Tomorrow Never Dies

I think I should first mention the two songs. The first, by Cheryl Crow (and nothing to do with Arnold) has been moaned about continuously since the score came out, however, I think it is a reasonably enjoyable song. My opinion on it changed somewhat after seeing the film and it actually fits in quite nicely at the start. Of course, not being by Arnold, it does suffer from not recurring as a theme in the film so you're not likely to remember how it went by the end of the film. What should perhaps be considered the 'proper' song is the one written by Arnold, with lyrics by Don Black which appears at the end of the film and score. It is much more like a traditional Bond song, although I do find it a little on the headache inducing side to be perfectly honest. Still, it's a great song and much more memorable and suitable than the opening number.

As for the score itself, this is probably the most understated action score Arnold has produced so far, perhaps something to do with the fact that a lot of the music from the climax of the film is missing. Still, it gets of to a tension mounting and finally explosive start in White Knight which perfectly underscores the opening stunt. With some very Barry-esque motifs (possibly direct lifts, I'm not sure) as well as some variations on some of the motifs from Independence Day. Those with a deft mixing of the Bond theme provides an excellent opening. The Bond theme appears a lot in this score, most notable in Company Car, which I don't think actually contains any original music by Arnold at all! There are some sombre romantic moments, especially in Paris and Bond and the Last Goodbye when Arnold introduces a bitter-sweet love theme which sadly doesn't get much more air time after that, which is a shame. However, in the overall context of the movie (and without wishing to give anything away) its disappearance is almost required.

There is more excitement though in Hamburg Break In/Out, but it is not as full on as with Independence Day and makes much more use of suspense which I think is to the advantage of this score (but would have been redundant in ID4). There is also a liberal sprinkling of synths in stark contrast to Arnold's other scores which feature few, if any at all. They aren't really like Zimmer of Goldsmith synths, in fact they are more those used in pop music and give it a very 90's feel, while retaining the Barry 60's sound very well. It has been said that the synths could date the score, but I think the orchestra is used enough and the synths are never given free reign (don't want another Goldeneye) so I think it should date no more than any other modern score containing synths. Perhaps the only cue that will date is the last score track, Backseat Driver, which sounds almost like a pop song in its arrangement. Most of the other cues combine suspense with action and the suspense sections still make for interesting listening (not an easy thing to achieve). Overall, this is a great first Bond score (although I'm not really a fan of many of the others) and gives Arnold a few new tricks to his palette and demonstrates his abilities to write great scores.