Shearmur had already proven himself capable of handling a wide range of assignments by 2003, including those that rely heavily upon genre inspirations for their success. At the time, he had made waves with Reign of Fire and Johnny English, and together with Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, this body of work raised hopes of an illustrious career to follow. Unfortunately for Shearmur, the output never got much more glitzy or memorable than Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, his career somewhat fizzling thereafter. That doesn't stop film score collectors from fondly recalling the work as one of the most entertaining entries of 2004, however. The stylistic similarities to the Golden Age sensibilities of Max Steiner and previous adventure music of the Digital Age by John Williams, James Horner, and Michael Giacchino are obvious, with these inspirations directly yielding both the strengths and weaknesses of Shearmur's work. With the pace, instrumentation, and themes of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow remaining so consistent in their swagger and enthusiasm from start to finish, these inspirations become blindingly obvious by the latter half of the score. Shearmur engages listeners with unrestricted heroism, fanfares, and nobility with nary a single note of caution for long passages, and optimistic parades of easily tonal sound with little deviation from consistently passionate tempos. Technically, the structure of the music is very similar to early Williams heroics and more recently follows the familiar lines of Horner's The Rocketeer and Giacchino's first "Medal of Honor" video game music. In retrospect, it also sounds like a cross between David Newman and Andrew Lockington's styles for equivalent situations. The percussion section earns its pay, with snares maintaining the constant tempo, crashing cymbals gracing every measure, and the clanging of metal highlighting the faux-futuristic atmosphere and robot adversaries. Layers of brass, including an enhanced role for lower trombone and tuba tones, follow textbook Williams methodology, with parts of the Jurassic Park scores even heard in secondary passages of the primary theme. The pulsating building of steam for that title theme is a blatant adaptation of the anticipation that precedes the Superman theme.

The swaying, romantic strings for the love interest in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, while restricted often to a more auxiliary role, serve up the same longing, romantic passages in the latter half of the score that have been heard in Horner's interpretation of 1930's innocence. While occasionally performing a few bars of thematic material in between full ensemble blasts, the woodwinds might be easy to completely miss due to the sheer magnitude of sound in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. That last fact is both a strength and weakness of Shearmur's score; the music never seems to take a extended breath outside of the Tibetan scenes in the middle. Even in its reflective passages, the listener never has more than a minute or two of downtime from the relentless presentation of bombast before the next action sequence begins. The output is both impressive and admirable in its clear direction, but it's tiring in its perpetual efforts to excite at near propaganda levels. Listeners who may have been troubled by Giacchino's extremely loyal adaptation of Willaims' styles in "Medal of Honor" may have similar difficulties with Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The familiarity of nearly everything heard in its contents gives them a legitimate argument when advising caution about the score. Shearmur's employment of chorus and electronics is sparse in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the choral impact diminished by its very slight placement in the mix during "The Zeppelin Arrives" (otherwise a distinctive highlight of the entire score). Perhaps had the composer chosen to employ these elements to a greater degree, or even varied more of the existing instrumentation, the less anonymously uniform the orchestral performances would seem to learned film music collectors. Unlike similarly optimistic scores that change tempo often enough to create a diverse listening experience (Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas was such an example from the previous year), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow does not make much attempt to paint itself in a three-dimensional fashion through unconventional instrumentation, performance emphasis, or compositional structures. When Shearmur does employ electronics as part of the ensemble, such as the background pace-setter in "Flying Lizard," they sound misplaced. Even with that said, Shearmur surely accomplished more than what the film probably needed, accentuating the fairy-tale historical environment with a more than sufficient blend of comic-book heroism and fantasy romanticism.

Thematically, the secondary identities often struggle to have an impact despite their significantly developed existence. The love theme for the reporter isn't melodramatic enough to compete in this environment, and the villain's march blends into the general action mode. Ironically, secondary themes for Sky Captain and the villain are more accessibly engaging but less frequently utilized. Likewise, a sub-theme for Angelina Jolie's supporting character is a fantastic addition late in "Finding Frankie" but likewise becomes lost in the overall equation. At times, Shearmur allows his themes to betray direct references, with a touch of "When You Wish Upon a Star" manipulated into the love theme interlude in the "H-770-d" cue. The adaptation of "Over the Rainbow" for the end credits is an interesting and effective extension of the era, and while its performance may not be as spectacular as the score, its purpose is well served. The original 2004 Sony album contained 54 minutes of score, just over half of the 100+ minutes that comprised the work, though that product contains all the score's major highlights in a nicely edited presentation. In 2017, La-La Land Records released a more complete score selection, joined by "Over the Rainbow" and a source cue, on a limited, 2-CD set. Intriguingly, this album's music was not remastered from multi-track studio sources but instead from a stereo source reserved by the composer, so don't expect significantly different sound quality. The quantity of additional material is a bit overwhelming, however, and it's interesting to realize that even with the fuller score at hand, the narrative of the work doesn't favorably convey its themes any better than the shorter product. There is a variety of additional thematic references that will intellectually please the listener, but the 2017 set reveals a nagging truth that Shearmur's themes largely underachieve in their own over-wrought environment. The newly released material is outstanding in many cues but no less exhausting. In the end, your passion for Shearmur's approach to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow will depend completely on your ability to suspend your memories of other high-flying adventure scores and immerse yourself in this particular fantasy world, and an unyielding one at that. The constantly elevated volume could possibly induce a headache, making for one extremely tedious hour or more. Still, you have to appreciate Shearmur's pinpoint accuracy for the sub-genre's expectations, as well as the breezy fun with which he produced this outpouring of melodic patriotism. It's hard to imagine a better demeanor for the topic. Just remember to pause the albums' presentations several times to take a breath.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download