Composer: Randy Edelman
Label: Varese Sarabande
Release Date: July 29, 2008
Links:
www.varesesarabande.com

www.themummy.com

SOUNDTRACK REVIEW:

Sure, the third movie for The Mummy franchise didn’t receive the kindest reviews (What’s with Jet Li turning into a three headed serpent anyway?), and composer Randy Edelman (27 Dresses, Balls of Fury) isn’t the biggest name in the franchise – there was the great Jerry Goldsmith and the very mainstream Alan Silvestri before him. But that shouldn’t stop you from checking out the soundtrack score for this badly panned movie – it serves up a few good cues that deserve a place in a better made action adventure movie.

The generous 77 minute soundtrack opens with “A Call to Adventure”, which introduces listeners to a very accessible main theme which find its way and weaved into several other tracks in the album later (“Crash and Burn”, “Rick and Evy Battle”). This may not be as ingenious as Goldsmith’s theme for the first movie, or as bombastic as Silvestri’s composition for the sequel, but it deserves its own place in the franchise. In “Silently Yearning for Centuries”, Edelman creates a melancholic mood with a forlorn cello. And this melancholy is turned into bittersweet feelings in the superb “Alex and Lin”, where the English horn plays the beautiful melody in its one odd minute duration.

Being an action adventure score, we can’t do without tracks like “Shanghai Chase”, “Entering the Tomb” and “Visit from a 3 Headed Friend” (that’s you, Mr. Li, playing the Dragon Emperor!). While these cues may not go down soundtrack history as classic adventure music, they still pump up the adrenaline level and bring listeners through a roller coaster ride. There are also nice build up moments in tracks like “Formation of the Terra Cotta Army” and “The Emperor Versus Zi Yuan” (that’s you again, Mr. Li, fighting against another Asian superstar Michelle Yeoh!), making your listening experience more complete if you have watched the movie.

Edelman also lets his lighter side loose in tracks like “Rick’s Long Rod”, a lighthearted and breezy cue. And how would the producers have let him off without some cues infused with the eastern element? Check out “Reading of the Scrolls” and “Ancient China” – the track titles say them all. And it’s a job quite well done, we’d say.

ALBUM RATING:

Recommended Track: : (9) Alex and Lin

Review by John Li

. The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Movie Review)

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This soundtrack review is made possible with the kind support from Rock Records