{"id":4938,"date":"2012-05-24T00:19:42","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T04:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4938"},"modified":"2012-05-24T00:19:42","modified_gmt":"2012-05-24T04:19:42","slug":"cd-speed-2-cruise-control-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4938","title":{"rendered":"CD: Speed 2 – Cruise Control (1997)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>S<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: LLLCD-1138\/ Released: June 15, 2010<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 14 tracks \/ (70:24)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: 20-page colour booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger \/ Limited to 3000 copies.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Mark Mancina<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Roger Ebert was very much alone when he gave Speed 2<\/strong> great big thumbs up, and the overall consensus among critics and fans of the original film was of the sequel being quite lame, and confirmation that as a director, ex-cinematographer Jan de Bont\u00a0 was only as good as his script.<\/p>\n

Speed 2<\/strong> was and remains a lousy film, and that reputation has maligned one of Mark Mancina\u2019s better action scores of the period. La-La Land\u2019s CD features material that wasn\u2019t used in the final film edit, and the complete cues reveal a solid action score that seamlessly combines electronica and orchestral elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngine Room\u201d is the score\u2019s first real dramatic cue (the first track is a perfunctory Speed<\/strong> theme recap with the famous Fox Fanfare), and contains key elements of Mancina\u2019s score: ominous pulsing bass, great dynamics among the strings and brass, and processed bass booms and rumbles that undoubtedly exploited the film\u2019s 5.1 mix. A ticking motif keeps the cue\u2019s tenor somber and ominous, but Mancina introduces his eerie villain theme \u2013 very simple, clean, but grounded in a menacing series of tones redolent of a classic Bondian villain. \u201cOverboard\u201d is even more brooding, with a heavier emphasis on low tones and grungy harmonies, and a brief heroic peak that precedes a boost in orchestral momentum, with Mancina bringing in thick percussion.<\/p>\n

The original theme from Speed<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1994) is given a chunkier, percussive edge in Speed 2<\/strong>, and Mancina plays it against his villain theme in the score\u2019s first steady action cue, \u201cTanker Turn.\u201d Mancina\u2019s approach to action consists of heavy theme quotations rather than deconstructing things or delving into the abstract or impressionistic, making his scoring style rather old-fashioned.<\/p>\n

That approach tends to make his action cues highly reflective of whatever onscreen action is taking place, so while it\u2019s easy to imagine when the hero is swinging into action or struggling in a lethal battle with a thug, it also makes some cues monotonous \u2013 a problem that becomes more pronounced in the album\u2019s last major action cuts, \u201cThe Harbor\u201d and \u201cFinal Chase.\u201d The motifs are oft-repeated, and there isn\u2019t enough variety among instrumentation, which may illustrate the limits of the composer, or director de Bont, who wanted a simple pulsing motif tracked over the action scenes due to an overabundance of sound effects.<\/p>\n

The score does recover with the final action cue \u201cUnderwater Rescue,\u201d but its brevity is too severe, and the album\u2019s final cue recaps the Calypso Muzak heard in \u201cAlex and Annie \/ Carribean Cruise,\u201d albeit with full orchestra and a brief sax solo.<\/p>\n

Speed 2<\/strong> is one of Mancina\u2019s better nineties action scores, but its weaknesses are perhaps too reflective of the film\u2019s inherent dramatic limitations, and de Bont\u2019s emphasis on smash-boom montages that extended the film\u2019s running time into a bloated, vapid experience.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0S<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ S . Rating: Very Good Label: LLLCD-1138\/ Released: June 15, 2010 Tracks & Album Length: 14 tracks \/ (70:24) . Special Notes: 20-page colour booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger \/ Limited to 3000 copies. . Composer: Mark Mancina . . Review: Roger Ebert was very much alone when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[454,1328,1329,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1hE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4938"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4950,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938\/revisions\/4950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}