The Eagle

Atli Orvarsson is one of many semi-successful composers to be stamped out by Hans Zimmer and his program. You'll recognize that the moment you start playing the soundtrack. So the obvious factor in deciding whether to buy this soundtrack is your personal liking or disliking of the Hans Zimmer sound of bombastic composing. And while, in fairness, there are times when the music does grow softer and less reliant on simply the power of volume, Orvarsson fails to compensate with anything interesting or emotional enough to either make it worthwhile or give the listener a reason to believe he’s capable of writing dynamic music.

One essential part of the soundtrack that does make it worthwhile is the addition of Celtic instrumentation and sounds. Orvarsson will often take the typical Zimmer-esque full-orchestra wall of sound with long, powerful, sustained chords, and overlay it with fast-moving Celtic melodies. (One excellent example of this is the track, “The Return of the Eagle.”) Such composing ventures closer to the realm of Thomas Newman more than Hans Zimmer, or at least forms a solid hybrid of the two. I dare says it’s never been tried before, though. Marc Streitenfeld, another one of Zimmer’s many understudies (and the man who has composed music for four of Russel Crowe's latest films), used a very, very similar style of composing for the movie Robin Hood.

Also borrowing from Zimmer is Orvarsson’s use of a predominantly male choir reminiscent of Pirates of the Carribean. Similarly, Orvarsson employs a solo ethnic male voice very similar to the “wailing” vocals of Zimmer’s beloved Lisa Gerrard. It is also not unlike the solo ethnic male voice Zimmer uses in Black Hawk Down.

I hate to write an entire review discussing nothing more than how similar the music is to other soundtracks, but when that’s all that Orvarsson can bring to the table, I feel it is only appropriate to discuss it as such. There really isn’t anything to the soundtrack that Orvarsson can proudly claim as his own, as the minuscule amount of music that doesn’t immediately recall another soundtrack is nothing to be proud of. As I said earlier, though, if you enjoy Hans Zimmer’s music, and to an extent if you enjoy the music of composers like Thomas Newman and Marc Streitenfeld, then this soundtrack is a sure purchase for you. The soundtrack's greatest (and only) bragging right is that it manages to accomplish an interesting mix of sounds, mainly from two highly successful and accomplished composers, Newman and Zimmer. Justifying spending money on yet another soundtrack that really is made redundant by a half dozen previous Zimmer scores is up to you, but I for one have a hard time doing so.