Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,527
Written 9/23/03, Revised 4/6/09
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Buy it... only if you can't get enough of that pleasant Randy Edelman sound
in all of its variations, including a surprisingly light-hearted variant for
another kickboxing environment.
Avoid it... if you already own Edelman's superior score for Dragon: The
Bruce Lee Story and are satisfied with its more memorable identity.
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| Edelman |
The Quest: (Randy Edelman) Perhaps nobody clued him in on
this probable fact before this film was made, but Jean-Claude Van Damme is much
better at kicking people in the groin than he is at conjuring the story for and
directing his films. Being so, Van Damme, the kickboxer who entertained the
population by getting into angry scuffles with relentless tabloid photographers
on city streets in real life, decided to make The Quest his directorial
debut. The film, not much different from the formulas of the other kickboxing
films in which he stars (except for an awkward role for Roger Moore in this
case), was a critical disaster and went straight from empty theatres to video
stores and midnight showings on cable channels. The film wasn't laughable, per se
(at least not intentionally), but it simply repeated all the same old Van Damme
moves in a poorer light, making it pointless if you've seen him bash opponents
(or, best yet, kick over palm trees after torturing the plant repeatedly) on
screen in the past. Composer Randy Edelman, however, seemed inclined to take on
any project of dubious merit and provide a decent score for it. He was a model of
consistency in the 1990's no matter the genre or quality of films with which he
was involved, never creating the best or worst to come from his industry. He had
been fortunate enough to be assigned Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story in 1993
and had produced an excellent, rousing score for that occasion. For The
Quest, Edelman had many of the same elements at work: nasty fight sequences
in a pre-Matrix era that were supposed to wow audiences, a slight oriental
touch (giving the necessary nod to the origins of kickboxing, not to mention the
appearance of a bad dude named, of course, Khan), and a pseudo-heroic theme of
solitude meant to expand upon the supposedly complex, but introverted character
of the film's prime brute (the kind of guy who is nice at heart, but who will
kick your head off if necessary). Needless to say, Edelman could handle such a
questionable project on auto-pilot. And that is exactly what he did.
But with this score came the time to question the quality of
this Edelman auto-pilot routine. He managed a vastly superior score in
Dragonheart, as well as a better action effort for
Daylight later
in the same year, and in both of those efforts, Edelman pushes the same base
sound in either more grandiose or rhythmic directions (respectively). Without any
distinct twist on the formula, there's nothing in
The Quest to really get
excited about. Every trademark Edelman choice of synthetic instrumentation, as
well as thematic variation in progression, is clearly evident here. His title
theme is not as strong as the one for Bruce Lee, and it almost has a glossy, faux
finish on its electronically simplistic nature. Then again, maybe that's perfect
for Van Damme. But everything was either half-hearted or a cliche in
The
Quest by this time in Edelman's career. A soft guitar or piano provides
pleasant underscore for a few cues. The orchestral representation is layered with
Edelman's usual synthetic renderings (sounding surprisingly simple in the same
"brass as accompaniment for a whole note way" that John Barry critics jumped
upon). Speaking of Barry, there's a sequence late in "Drums on the Beach" that
sounds as though Edelman pulled it from a villain's sequences in a James Bond
score. Elsewhere, there are choppy strings from
Diabolique, as well as the
happy variation on the tired string movement that you heard in
Kindergarten
Cop. Unfortunately, there is a general lack of power (or enthusiasm) when Van
Damme kicks someone senseless, despite the fact that these moments are supposed
to be the highlights of the film. The action material is stock from Edelman's
library, often ending (just like his themes) on an easy and enjoyable series of
major chords. The only cue that sounds original in this music is "Monkey Boy and
Snake Eyes," which jumps right out from a Neil Norman recording of a science
fiction theme, complete with space age sound effects and rhythmic series of
droplet noises. On album,
The Quest is a fluid listening experience, as to
be expected from Edelman, but its predictable consistency is its own worst enemy.
If you have several Edelman scores in your collection, beware. There's nothing
new here.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Randy Edelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.05
(in 20 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 29,260 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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