This movie,
a remake of the 1979 G.I.
Samurai,
seeks to update the "fish out of water" theme as its
modern day military
personnel, and their machinery, are thrust more than
400 years into the past. Now the original, which is best
remembered for staring Sonny Chiba, was somewhat of a
cult hit. To some its infamous, myself included in that
regard, while to others its an amusing action romp.
Regardless of one's feelings, one thing that is for sure:
the music to the 1979 movie is fairly dated today. Composed
by Kentaro Haneda, the score had a very contemporary
feeling to it. So how was the score, done by the oddly
named Shezoo, handled for the remake?
Given the artist, I was expecting something more
akin to the soundtrack
for Ganryujima (2003),
which had a slight techno flavor to it.
Those expectations proved to be incredibly off base,
though. As it turns out, Shezoo
produces a very traditional soundtrack for the movie
led by an orchestra. Unfortunately, it lacks in the way
of a standout theme, but makes for a decent standalone
listen regardless.
To give a perspective as to the music as a whole, it's
a very violin dominated body of work. Extremely so in
fact. Many tracks, such as "Rei's Theme", are almost
entirely led by the string instrument. A few tracks are
diversely different, though, such as the "Horse-riding
Warrior" that leads with a bamboo flute segment that
does a good job to create the "futile" backdrop of the
movie. The chorus led "The Law of Sengoku" also
stands out from the pack, although the vocal work leaves
some to be desired. Regrettably,
despite some of the strength of Shezoo's compositions,
there are a few themes here which could simply be described
as boring. There tracks, like the slowly paced and overly
long "Time Slip", simply fail to entice. As for tracks
that do rise to the occasion and make for a memorable
theme, sadly there aren't many. "Sengoku
Self Defense Force 1549"
is quite nice, which opens and closes the CD,
as is the
"The Dark Princess' Theme"... yet the rest of the body
of work has a hard time making an impression on the listener.
Overall, despite the lack of praise I can muster for
it, the disc as a whole is not bad. If one is in the
mood for something soft and slow, without much emphasis
on action tracks of any sorts, then Shezoo's work on
Samurai
Commando: Mission 1549 might be enticing.
It's a fairly long CD, coming in at 72 minutes, as well.
Personally, due to the more subdued nature, I was using
the CD to lull myself into sleep late at night on more
than one occasion, to which it's quite successful.
Rating:  |
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