Soundtrack Review: The Final Destination (2009)

Posted by Jorn Tillnes

October 6, 2009

Welcome back! Have you subscribed to my RSS feed yet? Make sure you don't miss anything by getting all Soundtrack Geek posts by Email. Also check out Soundtrack Fans, a new social network for soundtrack fans. Thanks for visiting!

092909 0457 SoundtrackR1 Soundtrack Review: The Final Destination (2009) This is a review of the motion picture score The Final Destination by Brian Tyler.

“It’s fresh in its own way, but perhaps it is me missing Shirley Walker more than the joy of a new Brian Tyler score”

The Final Destination is the 4th (and final?) part of the long-lasting action/horror series. The concept is simple. What if you could sense that you were to die and then change the course of history so you escape death? Sounds great, but death has a plan and you are supposed to die. This is pretty much what these movies are about. Death is coming for the ones that somehow escaped death. Then there’s the fun of watching these kids die in horrible way or just escaping their brush with death. I loved the first and the second movie, but I can’t remember the third one. The concept is getting a bit washed out in my opinion (not unlike the SAW series). Still, the music in the previous three movies by Shirley Walker has been somewhat entertaining. With Shirley no longer with us, the job fell upon very capable composer Brian Tyler.

Track List

The Final Destination (***)
The Raceway (****)
Memorial (*****)
Nailed (****)
Nick’s Google Theory (****)
Revelations (****)
Raceway Trespass (****)
Stay Away From Water (****)
Flame On (****)
Moment Of Joy (*****)
Signs And Signals (****)
George Is Next (*****)
Car Washicide (****)
Newspaper Clues (****)
Premonition (***)
The Salon (***)
Questioning (****)
Death Of A Cowboy (***)
Gearhead (***)
Sushi For Everyone (***)
The Movie Theater (****)
You Can’t Dodge Fate (***)
The Final Destination Suite (*****)

Tribute

This score doesn’t quite feel like a Brian Tyler production, but at times it does like in the cue ‘Nailed‘ you have all the hallmarks of a Brian Tyler score with frenetic action. Mostly it feels like a tribute to the great Shirley Walker and I suppose it had to be. Brian Tyler is very faithful to the original composers when he does sequels. He was very faithful to Jerry Goldsmith last year in Rambo and this year he has taken one step further. At least in Rambo, he created perhaps one of the most beautiful themes ever heard in (among others) ‘Battle Adagio’. In The Final Destination, this is sadly lacking (there are a couple of exceptions which I will talk about later in this review).

The one thing you do remember after listening to this 1 hour+ score is Shirley Walker infectious 6-tone motif. Granted, it’s not a great theme, very simple, but you do find a way to love it even if you are not a fan of the movies. Brian Tyler uses it frequently, in fact, a little too much. This is the main problem with the score. If we want to hear Shirley Walker’s work, we can listen to the other Final Destination scores (although to be fair, they haven’t been officially released). It does feel more action-oriented than Shirley Walker’s previous scores, but that comes as no surprise. This isn’t a bad score at all; in fact, Brian Tyler’s style mix with Shirley Walker’s theme keeps it constantly fresh (in spite of my rant earlier).

Brian Tyler’s Themes

There are a few cues which deserves a special mention. ‘Memorial‘ is one of them. It’s what Brian Tyler does so well apart from great action scores. A minimalistic theme, not unlike the ones you hear in The Lazarus Project. ‘Moment of Joy’ is even more alike the work he did for The Lazarus Project where he uses a reverbing guitar with soft strings. It’s quite beautiful and the best cue on this score (although way too short). ‘George is Next’ is a reprise of ‘Memorial‘. Then there’s ‘The Final Destination Suite’ which is 13:29 long. It’s a “best of” compilation of Shirley Walker’s score and Brian Tyler’s version. It’s an action-filled cue with no surprises, but I like it, I like it a lot.

Conclusion

This score feels like a disappointment, but it’s not, and its Brian Tyler’s own fault for putting the bar so high. It’s fresh in its own way, but perhaps it is me missing Shirley Walker more than the joy of a new Brian Tyler score. I think it’s a mix of both. In fact, this review might appear negative, but I really enjoy this score. Far from Brian Tyler’s best score, but far from his worst. Get this if you are a fan of the movies, or if you enjoyed Shirley Walker’s theme for Final Destination. If you are a Brian Tyler fan, you won’t be too disappointed either. It’s a tribute to Shirley Walker, but a damn fine one.

092909 0457 SoundtrackR2 Soundtrack Review: The Final Destination (2009)