That the opening title is indicated as Original Main Title (or Maintitle as it is on the packaging), I can only assume is a result of it being replaced, although whatever the replacement was, it isn't on the album. Frankly, the original is little more than some percussion and synth murmuring, one of the least interesting opening titles on record. One can only assume it works over some suspense scene and not title cards - I have seen the film, incidentally, but have banished most of it from memory. Suspense music is frequently a little on the indifferent side and only really effective in the film and such is the case here. She's In doesn't really go anywhere, even when it picks up in pace toward the end and tracks like Cabin Raid are little more than enlivened percussion cues, although a very 80's guitar lick, first introduced at the end of the otherwise almost fetching Kruger's Story, does make it fractionally more interesting. The action is not some of Silvestri's most interesting either, even if it has a few moments with an enjoyable spark. A rushing string figure at the end of Cabin Raid is promising, but turns out to be little more than a stinger that fizzles out almost as quickly as it appears.
There are a couple of exciting highlights, particularly Kruger Escapes and Dock Fight where Silvestri manages to provide some blazing action writing. It may not have Goldsmithian complexity, but is thrilling enough all the same. A slightly difficult score to recommend, but it falls comfortably alongside Jerry Goldsmith's more average action scores, US Marshals and the like. Like Michael Kamen, Silvestri is often seen as an action composer, but can't help feel he's much better in more meaningful genres and this doesn't really alter that opinion greatly. However, he does have the ability to make dumb films like this seem almost plausible, which is a surprisingly rare gift.
Rating ~ Total Time ~ 43:31
Someone once commented that the best Arnie films are the ones with a hook - Arnie is a cybernetic killing machine, Arnie is a barbarian, Arnie is pregnant etc. Those without a hook merely reveal that he is essentially a muscular acting drone who delivers quips as though reading them from a card, much in the manner of the spoof McBain from the Simpsons. Eraser is Arnie in generic mode, well, he's an eraser who is meant to erase people, but not by killing them, but by changing their identity for their own safety. However, given the amount of shooting and explosions, it seems unlikely that nobody would notice. What was said about Arnie could perhaps apply to Alan Silvestri (or indeed, a great number of film composers), he seems to come up with the goods when the film has some kind of interesting focus, but Eraser is a bog standard action thriller and so without anyone or anything to characterise (he made lava threatening in music for Volcano) in any meaningful way, all is required is to go through the motions of suspense, action and a quasi heart felt finale. So he does.
