Morricone Magic by Godwin Borg (October 3, 2004)
When I saw this movie at the cinema at the time of it's release I wanted to see it because I was (and still am ) a fan of the 'sword and sorcery' genre. There was everything one would want to see in a movie of this kind, there was Arnold Schwarzenegger coming 'fresh' from 2 Conan movies (and this project originally was planned to be a Conan movie as well) there was a beautiful Brigitte Nielsen so it was a good reason to go. Despite what many people say the movie is very enjoyable and then comes the best thing about this movie, the soundtrack! Ennio Morricone managed to capture the very heart of emotion when he composed this movie's love / duel theme (given that both the CD and LP releases come in the form of 2 long suites; 16 and 18 minutes respectively, therfore carrying no specific track titles) and the rest of the score is just as brilliant. A very low mixed (on purpose) electric guitar slightly reminded me of some parts from the Maestro's classic Spaghetti Western scores but don't think the Maestro repeated himself (or that the score is somehow S.W. oriented) because he surely hasn't. The score is both epic and emotional, a real gem in Morricone’s already vast and extremely rich repertoire. It carries the very distinct Morricone mark because you can tell it's Morricone from the very first note. Absolutely classy! I would recommend all fans to buy it but both CD (which is coupled with Morricone’s own score for BLOODLINE) and LP are long sold out. Try e-bay or wait for a possible reissue.