong marks and successfully
appealing to listeners. But at the end of the day, the music for
Damien: Omen II didn't really accomplish anything new. Then
again, neither did the film's plot, which was simply a copy of the
first, so it's hard to fault Goldsmith. The fresh start with
The
Final Conflict brushed aside the ills of the previous score and
allowed the composer to spread his wings in vastly new directions. A new
theme greets Damien in his adulthood, one that is as bold, tragic, and
powerful as any Goldsmith ever created. This robust idea is as solid as
movie themes get, conveyed by horns with a resonance rarely heard in
even Goldsmith's most heroic or otherwise melodramatic efforts. He
wastes no time stating it, either, opening the score's "Main Titles"
immediately with this idea and allowing the chorus to join it in grand
harmony for an apocalyptic climax of epic proportions. Goldsmith
reportedly had always wanted to write an opera for chorus, and
The
Final Conflict gave him that opportunity. Massive, mixed choir
harmonics of this level were new to Goldsmith, though he would extend
the usage to a lesser degree in his ill-fated music for
Legend
later in the decade. Goldsmith is loyal to this theme without beating
the audience senseless with it (as he had done with "Ave Satani" in
Damien: Omen II). The incorporation of the horn performances of this
theme in "The Monastery" and "The Hunt" are crystal clear, and by the
time the theme is joined in the actual score by chorus in a monumental
rendering in the latter half of "The Blooding," the score and film take
on another dimension of religious importance. One of the oddities of
this theme is that it became the second idea by Goldsmith in the series
to borrow heavily from John Barry's work of the late 1960's and early
1970's. Whereas the underlying progressions and stomping movement of
"Ave Satani" owed to
The Lion in Winter, the theme for Damien in
The Final Conflict, both in melody and performance aspects, is
highly reminiscent of Barry's
The Last Valley. It's not a
distracting level of similarity, though, and the connected themes are
equally efficient in achieving the same emotional response.
The other strikingly refreshing aspect of
The Final
Conflict that distinguishes it from the previous two scores is
Goldsmith's secondary theme for the second coming of Christ. Along with
the less dissonant lines of the title theme, this fluid and beautiful
representation of the divine is as attractive as Goldsmith could have
possible made it. Truly heavenly in its redemptive tone, this theme is
introduced at the end of "Main Titles," flirted with in soft tones in
"Trial Run" and "The Monastery," and realized fully with grandiose
orchestral and choral performances in "The Second Coming" and the
climactic "The Final Conflict." This material extends beyond even the
collection of Goldsmith's effortless love themes in his career, taking
the opportunity that Hollywood never gave him to score a biblical epic
with all the overblown sense of importance that could be squeezed into
one heavenly theme. In its lesser variants, this idea embodies the same
sense of supernatural whimsy that would be heard in
Poltergeist.
The firm but restrained resolute stature of "The Monastery" is a
reminder of Goldsmith's
Star Trek material. The actual attacks on
Damien's enemies aren't conveyed with the same frequency of orgasmic
chanting and symphonic strikes, another change of direction in
The
Final Conflict. The whispering effects are there, and "A T.V. First"
is a nice throwback to
Damien: Omen II, but anything approaching
the singular menace of "Ave Satani" certainly is not. Harmonious
counterpoint on the horns makes these cues a bit more palatable than
before. Another change in
The Final Conflict relates to the
glimmers of hope that exist throughout the score, with the secondary
theme forcing the score to be far more balanced in its general attitude.
Finally, the single cue "The Hunt" is a highlight of Goldsmith's career
that stands apart from the rest of the music in the three scores in its
spirit of adventure. Goldsmith was inspired by a fox hunt in
The List
of Adrian Messenger many years earlier, and he doesn't let the
opportunity pass him this time, either. Employing rollicking rhythms and
his famous slapping tambourine keeping pace, this theme even imitates
the trumpet calls of a hunt with exuberant clarity of character and a
pastoral sense of respect for nature. The fact that Goldsmith could
accomplish all of this with the horn theme for Damien on top is
remarkable. It's strange to think that the single most impressive cue
written by Goldsmith for these three films has nothing to do with any of
the religious tones or monumental horror that dominate the rest of the
works, but it's true.
Unfortunately, all of these positive aspects of
The
Final Conflict point to the score's greatest weakness: it's almost
complete disavowing of the previous thematic constructs. Careful
inspection of Damien's adult theme will find that the meter corresponds
with "Ave Satani" and, on occasion, as in the end of "The Blooding," the
actual baseline progression of that previous theme is employed. But why
would Goldsmith abandon the idea in its full form in
The Final
Conflict? It was such a powerful theme in
The Omen that is
was nominated apart from the score for a "Best Song" Oscar, and how
often do you witness that in the realm of film music? Certainly,
Goldsmith could have allowed "Ave Satani" to evolve into Damien's more
bombastic adult theme at one or more junctures in
The Final
Conflict. Or, at the very least, a parting reminder of the theme
upon Damien's death or in another tribute fashion would have clearly
wrapped the series into a neat package. Never even do the whispered
effects fully reprise this theme, and despite the fact that Goldsmith
over-utilized the idea in
Damien: Omen II, its total dismissal
here is a major disappointment. Also absent, less surprisingly, is any
reference to Goldsmith's well developed family theme in
The Omen,
an idea that could have merited attention given Damien's own sick love
affair in
The Final Conflict and de facto adoption of a son
through that relationship. Simply put, nothing concrete from
The
Omen survives in
The Final Conflict, so in the producer's
effort to use Goldsmith as a source of continuity for the series, the
score fails to accomplish that goal. The composer's high quality of
output and general approach to the concept will be similar enough for
some listeners, however, for whom this won't be an issue. Otherwise,
The Final Conflict is an outstanding score despite being an
orphan within the context, necessitating different ratings for the
score's continuation of the story and its album presentation. Released
by Masters Film Music through Varèse Sarabande in 1986 on a
48-minute CD,
The Final Conflict finally received expanded and
remastered treatment in 2001, with a significant improvement in sound
quality and 14 additional minutes of music. A 2005 repackaging of all
three "Deluxe Editions" together for a retail price of less than $30
made them very affordable, not to mention a compensation for more
difficult retail availability of the 2001 albums by then. There is no
question that
The Final Conflict is the most satisfying of the
three scores on album, but
The Omen remains the best pure horror
score in context.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: *****
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26
(in 124 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 153,454 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
