Toy Soldiers

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Robert Folk hasn't been rightfully respected by directors, a bit like Bruce Broughton and Cliff Eidelman among others, but remains a fan favorite, especially for his scores of the '80 and '90. And perhaps his most beloved score of all (besides the entertaining Police Academy) is Toy Soldiers, an entertaining action adventure when college teens try to apprehend the terrorists that invade their school. Its a movie with lots of thrills, a genuine build up action movie and having enough laughs, drama and action to excite the whole family. It especially starred a young Sean Astin who we of course know today of another small movie franchise. With Robert Folk being on board, you got the sound of Beastmaster 2 and Tremors along with it, meaning the healthy doses of brass festivity that spiced those scores aplenty. But that doesn't hurt Toy Soldiers at all, because that's what it needed to do in the first place. And the exciting score by Intrada unleashes every part of its composed soundtrack, only not in film order. However, that doesn't hurt the listening experience because it mixes itself plentiful with quiet and exciting music all the time. Starting with the wonderful theme to represent the school as above all the gang, its a nice string version that can be heard easily in an exciting brass performance. In 'Escape from Barranquilla' you hear the more militaristic action music, covering the theme for the bad guys, and especially representing Cali the leader. 'All's Well' is strangely the piece of the end, with a relieving and good theme's performance on brass while 'Billy Escapes' is the exciting adventure tones of the daring escape, fun as always. 'Joey's Death' and its partner 'Reflections' show the sequence together of Joey's death, with a lonely horn solo of the theme (almost Folk here turns a Horner moment when he doesn't let the strings soar like Horner does) while in the latter a surging yet soft main theme is heard ever so gracefully.

I must however say that Folk surprised me especially with his action music, in 'Regis Captured' he lets the Cali theme erupt with the drum accompaniment while 'Jack Gets It' and especially 'Back to Regis' are immensely exciting pieces of action rhythm, with lots of powerful blasts of the orchestra. There is some room too for darker underscore, but these are also commonly heard in the better suspension builders, with examples like 'Removing the Chips' and 'Snap out of It', covering the growth of either strings or light brass to set the blood pumping on a small scale. 'Regis Surrounded' has some horn solos reflecting the army's presence, however the 2 most exciting tracks are saved for the end. With 'The End of Cali' you receive the best thematic outbursts of Cali's marching theme with the main theme of the boys but this more in heroic versions and shows Folk really creating outstanding action music while a nice suite of the themes is saved for 'Toy Soldiers', showing the excellent theme with a spice of the adventure music of track 5. Together this makes Toy Soldiers really a pleasant and exciting ride, a thematic one more even and shows probably Folk's best one in his career. Its especially exciting music and shows a fine line between action and some relief, while never letting either theme be forgotten! Toy Soldiers sadly is long out of print and is really a collector's item you should search for if you ever heard its powerful effect in the movie. The soundtrack is a generous release of over an hour and has a thundering performance of the Dublin Symphony Orchestra. As said by many, this is Folk's most pleasing score and takes the best out of Beastmaster 2, Tremors and The NeverEnding Story 2 and mixes it together in an explosive and heroic toy for all ages.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Regis School (1.51)

2. Escape From Barranquilla (3.45)

3. Closing In (2.28)

4. All's Well (2.01) Excellent Track

5. Billy Escapes (1.49)

6. Joey's Death (3.46)

7. Regis Captured (3.55)

8. Reflections (2.21) Excellent Track

9. Demands (3.15)

10. Removing The Chips (4.00)

11. The Cellar (1.35)

12. Jack Gets It (1.40)

13. Uneasy Quiet (2.12)

14. Back To Regis (2.31) Excellent Track

15. Border Killing (4.08)

16. Narrow Escape (3.01)

17. Snap Out Of It (4.06)

18. Mouthwash Incident (1.52)

19. Interrogation (1.45)

20. Regis Surrounded (1.33)

21. The Plan (2.11)

22. The Wrath Of Joey's Father (1.14)

23. The End Of Cali (4.09) Excellent Track

24. Toy Soldiers (4.57) Excellent Track

Total Length: 66.22

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

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