Kevin Costner's epic action adventure has a great contemporary action score from Howard. He mixes huge orchestral forces, with an impressive percussion section, a choir and synths. The effect is often mind blowing. The action cues are plentiful and good. There is always a thrilling pulsating rhythm that only Hans Zimmer can match. The orchestral writing is also good and there is much dashing about. There is some amount of pastiche in the writing. The Hans Zimmer style synths, the orchestral dashing about is similar to John Williams. It is a different pastiche to say Stargate though as it is firmly rooted in a very contemporary mould. There are some moments of quiet, the most impressive of these is the absolutely charming Swimming which features some beautiful solo female vocals against delicate harps and strings. The Mariner's theme is not used that often, no where near as much as Indy's theme is used in Raiders of the Lost Ark for example, neither is it as memorable, but you will likely be humming it after a few playings of this CD. For a perfect example of a modern action score, this is probably the one to go for.
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