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•	1994 Album

•	2026 Album

•	1994 Album

The ambient nastiness of the score's majority, alongside its suspense, make it unappealing for much of its length despite its success at generating the conflict appropriate for Timecop. Isham's romantic side is there, but it is very suppressed outside of a few moments; even the resolution scene isn't cleanly tonal, the composer never able to completely escape the darkness. The interpersonal scenes earlier in the film seem forced compared to surrounding action. Thematically, the score isn't memorable whatsoever, but it does use a consistent set of ideas. A theme for Van Damme's character, Max, opens as a relentlessly driven, downward progression of pairs of notes in melodramatically tragic form, not very obvious and meandering without satisfying resolve. Propelled by pounding piano and anxious strings over broad brass menace in "Time Cop," Isham applies a layered approach to the theme's first performance as a nice echo effect for the story's time travel implications. As an overture, the cue is fairly engaging but somewhat anonymous by the end. It's impressively translated into a sultry love theme on saxophone in "Lovemaking," later guiding the middle of "A Love Lost in the Past" in similar styling. After reservedly stalking in "To the Warehouse," it straightens its progressions a bit for the subdued "Searching for Clues" and first half of "Manual Launch." Returning to the saxophone for a longing moment of cascading realization in "Blood Test," the idea receives a somewhat warm but exhausted rendition in "A Friend of the Family." The character also receives a responsibility motif associated with Max's suffering over the loss of his wife. It appears on higher piano ranges in the middle of "Time Cop" as counterpoint to main theme, teases similarly in "Dorsal Fins/Premonition," and is deconstructed to near inconsequence in "I Never Quit/Handsome Devil." This readily identifiable theme then opens "A Love Lost in the Past" in beaten pieces, tingles against the main theme in "To the Warehouse," briefly reminds at the outset of "Lousy Night to be Out," and returns to its original form on piano in "Present Perfect." A resolution theme in Timecop is the payoff identity, hinted early in the score but not fully realized until the happy ending. Debuting nicely in the final minute of "A Love Lost in the Past" on saxophone, this idea is briefly suggested early in "A Kiss From the Future," follows the main theme for a phrase in "A Friend of the Family," and takes over "Present Perfect" for the upbeat closing moments the director requested.

At the final culmination for the resolution theme in Timecop, the saxophone returns, but even here there is a tinge of sadness to the performance inflection. The closing twenty seconds offers a full ensemble rendition, but it's very short due to the scene's odd application of end credits. Isham might have been better off more slowly increasing the level of romantic inclination before that final foray into wholesomeness, and the scene of Max and his newfound son could certainly have used it. Lesser in the score is a time travel motif consisting of rising chords of marginally impressive stature in "The Launch" that also close "Warehouse Battle" with a touch of mystery. More frantic on high brass in the latter half of "Manual Launch," this material opens "Sturm and Drang" with nervous anticipation as well. A villain motif utilizes cyclical pounding on piano and other percussion against brass fright, initially thrashing the soundscape in "The Beating." It becomes even more percussively aggressive in "50,000 Volts" with extensive gong usage and accelerates with continued gong prominence in "Warehouse Battle," though the stark orchestra hits begin to become obnoxious by this point. Trumpets and deep piano are especially effective late in "Blood Test," as are thumps from timpani in "A Kiss From the Future." After a highly brassy presence throughout "Sturm and Drang," the darker tones resort to more basic ensemble hits led by drums in "Lousy Night to be Out" and "Justice in the Rain," but low brass does better justice to this posturing in the latter cue. Straight horror material uses prickly atonality with slashes of metallics and obnoxiously shrieking flutes for death scenes, including the overtly ridiculous "Atwood Jumps/Death Sentence" that is revisited in lesser shades against the awful special effects of "Meltdown." In sum, Isham's score is certainly well reasoned and can be entertaining in parts, but it lacks the kind of cohesive narrative and compelling emotional gravity needed for its topic. The original 1994 album from Varèse Sarabande is a decent survey of the score's basic parts, sampling each of them to satisfactory levels, but its sound quality is wretched. The label returned to the product as part of its CD Club in 2026 with an expansion that better serves the narrative flow but more importantly sounds infinitely improved. Isham's dynamic percussive spread in the score really benefits from this vastly better ambience. Along with the proper ordering of cues are two unused cues of little interest. With the sound issues solved on the 2026 product, don't be surprised if you find yourself appreciating the most brutal action portions on the expansion for their ambitious percussion presence.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Mark Isham reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85 (in 27 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.88 (in 10,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.