by Al on 2/10/2000
favorite track: 10
 
Man-eating sea creatures return once again to the screen in the tongue-in-cheek B-movie Deep Rising. Jerry Goldsmith goes all out with his smorgasborg of action music and horror marches in a stylish, original score. It's Alien with an attitude. It's a loud Leviathan. It's a lot of fun. Goldsmith lets loose with his horror music by composing a simple monster theme and twisting it in almost every way possible throughout the whole score. The wild, Caribbean percussion gives the hungry sea monsters some music to dance to while they infest the cruise ship Argonautica. Adrenaline-pumping action music scores the guys with the guns, and just as the men seem to have an endless supply of bullets, Goldsmith seems to have an endless supply of energy. One of his blazing action themes doesn't get much play time on the album and only shows up in briefly exciting moments. The other percussion driven theme opens and closes the album. It's simple yet memorable, and it even rivals the composer's own Total Recall theme. The only problems besides the length of 32 minutes are the few tracks that stop suddenly, when the music is very involved, and another track begins. Still, this action extravaganza is an original, exciting, entertaining, and fun listen.