Published on Sep 9, 1999
I’ll be honest. I’m a sucker for big, epic-style movies. Stuff
like
Star Wars, Krull, Indiana Jones, Excalibur, Stargate –even
Army Of Darkness. I love it. I enjoy that sweeping feel that
they have and the bad dialogue that can permeate these movies. And
I love the grand music that these films usually come with. There is
nothing quite like it. Sometimes, the music can surpass the film
and become even more memorable. (Easy example: The score to
Dragonheart vs. the actual movie. Which one will you
remember?)
In any case, to accompany this year’s remake of the classic
horror film,
The Mummy, the people in charge turned to composer Jerry
Goldsmith for the task. You may not remember his name, but his work
is well known. He created the theme for
Star Trek: The Movie — which they later used for the TV
series and other movies–and did scores for
Air Force One and
Star Trek: Insurrection. His work is well known. But I will
be the first to say that this score is NOT the musically-complete
nor the most challenging nor the most artistic. I will even admit
that this score is not groundbreaking nor a great score. However,
this score is one thing: FUN!
How would you create music for a movie that is set in Egypt?
Simple. Add Egyptian touches to the music. The main theme for this
movie is introduced within the first track, “Imhotep.” In fact,
this theme appears and reappears throughout the score at various
different tempos to highlight the action that is going on. The main
theme itself is nothing more than a few notes played slowly at
first on a flute and a harp, before the violins take over it. It is
simple, it works and it is great.
More of those Egyptian touches reappear throughout the score. On
tracks like “Giza Port,” “The Caravan” and “My Favorite Plague.”
While it is true that they are barely more than touches, they add
to the flavor of the soundtrack. For example, in “The Caravan,” you
are treated to a sweeping piece of music–like wind across the
Sahara. Then, midway through, it dies and gives you the main theme
again.
The main theme is actually slowed down to a few notes to serve
as the love theme. This appears on various tracks– “Night
Boarders,” “The Caravan,” and “The Sand Volcano.” As a love theme,
the music gains a new sense and serves to unite the quest the
characters are going through with the personal attraction the two
leads are having for one another. Sure, a more concrete love theme
would have been better, but this one will suffice.
Of course, a movie remake of “The Mummy” has to have some horror
scenes, right? In this one, the horror music appears early–in “The
Sarcophagus.” Here we get more Egyptian flavor along with some
slow, creepy music that suddenly turns and starts building towards
a climax. Some of the music here is repeated on “Rebirth” and parts
of “The Crypt” which also has this sense of danger.
Then, there are some tracks that seem to be here just for the
fun of it. They are attached to the more action-oriented parts of
the movie and they give off that feeling of action. “Tauger Attack”
starts out with a speeded-up version of the main theme, before
descending into a more-ordinary action fanfare. “Camel Race” is the
opposite. It starts out as action fanfare and midway through, it
returns to the main theme and uses it as a climax. “Mummia Attack,”
and “The Mummy” feature some more of the action sequences, but here
is where you encounter the big problem of this soundtrack.
I’ve already said that this soundtrack wasn’t the most
musically-complete score out there and I’ve backed it up by
explaining how the main theme is used and reused in a number of
different ways. Well, the problem is that there is no diversity.
While the main theme is great and is used well, there is nothing
else to compete with it. Think about it. In
Star Wars, you had the main theme, the Cantina Band, the
theme for Princess Leia and on and on. Here, the main theme is used
to cover the hero, the heroine, the villain and the action. Some
people might find that a bit boring or uninspired. It would have
been one thing if Goldsmith had created one theme for the mummy,
given the hero and heroine another theme and then used the main
theme to tie the movie together. Instead, the main one is used as
often as I’ve used the word “theme” in this review.
What makes it worse is that the action themes — like “Mummia
Attack,” “Crowd Control” and “The Mummy” — then fade into one
another. You can’t tell when in the movie this is taking place or
separate into individual pieces. I realize that I can listen to the
first seven tracks — “Imhotep” to “Camel Race” — and then skip to
the last one (“The Sand Volcano”) and it does not feel like I’ve
missed anything. This is not good. After all, the climax of the
movie, the danger, the sense of horror often hinges on the music’s
ability to stand out and play a part. Here the music just becomes
one large, undistinguishable, piece. (I also had that problem with
his score for the movie,
The 13th Warrior
, where he tries to add Middle-Eastern touches, but fails
because there isn’t even a single unifying theme to the entire
movie. Instead you are treated to various musical pieces that
dissapear into the void).
Like I said, I liked this movie and, overall, the soundtrack
works. The album ends with “The Sand Volcano,” where the main theme
and its various uses are all repeated. However, I do feel like
Goldsmith might have just churned this one out quickly to tend to
the many other soundtracks he was working on. This is bad. The
soundtrack is halfway to being good, so why not complete it and add
music that will stick on your head? I don’t know. As it stands,
The Mummy is only half-good. Therefore, that’s the grade it
gets.