Eraser
Alan Silvestri
" No killer soundtrack but effective while it lasts "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Surprisingly, the movie was successful with both critic and crowd. At least to the point that people saw it for enjoyable entertainment only. It was such a Cliffhanger type of movie that offered just enough thrill and intelligence to accept and appreciate it. The movie also needed a musical thrill and then a composer like Alan Silvestri is the right man for the job. So, Chuck Russell got Alan Silvestri and Silvestri delivered a fitting score in almost Drop Zone circumstances.
Yet what troubles me a bit is the simply unsatisfying nature of it all. It feels like a smaller brother of Volcano and just not containing the spoof Alan Silvestri worthy. Why a brother? Well because Eraser leans musically and stylistically very close to Volcano, while at other times holding Powder like sound effects (bending the spoon moment), Drop Zone esque tones (such as the electrical guitar riff) and just on other occasions The Long Kiss Goodnight suspension. So, I'm afraid that regular purchasers will not discover a lot of new ideas here, perhaps explaining why there’s a random lack of pleasure when exploring Eraser on disc.
The music starts quietly with a very subdued statement of the main theme. But we enter suspension mode soon with "She's In". From track 3 the music becomes to sound a lot like Volcano. After track 8 things start to improve, offering a lot more fun in several musical selections. While most offer the standard Silvestri sound, a track like "Dog Fight" still makes my day. When we hit (1.00) we hear pure Silvestri magic, offering an exploding, fast paced and thrilling statement of the main theme. It truly makes a difference after you hear "Union Trouble" (consisting almost entirely out of sound effects). The last militaristic statement is the best, offering you the trailer music heard in Starship Troopers (aka the track "The Eraser").
All in all, Eraser isn't really special. The material itself is repeated too much and the themes and sound are standard Silvestri to begin with. There are moments of course. Moments salvage a score, but moments don’t make it entirely recommendable. So this makes the score somewhat an average effective listen. But important to know, I keep returning a lot to those special 30 seconds of the track "Dock Fight". And while small or not, it somewhat erases a load of disappointing thoughts, making the score still acceptable in the end.
Yet what troubles me a bit is the simply unsatisfying nature of it all. It feels like a smaller brother of Volcano and just not containing the spoof Alan Silvestri worthy. Why a brother? Well because Eraser leans musically and stylistically very close to Volcano, while at other times holding Powder like sound effects (bending the spoon moment), Drop Zone esque tones (such as the electrical guitar riff) and just on other occasions The Long Kiss Goodnight suspension. So, I'm afraid that regular purchasers will not discover a lot of new ideas here, perhaps explaining why there’s a random lack of pleasure when exploring Eraser on disc.
The music starts quietly with a very subdued statement of the main theme. But we enter suspension mode soon with "She's In". From track 3 the music becomes to sound a lot like Volcano. After track 8 things start to improve, offering a lot more fun in several musical selections. While most offer the standard Silvestri sound, a track like "Dog Fight" still makes my day. When we hit (1.00) we hear pure Silvestri magic, offering an exploding, fast paced and thrilling statement of the main theme. It truly makes a difference after you hear "Union Trouble" (consisting almost entirely out of sound effects). The last militaristic statement is the best, offering you the trailer music heard in Starship Troopers (aka the track "The Eraser").
All in all, Eraser isn't really special. The material itself is repeated too much and the themes and sound are standard Silvestri to begin with. There are moments of course. Moments salvage a score, but moments don’t make it entirely recommendable. So this makes the score somewhat an average effective listen. But important to know, I keep returning a lot to those special 30 seconds of the track "Dock Fight". And while small or not, it somewhat erases a load of disappointing thoughts, making the score still acceptable in the end.