Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

I never understood how Stephen King could write a book like the Lawnmower Man. I honestly believe that the book will create a different environment (read better) than the film because as a film it literally failed big time. The sequel as usual didn't even set a part of the fans of the first alight, so easily forgotten it was and the same goes about the score, of Robert Folk who composed the not to often looked at movies from the '90 on. Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace is such one, capturing in the ears of the reviewer a very good main theme but that's it, because for the rest its basically not to brilliant. I remember immediately back to Beastmaster 2 which captured a great theme but the middle was somewhat forgotten due to non melodic play. This score is the same since the middle doesn't do much in capturing real interest, further that Varese's release is so long (65 minutes), it actually drags the listening experience more then you can stand. The tracks all carry a sense but just several take at least the time to pinpoint what they exactly carry over to the listener. 'The Train' is more noticed due to its (as said Beastmaster 2) lesser melodic approach, with the action music creating more fury then melody. 'Institute Recon' captures some brief good heroic moments while 'Stealing the Kicon Chip' is a blank mood setter where basically nothing much happens. And so it continues.

'The President' captures some brief choral work which is more then welcome and 'Jobe's Theme' is a soft vocal backing presentation of the main theme. It are then of course the moments where the main theme appears which are worth it. 'The City' is the first where it appears (with light choir) and 'Virtual Light Tour' is capturing the theme with wonder, here the fanfares are really good. Near the end then 'The Kiron Explosion' returns with wondrous statements of the main theme as climatic fanfares and 'Finale' is the highlight for here it brings the main theme in such a pleasing, concert suite that it concludes the album with pride. In fact this is the one track that convinced me in buying this score since it was the only one I heard from a sample. That I expected more or less the same in the other tracks was a mistake I made before with the expected conclusions after it. Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace is not a melodic highlight and the action music even listened better in Beastmaster 2. The sole reason to have it is because of the great main theme which receives at least one perfect performance in the last track, and for Robert Folk fans it might be the only thing worth hearing when reading this review. For others I recommend first seeing the movie if you dare to see it at first and perhaps to get the best moments some other way, since the soundtrack will hardly see light of day in my CD-player.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (4.14)

2. The City (2.48)

3. Kids In Cyberspace (3.36)

4. Virtual Light Tour (3.02)

5. Jobe's Memory (1.42)

6. Jobe's Realization (1.57)

7. The Train (5.52)

8. Jobe's Theme (2.03)

9. Institute Recon (5.05)

10. Stealing The Kicon Chip (6.34)

11. The Alarm (4.54)

12. Inspecting The Kiron Chip (2.10)

13. The President (2.59)

14. Jobe's War (3.59)

15. Streets Of Anarchy (3.46)

16. Virtual Reality Battleground (4.57)

17. The Kiron Explosion (2.18)

18. Finale (2.43) Excellent Track

Total Length: 65.12

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Robert Folk ===