Customer Reviews

Dungeons & Dragons (2000 Film)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well,I`ll begin this review with saying that Justin Caine Burnett is an absolutely talented composer,as this is his first own score (he has only been an assistant to Hans Zimmer on "The Rock")and it seems to be one of the best scores of the year 2001. The movie was actually better than I had expected it to be,with lots of cool CG effects,although it is probably more for the fans of the role playing game. This soundtrack is very well adapted to the "game" format of the film,and it could very well have been used in a game as well,as it features a huge brass section and lots of dark action cues. There are often some rousing strings,and if there are any similarities to other composers,then I would like to compare it with Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer - imagine a combination of "Seven" and "The Rock" and you`ll know what this one approximatley sound like. And then add some more fantasy sound of it. Sometimes,this score gets too dark to be interesting,but it is absolutley amazing. There is not much of love or ethnic themes here,so if that`s what you`re looking for,then you should not take this one. The slow moments of this score appears mostly in track 6 and 14. Most of the other tracks contain some dark,brassy music,as it waits for something,and suddenly,they burst out into massive action music. Some of that can be heard in "The Maze",one of the best tracks,featuring some really heroic,sweeping,2 minutes of action music before the track gets too dark. And "Thieves Fight" is another great action track,with some strings at the beginning,before it becomes a dark action track with the theme of "The Maze" heard in the middle,which is the heroic theme. Another heroic theme appears at the beginning of the first track,"Opening to Profion`s Dungeon". That is what I believe is the main theme of the soundtrack. After a minute,some dark chorus is heard,and the huge brass section is also used. Another great track to mention is "Battle on the Rooftops",where the seldom-heard female choir appears yet again. This is a nine-minute non-stop action track with some more heroic moments,which is heard when Ridley,the hero,fights the incredibly evil Damodar. And it ends up with some heroic brass and chorus as he throws his enemy off the tower!
Great action music can also be heard at it's best in the 13th track,"Fighting Profion".
The final highlight of the score is "Resurrection & End Titles" which is a nine-minute suite using some female chorus in the beginning. Then,it repeats all of the main themes with full orchestra. If you just want to hear the themes,then that is a recommended track.
Over all,this is a very great fantasy score and it really sounds like it was taken from the role playing game it is based on - some times may be a little too dark for some listeners,but that is really good,I think,because then you have easier to really think the villains are evil - with horrifying music,they become more horrifying as well. And so does the dragons.
It is also more inspiring than many people think. Here are the best scores of 2001 so far: this one (of course),Atlantis,The Mummy Returns,Jurassic Park 3,Final Fantasy and Planet of the Apes. This seem to be a great year for fantasy music - can`t wait till I hear the Lord of the Rings & Harry Potter scores.
But don't forget this one. It is very good too!

For an ''unknown'' composer, Justin Burnett has entered the competitive world of movie soundtracks with an amazing first attempt. After seeing the film, I was anxious to relive the fast-paced, rich score that guided me throughout the movie.

His full orchestral score contains unique themes for each of the main characters and a robust main theme that remains with you long after you have stopped listening to the cd.

I completely enjoyed Justin's first album and will keep my eyes open for his next project!

...because its soundtrack is just superior! Indeed, this was an album I'd been meaning to get my mitts on for several months now, and I'm certainly glad I did just yesterday, as the rich, dramatic overtures of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra capture the very essence of the world's most well-known role-playing game and its namesake motion picture like nothing else can.

Justin Caine Burnett obviously knew just what he was doing when he composed the score for one of Y2K's most surprisingly unsuccessful films, as each and every piece on this CD depicts its coinciding scene just right with such intense imagery that even one who didn't go see the movie can envision the action. Suspense, intrigue, disaster, grief, vengeance, and victory--it's all there within the one-hour-plus time duration of the first fourteen tracks, and with plenty of potency at that. As for the fifteenth track--a little high-energy number entitled "This Is Not A Game" and performed by the group Buck 250, whom I have sadly never heard of until very recently--I don't know of anyone who can complain. Without question, this final song is definitely worth listenning to for those music buffs who simply can't get enough of a good late-20th-/early-21st-century jam. In fact, the only track I have any complaint about at all is with Track 10, "Death of Snails," which was a little too long for my taste. Still, my overall opinion about the Dungeons and Dragons movie score is quite positive.

Hopefully, fans of J.C. Burnett will hear some quality work from him again in the future. I sure know I'd like to key my ears in to his latest material, judging from what I've heard here. It's a shame this music couldn't have saved the film, of course, for now I have a hankering to at least rent it for a given Saturday night and watch it for myself. Even so, I can't help but enjoy the musical score, and hopefully, my fellow D&D fans will as well.

Ok, so the movie was absolutely terrible, but there seems to be an unspoken rule in the film scoring world that states a composer must write their best work for the most terrible film they can get assigned to. In this case, Justin Caine Burnett, a member of Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures (now Remote Control) team, has really outdone himself here. This is, as far as I know, Burnett's first solo outing, and unfortunately I haven't heard anything from him since.

The album opens very strongly with 'Opening to Profion's Dungeon' which features the first full statement of the main theme played vigoursly on both the strings and brass by non other than the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. It then moves quickly into Profion's theme, which is a darker progression played by some very low brass, backed up by choir. In many ways, this first track is like a suite of what's to come - lots of deep, bold strings and brass, timpani rolls and touches of choir here and there.

It's very much a 'fantasy' score, with plenty of big themes to give a musical voice for the larger than life characters that inhabit the movie. There are no real solos or strange, ethnic instruments featured, but that's fine, because the orchestral muscle of the music very rarely lets up for the duration of the album, with many standout moments throughout, an exciting highlight of which is 'The Maze', which sounds like Indiana Jones on steroids and reinvents the main theme into a very rousing movement featured during one of the film's big action setpieces.

Don't let the poor reception the film recieved distract you from this amazing score. If you're a fan of John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith's bigger action/adventure scores, then you'll find something of comparable quality here.

One of the better things about the so-so "Dungeons and Dragons" film is this wonderful score by first-time feature film composer Justin Burnett. This one has made a home in my CD changer ever since I bought it two months ago. It's just great music to have playing in the background while you read or surf the net. Sweeping, vibrant, audacious... it has all the qualities we respect in such established names as Williams, Horner and Zimmer. If Mr. Burnett keeps up the good work and starts receiving some recognition for his talents, I can see him doing some really high-profile work in a few years. I hope Hollywood doesn't overlook this diamond in the rough.

A word of warning: The last track on this CD is a horrendous piece of generic techno...in the vein of the "Mortal Combat" song. It was not written by Burnett, and was no doubt thrown in to try and give the film an extra Matrix-eqsue coolness factor. Buy the CD for Burnett's great score, avoid the last track at all costs.

All the characters, settings, and events in the Dungeons and Dragons movie are supported by this superb musical score...one of my all-time favourites.

The rousing score (with a main theme, many intriguing variations on the main theme, plus additional themes) perfectly enhances the emotions of every single scene and is well worth repeated listenings on audio cd. Composer Justin Caine Burnett is to be highly commended for his fantastic effort and it is to be hoped that we hear much more from him in the future!

Also, the manufacturers of this cd are to be commended for including as much music as possible - 76 or so minutes - encompassing nearly all of what is heard in the film (with omissions such as the track from the Elf tree town). The final bonus track is relevant and tolerable, but not from the film itself.

Overall, a great buy!

Too much has been made of Justin's emergence from the Hans Zimmer camp. It is apparent after a single hearing that his talents--while still raw and needing refinement--vastly outweigh that of the now fading Zimmer. To be sure, Hans Zimmer has contributed much to the world of cinematic music. However, if he plays his cards correctly, Justin Burnett will outshine even Zimmer's brightest days.

Hey all...this is a pretty good soundtrack (the composer is an understudy of Hanz Zimmer...what do you expect?) It has the same theme but it can be used as an eerie thing or sorrowful...it's really kewl...u all should get it :) I liked it alot!