Mercenaries (2004)Original Game Soundtrack Composed by Michael Giacchino and Chris Tilton
Ah yes, Michael Giacchino, who had a meteoric rise in the film music community after his consistent work in video game scores (ah, bet you casual movie score fans didn't know that!) won him two prime scoring gigs for the popular TV shows "Alias" and "Lost", and those won Giacchino his first mainstream film gig "The Incredibles" in return. Since the success of the film (and the film's score), Giacchino has moved over to the mainstream film scores (with both "Speed Racer" and the"Star Trek" prequel coming later this year).
But isn't this a review site/blog for movie score soundtracks that are for low-profile films or by composers who just made it in? Yes, that's why this review here. Despite the soundtrack touting that Giacchino co-composed the score with Chris Tilton (his protege), Giacchino only composed the main theme while Tilton composed the majority of the score (stated specifically in the soundtrack booklet). Tilton had been Giacchino's assistant for a few years, assisting him with score preparation for "Alias" (and would later on would provide additional music for the final two seasons' scores after this score's release).
Since Giacchino had moved on to score "The Incredibles" in earnest once LucasArts approached him with the proposition to score their latest video game "Mercenaries", Giacchino didn't have enough time to provide a full score, but had time to compose the main theme and graciously allowed Tilton to come in and compose the main body of the score. As the times have changed, it seems traditional to have composers score video games in order to be recognized -- let alone dedicate a sizeable budget to allow a composer to use a orchestra to record his/her score for the game.
And Tilton brings his all to this score -- indeed, quite an impressive debut in terms of any kind of score (be it either film, television or video game). In fact, it is so good I thought on occasion that Giacchino had composed the score at times. That's not a mark against Tilton's talents, it shows that the score is a unified and satisfying whole -- being that he is Giacchino's protege (a la Shirley Walker being Danny Elfman's protege of sorts) he had inherited a few similarities from his mentor... mainly the brass structure and string structure of the action scenes.
The score starts with a grand capitulation of the main theme, appropriately titled "Mercenaries Main Theme", which gives the listeners a taste of the many treats this score has to offer. It's a John Williams-styled dark theme dominated by the brass and strings, with the rest of the orchestra providing strong backbone to it (if anyone has heard Giacchino's "Medal of Honor" scores they'll know what kind of sound it is). The first half of the album is devoted to representing the ethnic diversities of the mercenaries, such as the excellent "For the Motherland", a Russian-styled piece with elegant string writing and muted brass and the Asian themed "Honor Strength", a propulsive cue comprised of an energetic taiko drum and ethnic woodwinds.
And for the most part, the score is littered with exciting and varied action cues, such as the superb trimvirate cues such as "Deck of 52", "Show Me the Mercenary" and the final 5 tracks of the album which are a glorious amalgam of action cues, bolstered by excellent orchestration and timbre. The Northwest Sinfonia is composed of only 60+ players, but the smooth recording and timbre make it seem it's twice that size.
More importantly, this is a superb debut effort by Tilton and shows that he more than has what it takes to score a feature-length film. And what makes this album worth the find (only available at La-La Land Records) is the fact that it can found for less than $10 (in fact, half that price), so you won't have much to lose if you blind-buy it. Mercenaries comes highly, HIGHLY recommended.
Track Listing:
1. Mercenaries (4:11)
2. Destination: DMZ (3:37)
3. Allied Nations (3:22)
4. Mercenary Without a Cause (5:39)
5. Deck of 52 (2:03)
6. For the Motherland (2:31)
7. Family Business (3:02)
8. Show Me the Mercenary (2:04)
9. Honor and Strength (3:26)
10. Hidden Valley Bunker (4:53)
11. Sniper (2:15)
12. Swedish Fireballs (3:03)
13. Trouble at Work (2:05)
14. Trains, Planes and HMMWVs (2:02)
15. Relentless Pursuit (2:25)
16. Gas Tank on the Roof (1:03)
17. Explosion Scherzo (1:51)
18. Thermal Event (2:11)
19. Countdown (3:05)
20. The Blinding Flash (1:07)
21. World's Best Carpool Lane (1:54)
Score composed by Chris Tilton. Original theme composed by Michael Giacchino. Performed by the Northwest Sinfonia. Conducted by Tim Simonec. Orchestrations by Tim Simonec, Matthew Ferraro, Steve Zuckerman, Larry Kenton, Mark Gasbaro and Chris Tilton. Album produced by Michael Giacchino and Ford A. Thaxton.
