Nordling here.
It's probably a bit foolish to write any kind of review or analysis of PROMETHEUS's score without having seen any scenes from the movie with a soundtrack to put the score in any kind of context. I have no idea where the music will be in the movie or even if the music on the soundtrack is in any kind of order from where it plays in PROMETHEUS. But I really couldn't resist buying it off iTunes and listening to it several times in a row anyway.
I also realize that movie scores are more in Scorekeeper's wheelhouse, and I welcome any input he may have; although I am a fan of all kinds of movie scores, this is more his purview than mine. But it's also safe to say that I am, at this point, obsessed with all things PROMETHEUS. I swore early on that I wouldn't spoil myself on this movie, and that rule got broken practically immediately. I'm even having dreams about PROMETHEUS now. I still have recurring ALIEN dreams at last once a month. There's just something about the Xenomorph that haunts me ever since I first saw ALIEN as a young boy, and I'd be curious to know what that means psychologically. So the fact that I'm dreaming about PROMETHEUS now means either that I might be in for something special or that I'm hyping myself way too much.
So... the score. If you're like me, you've already bought it off iTunes (and if you haven't feel free to click the picture above and do so) and dived into Marc Streitenfeld's (with help from Harry Gregson-Williams on two tracks) music. Streitenfeld did the score to THE GREY earlier this year, and I found that score, while sparse, very much a complement to the spiritual and physical struggle of the men in that film. PROMETHEUS isn't much like that. Instead, PROMETHEUS is a strong, booming score, lush with orchestration and very evocative of Jerry Goldsmith's work (in some places, very specifically).
Like ALIEN before it, PROMETHEUS's score has a sense of wonder and scale - this feels like a big movie. And yet, the music builds on a lot of dread, and certain tracks (again, without the benefit of context) sound flat-out terrifying. Throughout the soundtrack, we are reminded that there are things in the universe that are Much Bigger than us, especially in the "Space Jockey" theme, which sounds appropriately full of awe. I'm dying to see that scene in particular, and I hope it matches up to what I'm picturing in my head.
Throughout the score, there are subtle hints and throwbacks to ALIEN, and if nothing else the soundtrack confirms its place in the ALIEN universe. In fact, "Friend From The Past" is a direct link to Goldsmith's work in ALIEN as we hear that film's main theme rise, but it's done in such an ethereal way that I can't help but be curious as to what that scene in the movie is. It's such an obvious musical reminder of ALIEN that I'm certain we'll see some linkage in it. But PROMETHEUS is very much its own score - Goldsmith's actual work, for the most part, is barely in the thing, but Streitenfeld knows where this movie is coming from musically, and PROMETHEUS's score is a spiritual brother to ALIEN's.
What strikes me the most about Streitenfeld's music here is its power to evoke awe and dread at the same time, which is probably essential for a movie like this. It's sweeping and there's an undercurrent of discordancy that makes the listener aware that Big Things are happening. Streitenfeld's fairly new on the movie score scene - most of his work has been with Ridley Scott in the past few years, but I have the feeling that PROMETHEUS is going to be the score that puts him on the map. He paints an aural landscape here that's hard to shake - there's very few leitmotifs in it, but you can still hear the scale of the movie.
I love "David," Michael Fassbender's theme - the music is curious, a little playful, but also full of danger - who is David in the scheme of things? If that track is any indication, I'm not sure David can entirely be trusted. And then there's "Hammerpede," which is discordant and intense. I love how sweeping and epic "A Planet" feels, and "Infected" sounds as ominous as its title. "Planting The Seed", in an ALIEN movie, can only mean something really bad is happening, and the track sounds like it.
And if PROMETHEUS ends the way the soundtrack does? It's a cliffhanger ending for sure, and the track, "Birth", sounds horrifying and definitely a signifier of some seriously bad things going down. The wait has become much more torturous now, and if Ridley Scott's imagery matches up to this music, we're in for a real treat. Here's the track listing:
1. A Planet
2. Going In
3. Engineers
4. Life
5. Weyland
6. Discovery
7. Not Human
8. Too Close
9. Try Harder
10. David
11. Hammerpede
12. We Were Right
13. Earth
14. Infected
15. Hyper Sleep
16. Small Beginnings
17. Hello Mommy
18. Friend From The Past
19. Dazed
20. Space Jockey
21. Collision
22. Debris
23. Planting the Seed
24. Invitation
25. Birth
