DEEP RISING

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: I'm quite proud of the fact that I've never seen Deep Rising. The film came and went from the multiplexes where I live so quickly, it was almost as though the cinema managers were ashamed to be showing this film and making the unsuspecting public pay £5 for the dubious pleasure of sitting through it. By all accounts, Stephen Sommers' soggy horror movie was as dead in the water as most of the film's characters, and boasted some of the least impressive performances and special effects seen on the silver screen for a while. It starred Treat Williams as the captain of a cruise liner whose ship is taken over by a hideous creature, and quite how Jerry Goldsmith got involved is beyond me - he had never worked with Sommers before (Basil Poledouris scored The Jungle Book), and I doubt that Jerry was particularly enamoured with the screenplay. I can only assume that the paycheque was the deciding factor. As a friend of mine is often fond of saying, "Composers have got to eat too, you know!"

Having said that, Deep Rising is actually a fairly satisfactory score, in a rather undemanding kind of way. The orchestra is large, the performances are solid, the writing is complex (sometimes) and the tempo is quick - everything you could ask for in a modern action/horror score, right? Well, almost. Jerry Goldsmith seems to be pretty much going through the motions here, with very little that is new or innovative, but as Jerry's motions are generally superior to everyone else's anyway, there is still much to enjoy. The main theme - beefy brasses playing a triumphant four-note fanfare over a thick bed of percussive synths and strident strings - appears in the first and last cues, 'Underwater Grave' and 'Hang On', and there is yet another menacing descending brass motif for the sea monster which appears in several cues, notably 'Lost Communication', 'Wet Repairs' and the tremendously exciting 'Wall of Water'.

'Boarding' features some natty martial snare drum licks, many cues feature the genre-standard creeping strings and echoes Goldsmith himself made legendary in his score for Alien, and there is even a slow, remorseful, surprisingly tender string elegy at the beginning of 'Leila's Gone' - until the synth pads kick in again. However, in terms of full scale action-blowouts, you would certainly do well to top 'Collision Course', the massive 'Let's Make a Deal', and the unstoppable 'E Ticket', all of which launch an incessant assault the ear drums, although after a while the pounding percussion and shrieking brasses do tend to wear you down a little.

In the grand scheme of things, Deep Rising is totally insignificant in both musical and cinematic terms: even within Goldsmith's own esteemed filmography, the score does not make as much of an impact as his own action epics such as The Wind and the Lion or, more recently, Air Force One, and it's not even as enjoyable or inventive as his previous attempt at this genre, 1989's Leviathan. So why even bother listening to Deep Rising at all? Well, it's Goldsmith innit? 'Nuff said.

Track Listing: Running Time: 32 minutes 23 seconds

Hollywood Records HR-62120-2 (1998)

Music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Orchestrations by Alexander Courage. Recorded and mixed by Bruce Botnick. Edited by Ken Hall. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith.


Home Page | Reviews A-M | Reviews N-Z | Composers | Links

Movie Music U.K is designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton (c) 1999. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of the University of Sheffield. All photos and album artwork used on Movie Music U.K. are for non-profit making promotional purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.