Whether we are going to get a good AVP movie or not, no one should be complaining about the score. Brian Tyler is known for his Children of Dune score, one of the best television scores ever created. This relatively new composer puts his heart and soul into everthing he touches, no matter how trivial the material.
He started out composing the fun score to the silly Six String Samurai, moved on to Children of Dune, Constantine, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and War (2007). The only unmemorable score in the lot belonging to Constantine, it favoring a less thematic approach than his other works. AVPR stands slightly behind Children of Dune as his second best score.
Drawing upon the other franchise films with style and barbaric flair, you will swear that Goldsmith, Horner, Silvestri and even at times Goldenthall and Frizzel are in the room together, blended into a cacaphony, huge orchestral sound, paying homage and creating something new, exciting, and at times frightening out of the mix.
The main theme is an improvisation of Holst's Mars: The bringer of War. It winds up splendidly, letting you know this is going to be a mean, mean adventure (whether the movie is actually any good or not). Much of the action sounds like a cross between Silvestri's "The Abyss" mixed with Frizell's "Alien Resurrection". In the track "Taking Sides", the theme to the much misaligned 4th Alien Film is actually woven into the mix. The excellent "Kelly Returns Home", though a short track, throws some emotional release into the mix, and at times the score bounces back and forth between Horner and Goldsmith for the slower, scarrier cues that I thought I heard Kahn riding V'ger into a dark Nebula.
Some of it is quite repetitive, especially the Silvestri-type action cues, but I'm sure it's there to complement the roller coaster of a flick that the new movie promises to be.
So far, they are winning me over. Another great one from Tyler. His next score is for "Rambo", another Goldsmith redux. I'm just glad we have at least one new composer out there who's willing to mix in some themes instead of relying on purely visceral sound effects.
Solid, fun score. Can't wait for the movie.