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| McNeely |
Terminal Velocity: (Joel McNeely) Ranking relatively low on
the overall ranking of films by their intelligence level,
Terminal
Velocity is a rather mundane though adequately interesting 1994 film about a
normal guy who gets caught up in a Soviet spy plot and a whole lot of gold. This
unsuspecting skydiving instructor (Charlie Sheen) rescues a beautiful female
student (Nastassja Kinski), escapes from unlikely mid-air situations, defies
impossible odds, and is subjected to other predictable plotline standards.
Audience reactions to
Terminal Velocity were similar to those you'd
witness for a typical straight-to-video flick or B-rate cable film. For action
junkies, the movie may be a nice distraction in the middle of the night when
insomnia and indigestion strike, and the same could be said of Joel McNeely's
score. Once hailed as the successor for composing legend John Williams, McNeely
spent the better part of the 1990's providing effective, though not overwhelming
scores for an unfortunate series of less than stellar films. Despite the usual
demise of the films, some of the scores achieved their own success apart from the
pictures, and
Terminal Velocity is one that translates its adrenaline kick
to film score collectors on album. Its soaring action at high altitudes would
serve as a preview of sorts for McNeely's additional material for
Air Force
One two years later. He had shown time and time again that he was capable of
producing action music for lesser films along the same vein as Jerry Goldsmith's
similar works, and there existed stylistic similarities between the two composers
at times. The music for
Terminal Velocity and
Air Force One share
many common action rhythms, motifs, and instrumentation, making
Terminal
Velocity a good alternative for fans who have been searching without success
for McNeely's contribution to
Air Force One on the black market. With a
moderately sized orchestral ensemble, McNeely produces a dynamic and quickly
paced action score for
Terminal Velocity that especially excels in its
employment of accelerating brass figures that would inform Don Davis' music for
The Matrix and its sequels.
The consistency of McNeely's orchestral structures becomes more
evident as the score progresses, with the final two cues, "Russian Gold" and
"End Credits," serving up melodic string performances that the film certainly didn't
deserve. At the height of the action, McNeely alternates between nervous,
contemplative ambience (based on timpani and woodwinds) and all-out, snare-driven
action that, with certain motifs in the brass, not only resembles Davis' work of
the future, but Michael Kamen's
Die Hard during that score's best moments.
With only a few surprising jolts to disrupt the steady ride, McNeely's score
solidifies its consistency as it continues to develop the thematic material
highlighted in the final tracks. The only stumbling block for a few listeners
might be the incorporation of electric guitars and an electric bass into early
cues. Two of these cues offer a contemporary action backdrop for the sky-diving
scenes, though one, "Ditch's Dive," obnoxiously explodes with the guitar in full
force, much like John Debney's ripping techniques in
The Scorpion King.
Interestingly, the use of the guitar fits the film's targeted style quite well,
though when applied in total contrast to an adjoining orchestral cue, the
instrument becomes cumbersome. The solo guitar is sadly absent from the rest of
the score; in fact, McNeely's work loses much of its contemporary touch as it
progresses to more of a Hollywood Silver Screen-formatted resolution. The
contemporary elements serve to add much welcomed spice to the score, just as they
would add style to
The Avengers several years later. The music for
Terminal Velocity never becomes as outlandishly stylistic as
The
Avengers would, however, and remains a more coherent and solid action piece.
The cue "Cadillac Freefall" remains a favorite, foreshadowing the highlights of
McNeely's tumultuous action music for the upcoming
Virus. Ultimately, the
consistency exhibited in this score might also be a detriment for some listeners;
an anonymous personality does inhabit the music as a result of its steady tone.
Many score fans will probably consider
Terminal Velocity to be an average,
if not mildly interesting action effort, and they would be correct in that
assessment for the most part. More than anything, the score continued to build
the case for many film music enthusiasts that McNeely deserved better scoring
assignments that were not forthcoming.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Joel McNeely reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.38
(in 16 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.14
(in 8,446 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
