Composed by Brian Tyler
Although it was hardly well-regarded, the action-horror cross-over Alien vs. Predator still made enough money to garner a sequel. The first film is passable entertainment but Requiem suffers from the fact that most of the action takes place in a dark, rainy environment, making it difficult to see the new alien and predator designs. The characters are wafer-thin and there’s a certain maternity ward scene that was just a little too much for me. The film itself bombed. Not a failure is Brian Tyler’s score, all of which can be found on the soundtrack album. This is from around the time that Brian Tyler started getting the opportunity to create big action scores. The actual album presentation is horrendous, but I will talk about that later. First the actual music.
Tyler does a good job of using the style of the Alien and Predator soundtracks, especially the former, though he or somebody in charge decided that none of the franchises’ preexisting themes would be used. One of Horner’s motifs from Aliens does appear, but not much. One cue in which it materializes is “Coprocloakia”. A variation on the Predator theme plays in “Predator Arrival” and “Power Struggle”, with the percussive elements remaining, but the core theme replaced by a variation of Tyler’s Requiem theme. A couple tracks, “National Guard pt. 1” and “Taking Sides,” (the latter a quite good 13-minute piece) use a motif heavily reminiscent of Ripley’s theme from Alien Resurrection. The latter half of “Buddy’s New Buddy” has a call-back to Elliot Goldenthal’s dissonant strings from Alien 3’s “Candles in the Wind.” These are nice references, but it is frustrating that Tyler wouldn’t or was not allowed to actually make the franchise themes clash. At least he finds a way to reference them whereas Harald Kloser ignored them completely for the first AVP.
The main movie theme itself is introduced as an apocalyptic piece in “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” amidst trailer style music (the 0:10 and 0:28 marks see the two parts of this theme). It mainly serves as an assisting motif in action and suspense cues. Aside from the film’s opening and closing cues, only “Predicide” and the first track feature the theme in full gear. There are quite a few lengthy, bombastic action cues. The best of them all is “Decimation Proclamation”, which runs over seven minutes and never really lets up. It’s notable for inserting the famous bit from Aliens’ “Bishop’s Countdown” (0:50). The more suspenseful and horror-oriented cues are not as interesting, but still effective, with a small, four-note clicking motif that sounds like an echo. There’s little room for emotion and tenderness here. There is a gentle motif in “Kelly Returns Home,” but its only other appearance is a brief respite in the otherwise action-packed “Power Struggle.” “Striptease” is a guitar-driven piece that stays calm until the end, when it morphs into horror.
The music is pretty good, but the album presentation is extremely confusing and messed up. If you look at the track listings, you’ll notice that the first four tracks are the four highlight cues, which include the main theme statement, the opening titles, the final action piece, and the ending title, all placed at the beginning. The album has its climax within twenty minutes and no decent closure. The last few cues are mostly low-key horror and suspense cues. I don’t know how Brian Tyler thought that this presentation would be an enjoyable and smooth listening experience. He might as well have arranged everything at least very close to chronological order since all of the music is here. Perhaps it was organized in the order in which he composed, which would explain why the blocks of tracks progressively feature less important music. The first four cues cover the main theme, opening, climax, and ending. The next few are the major action highlights. By the end listeners have to endure eerie underscore.
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem features a lot of good music, but in order to listen to all of it without losing patience, you will probably have to rearrange the tracks to your liking. Another way to make it better would be to cut out some of the suspense tracks like “Searching the Poolhouse” and “Gutless and Autosurgiosis.” Regardless of presentation issues, Tyler drew attention with his massive action scoring, ensuring him a few more high profile projects over the next decade.
Rating: (Album) 4/10 (Score) 8/10
Tracklisting
- Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (1:30)
- Opening Titles (3:04)
- Decimation Proclamation (7:40)
- Requiem Epilogue (3:12)
- National Guard Part 1 (5:45)
- National Guard Part 2 (2:56)
- Taking Sides (13:04)
- Predicide (1:31)
- Kelly Returns Home(1:19)
- Coprocloakia (5:32)
- Power Struggle (4:02)
- Skinned and Hanged (2:48)
- Down to Earth (2:36)
- Predator Arrival (3:37)
- Special Delivery (2:32)
- Alien Awakening (2:07)
- Striptease (1:31)
- Buddy’s New Buddy (1:59)
- Searching the Poolhouse (3:11)
- Gutless and Autosurgiosis
- Outnumbered (4:36)
raymondusrex 