Rhythm

Rating: Null/10 (12 June 2004)

It's interesting how composers not only borrow from themselves, but from each other. In some cases, like 'Ed Wood', the intention theft works because we automatically associate the tunes to the time period. In 'Fire and Ice', the notes are blatantly ripped from 'Jaws.'
Here we have something accomplished and daring thanks to two geniuses.
Watkin brought the visual energy, namely to the races. Thanks to him, our perspective of athletes has changed from Riefenstahl's propaganda (now appropriated by every TV network) to 'Rocky' (another formula: character-driven). Here the athletes are not competitors, but instead are angels. He did similar exuberant work on 'Africa' and 'Catch-22'.
The other genius, of course, is Vangelis. I bet it's because of this that Scott collaborated with him twice. Despite the mix of old/new concepts with the score, it works. The equivalent today would be having Aerosmith rescore 'Braveheart'.
Faltermeyer understood the music's aspirations and copied it for 'Top Gun'.
Everything else is color-by-numbers, thankfully the editor understood what Watkin was doing in 'Memphis Belle'. Even Ian Holm disappoints. Can you imagine? One of our "grand old men" of science fiction not really acting? It's because of the film's triumphant theme that anything else looks good. Had Alex North handled it, we would've forgotten it.
So, in the end, I only recommend this on the value of its music. Let that be enough to entice you to buy the soundtrack.
Final Analysis = = Midrange Material