Review Summary: A time appreciated.
This sure is an interesting soundtrack. A soundtrack meant to titillate your emotions. A soundtrack designed to escalate key moments, and continue escalating at other key moments. The downfall is that the escalation never ceases. If y’all remember the bwaaah sounds in Inception, imagine that but designed for a generic action movie. The action never stops in this movie. There is drama, and then there is more drama. Thus, there are loud horns and strings used, and then they become louder when some larger drama occurs. Grand, sweeping strings? Yes, indeed, but it’s nothing unheard of. They tend to fall flat when watching a film that makes as much sense as taxes. Let’s not forget the emotional stakes here, which are incredibly copy-pasted from, erm, every generic action movie ever. If they survive all will be well, and if not, it’s okay because the action has to move along. No time to be sad, only time for more bombastic soundtrack parts in replacement of actual emotions and acting.
In other words, it’s a fairly enjoyable soundtrack for a while, but it gets old. Just like the “emotions” displayed via acting, the served bombast is some extra junk to captivate for a while, but not really stick in your core. The memorable moments in the soundtrack involve the loudest parts in the movie, and once those are done, we’re back to weakly greased wheels. The thin veneer of more delicate bits are areas just waiting to be immediately built up into another bombastic segment. So the soundtrack is entirely predictable and quite a clatter in total. It’s a shame because the quieter moments have some astoundingly pretty melodies, and the production is overall fantastic.
In the end, you get what you pay for. A dramatic soundtrack fits the bill, and what’s done here is served very accurately. With pinpoint precision, climactic film sequences are given the proper soundtrack treatment. In the grand landscape of films, it will not be a particularly standout soundtrack, of which I can only blame the vast array of generic action films. This movie music is quite effective for what it is, but what it is is a generic soundtrack.
Perhaps I sound too harsh, which is not my intention. I enjoyed the music a lot when I was watching this film, alone, and laughing the entire time. I enjoyed it, possibly as much as the film itself, as I observed and heard a delight of well made, pure popcorn munching entertainment. Putting complaints about the acting and generic soundtrack and film bits aside, I can say it was a time that had me entranced. Without a decent soundtrack, this movie would have failed in my eyes and been entirely cringe inducing. It was bad enough, but the soundtrack made it worth it, as I buckled up for the twists in the music. Well done.
