Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow [Soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Director Kerry Conran's retro-themed action adventure is imbued with a singular visual sense, an ambitious marriage of Indiana Jones' serial sensibilities and the neo-Deco sci-fi trappings of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Young composer Edward Shearmur is charged with bringing that pulp-visionary, past-that-never-was to musical life, a task he accomplishes with expected orchestral verve. Its music that's as unabashedly derivative as the film's grab-bag of 1930s/40s influences, yet arranged and executed with a rich orchestral palate and an endlessly energetic dynamic sense. While he deftly avoids walking too closely in the familiar musical footsteps of John Williams---and there are admittedly no themes here as instantly memorable as Raiders of the Lost Ark's signature march---Shearmur manages a few smart new themes of his own, breathing compelling new life into one of filmdom's most cliched genres---and trumping previous similar back-to-the-future adventure scores like James Horner's The Rocketeer the bargain. --Jerry McCulley

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Music, Edward Shearmur, Classical, Film, Film Music, Original Score, Soundtrack, Soundtracks & Film Scores

Average customer rating:

Derivitive?? So what!!

Visually: 5 stars. But seriously overextends itself.

Sky Captain's Score Soars

A rare classic

Shearmur's "Sky Captain" a Pleasant Surprise

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Edward Shearmur
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0002VEPIA
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Tracks:

The World Of Tomorrow
The Zeppelin Arrives
The Robot Army
Calling Sky Captain
Back At The Base
The Flying Wings Attack
An Aquatic Escape
Flight To Nepal
Treacherous Journey
Dynamite
Three In A Bed
Finding Frankie
Manta Squadron
H-770d
Flying Lizard
Totenkopf's Ark
Back To Earth
Over the Rainbow- Jane Monheit

Amazon.com

Director Kerry Conran's retro-themed action adventure is imbued with a singular visual sense, an ambitious marriage of Indiana Jones' serial sensibilities and the neo-Deco sci-fi trappings of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Young composer Edward Shearmur is charged with bringing that pulp-visionary, past-that-never-was to musical life, a task he accomplishes with expected orchestral verve. Its music that's as unabashedly derivative as the film's grab-bag of 1930s/40s influences, yet arranged and executed with a rich orchestral palate and an endlessly energetic dynamic sense. While he deftly avoids walking too closely in the familiar musical footsteps of John Williams---and there are admittedly no themes here as instantly memorable as Raiders of the Lost Ark's signature march---Shearmur manages a few smart new themes of his own, breathing compelling new life into one of filmdom's most cliched genres---and trumping previous similar back-to-the-future adventure scores like James Horner's The Rocketeer the bargain. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Derivitive?? So what!!.......2005-11-08

Many reviewers have praised Edward Shearmur's score for "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" in a somewhat backhanded way, referring to its being derivitive of the John Williams style. I find this comparison to be amusing because John Williams himself, in all of his movie scores, blatantly steals from many better composers than himself, such as Richard Wagner, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Holst and Sir Edward Elgar, to name but the most obvious and most lawsuit-proof - that is - safely dead long enough for their music to have become public domain.

That being said, Williams is a superb orchestral craftsman and at least chooses the best from whom to steal. And in this score, I think Edward Shearmur has shown himself capable of giving Williams, the current reigning champion of the sci-fi/adventure/action film genre, a serious run for his money.

It would be fascinating to hear what a Danny Elfman might have done had he been tagged to pen this movie score, but I cannot see how Williams could have topped it. Most enjoyable.

Visually: 5 stars. But seriously overextends itself........2005-10-30

An old adage says that everybody knows who Picasso is, but nobody knows who invented the paintbrush. Call this movie a demo for a really great new paintbrush.

This is one of those movies which expands the range of things that a movie can be--honestly I've never seen such a wonderful look in a film, retro and futuristic at the same time. After about a century of moviemaking, its a pretty good achievement to come up with a whole new look.

The basic problem with this movie is that it just tries too do too much, and achieves too little. It goes from the sublime to the rediculous when it goes from cool-robo-gizmo-gadgets to trying to be Jurrasic Park. Dinasauroids just don't belong here.

What would have worked much better is instead of trying to fit all of these adventures into one movie, they should have just introduced the great new look in a tight, fast-paced, 70-minute movie showing some Sky-Captain derring-do. They could have started a whole new film franchise: Sky captain goes underwater, sky captain goes to the island that time forgot, etc etc.

But noooooo...by packing all these different scenarios into one film, they seem to have exhausted all of Sky Captain's possibilities, to the point that he was boring by the end of the film. Instead of teasing us and leaving us wanting more, the whole sky-capitain thing seems been-their-done-that before it even got started.

Sky Captain's Score Soars.......2005-08-31

Dumdumdumdum, dumduhduhduh, DUH, DUH, DUH...

Wow, this is a tremendous soundtrack. It is a great compliment to a great film. It conjures up comparisons to
Raiders of the Lost Ark, and is a rare cinematic treat. I highly reccomend it.

A rare classic.......2005-05-29

Wow! There's been a lot of talk of comparisons between some up and coming composers and the likes of John Williams (Michael Giacchino, David Arnold) but I would have to say that on the basis of this superior soundtrack, Edward Shearmur could easily walk off with that mighty accolade - I would actually describe this soundtrack's flavour as a cross between Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Silvestri's The Mummy Returns, both classics.

Sky Captain's harmonies, orchestration and execution by the London Metropolitan Orchestra are first rate and have an intricacy that Mr Williams would be quite proud of I'm sure. Whether or not the orchestrations are the work of Shearmur himself or an experienced orchestrator I'm not entirely sure but that doesn't detract at all from Shearmur's obvious superior musical talents - the basics of the music here - and where a composer's talents really lie - namely the melodies, harmonies, developments, representation and musical complexity, are all so good that I only hope Shearmur can one day be given the right material and embark on a larger body of work, something to call his own Star Wars.

Sky Captain does sound a lot like vintage Williams and there are some rather engaging themes weaving their way throughout the cues. The main theme is perhaps not as memorable as one could have hoped for but it is certainly heroic enough, is nicely harmonised and in another sign of Shearmur's talent, is well developed so that it at times also suits a more romantic or sombre mood.

Sky Captain is really a non- stop action affair with a few light moments but the (now quite fashionable) powerful overblown trombones are never far away and when the choir is used (The Robot Army), it is awesome.

If I were to offer any criticisms, I would say that the rather beautiful romance theme is unfortunately underused and could have perhaps been adapted into some sort of bonus concert cue a la John Williams. Also, some of the cues do run seamlessly into one another and whereas on CD this is not a problem, my MP3 player inserts a little gap between them; so perhaps there could have been some reorganisation of the cues such as having one cue but two or three titles within that cue, again a la John Williams.

However, I have no real criticisms about the music and I would say not to listen to people who complain that it's all been done before. Sure, it's reminiscent of past classics but unlike other such soundtracks, Sky Captain stands right up there with them. In short, this is the most enjoyable soundtrack I've had the pleasure of listening to in a very long time and I look forward to following Shearmur's musical career with pleasure.

Shearmur's "Sky Captain" a Pleasant Surprise.......2004-10-20

Esward Shearmur's score for Director Kerry Conran's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a very pleasant surprise as is the film itself. Conran's rather unique production was very dependent upon a solid adventure (1930s-1940 serial redux)score and Shearmur came through with flying colors. Beginning with a main theme in the vein of John Williams' "Indiana Jones" theme that comes up as fast as a P-40 Warhawk in the main credits, Shearmur quickly moves to music that sets a darker tone in "The Zeppelin Arrives," and a clearly menacing tone for "The Robot Army." But easily the best part of this very good score emerges as the RAF aerial flying platforms appear out of the clouds. Here Shearmur gives us yet a new heroic theme for flight officer Frankie ("Finding Frankie" and "Manta Squadron"). It might be a stretch to say that this is Shearmur's most impressive work to date. But it is worthy of note. The film and the soundtrack recording are a good deal of fun. Nicely produced and packaged.

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