Search - Edward Shearmur, Ed Shearmur :: Reign of Fire [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Ugly, harsh and brilliant

tayloran9 | London UK | 06/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's easy to imagine many listeners turning off this score after a few minutes or so - the music is not attractive in a traditional sense and there are a lot of `sounds' as oppose to music. The score is unrelentlessly harsh, discordant and terrifying with no comforting upbeat moments and a tone which is always hellish and depressing. The planet Earth has become one big ruin and battleground with few places in which to hide from the beasts and we can feel the characters' constant awareness of the dangers they face. The lighter moments are just as bleak, filled with unnerving suspense and often give way to terrifyingly powerful brass attacks as the dragons make their appearance. The gorgeous main theme does offer a little contrast and hope though, but not much. First introduced in Meet Van Zam, it starts off brooding and quietly heroic and then develops into a superb militaristic statement with snare drums and horns, suggesting that this brave new character may lead them to victory.



As with his later Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shearmur's action writing is superb throughout although in a completely different style. However, there is some fun to be had identifying certain sounds and rhythms that Shearmur would again utilise on Sky Captain and there are quite a few...The first track is a highlight, beginning with low rumblings and eerie electronic sounds, gradually getting louder, layering on industrial sounds and low strings. It keeps getting louder until it becomes a scary and powerful piece of orchestra and percussion. It's a great start to the score giving a sense of the beasts' awakening and rise from the depths. Field attack is another highlight - it's exciting and suspenseful with some immensely powerful brass writing and shrilling high woodwinds. Marauders is another favourite using an exciting militaristic rhythm with slicing strings and staccato brass that Shearmur would use again for An Aquatic Escape in Sky Captain. The Ruins at Pembury is another standout cue and is absolutely terrifying. It starts off highly suspenseful and quietly with bass drum hits and a constant swirling electronic `wind' - you just know something is going to happen and it does! The brass comes in again all harsh and discordant and is absolutely deafening and terrifying, sounding like the war cries of the flying beasts. It is a stunning cue and gets me every time because I can never quite remember when that `jump moment' comes. The brass throughout the score is at times some of the most powerful I've heard but none so much as in the penultimate cue, Magic Hour. The brass section here, accompanied by choir, is truly immense, sounding as if it has 5 times the number of usual players - in fact the music is so big and brutal and powerful at times that you forget that these sounds are actually being made by human beings sitting in a recording studio wearing jeans and t-shirts following some strange symbols on a page! The score ends with Rebirth which offers the relief listeners are probably begging for by this stage. It starts with gentle strings, electronics and a beautiful echo like flute effect before developing into a welcome rendition of the theme for Van Zam. It ends with a very brief brass fanfare, the scores' only upbeat moment.



With this score, Shearmur has crafted a masterwork of powerhouse orchestral writing and moody suspense in a similar vein to the kind of modern scoring you'd expect from Elliot Goldenthal or Don Davis for his Matrix scores - it's dissonant and brutal and makes good use of electronic sounds and the arsenal of modern orchestral technique. It's hard to imagine that this is from the same composer who has scored such largely generic films as the `romcoms' Laws of Attraction and Wimbledon but then Shearmur is well known for his versatility. He is however, absolutely wasted on films like that should really be scoring the `big scores'.



For me, Reign of Fire confirms that Edward Shearmur is the best new talent out there. Maybe there are some dull moments here and there but it has the stamp of a master throughout, (special mention must go to orchestrator Robert Elhai for his work here and he would again do a top job on Sky Captain - let's hope its a collaboration that continues).The cues are beautifully crafted, with as much variety and invention that a film like this could allow and the tone is always perfect for the film. The apocalyptic settings are portrayed well in the score and I like the way Shearmur uses the high brass to represent the cries of the dragons. I think that's what makes the score so terrifying; by giving the dragons a voice, they become `real' and perhaps we relate to that on some instinctive level...



Despite the fact that most of Shearmur's other scores to date are not as noteworthy, you should be under no doubt that he will surely become one of the more important figures in film scoring and I would advise you to check out his absolutely stunning score for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, his best work to date, if you have any doubts.





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A BIG SCORE!!!

Randal Shipway | Adelaide, South Australia | 01/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you like your film music to be filled with lovely themes, rich harmonies and an all-round "nice feel" that makes you "feel nice" then do not touch this soundtrack! However, if you often feel in the mood for powerhouse action scoring in the vein of the Alien movie scores or similar violent film scores then grab this awesome soundtrack as soon as possible!
Like so many others I was wary of this one due to the past compositional styles of Edward Shearmur. But what I found was one of the most brilliant action/millitant/agressive scores to come out in years. It never becomes repetative or boring and it is often filled with rich orchestration and wonderful electronic sound effects. Shearmur has now moved up to the big leage in my opinion and I look forward to hearing his work in the future!"