It was more than thirty years ago that composer John Williams etched his name into history. He was there when Steven Spielberg single-handedly created the summer blockbuster, that blockbuster film was Jaws. Since that summer of 1975 movies have never been the same. Each year since studios have competed with each other to deliver the biggest thrills, chills, and spills to an ever-waiting audience. One element that is always there, hand in hand with the film is a big score. Some of them are memorable, but many are not. It seems that some of the greatest blockbuster films are accompanied by the work of John Williams.
Between 1975 and 1982 John Williams brought us Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Six of the all time great scores. I do not have the greatest knowledge of film composers, but Williams name will forever be etched in my mind for these fantastic works. This doesn't even mention his work on sequels like The Empire Strikes Back and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or his more recent work in the Harry Potter series, War of the Worlds, or Memoirs of a Geisha. Wherever his name is found, great music is sure to follow.
In past decade George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have revisited some of those early blockbusters and in doing so they have reignited our thirst to here the classic themes again. It began in 1999 with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (and the two subsequent Star Wars films) and continues now with the return of Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Revisiting these characters and themes creates an interesting issue, one which seems to weigh heavy on this soundtrack.
The issue was apparent in the Phantom Menace score, but improved with each successive film concluding with the "best of the prequels" score for Revenge of the Sith. Now, with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the problem of revisiting the original themes while updating them and adding new material for the new film rears its ugly head.
On one hand, hearing the classic "Raiders March" is fantastic, hearing those immediately recognizable notes either with the film or on this CD is a pure geek moment (similar to the one I had two years back when Williams' Superman theme was use in Superman Returns). However, there is something that feels just a little bit flat in its execution, an issue that spreads across the disk.
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1 - PLUSH HYENA of DOOM
As a long term lover of film scores in general and having relished so many excellent works from John Williams, perhaps it was too great an expectation of brilliance that made this score seem so... lacking.
Any of John Williams' scores that I could pull from my shelves, Jaws, Jurassic park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws 2, etc, etc, all seem to contain a number of stand out tracks that are amongst the best music the film world has to offer. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does not. It's not that it is bad music, it's just uninspiring and bland and too often sounding as though it's from some comedy aimed at six year olds. Not what one has come to expect from John Williams.
There is something tired about this score; it goes nowhere fresh and even when it reiterates past triumphs such as the Raiders March, it does so in a somewhat lacklustre fashion. I also have all the previous Indiana Jones scores and each of them offers a similar experience whilst equally throwing out something new. This one just doesn't do that. A great shame and a wasted opportunity. Much like the film.