Customer Reviews

The Thin Red Line

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lots of other people have written critical things about the score so I'm just going to list all the tracks in detail and tell you exactly what you get and don't get - because this soundtrack does miss out a lot.

This will only make sense to you if you are VERY familiar with the film.

1. "The Coral Atoll"

This starts with the quiet, barely audible synthesized sounds from the opening of the movie. It then builds up into the loud sustained organ chord which accompanies the opening shot of the crocodile. It is not quite as long the one in the movie and the chord opens up a little more suddenly. It then goes into the quiet stirring strings and harp sequence which is used over the shots of the village and the flashback of Witt's mother dying. After that you get the low, choppy, scary string sequence used for the shelling and when the officers are talking on deck. After that, the music calms down into that static music sequence with the low strings and bells - also used on the ship. It ends with a shortened version of the "Christian Race" theme used for the cabin sequence.

2. "The Lagoon"

This opens with a vocal section not used in the film. After some bassy synth and chimes you get a man singing a very peculiar, ghostly, wailing chant. This quickly passes and links into the main Lagoon track. This is the track used at various times in the film such as when the troops are rushing about to get into the transport boats, when Woody Harolson dies after "blowing his [rear] off" and the river scene at the end. You get almost the full thing. There's just a tiny bit cut out from when the Japs start going after Witt. This is replaced by more of the two-tone string theme.

3. "Journey to the Line"

The full track used for the traumatic American assault on the village occupied by Japs. The clock ticking is much more quiet than the one in the film but it builds effectively. The whole thing is very dramatic but the bells and drum beats have been made quieter on the CD. The string section at the end is much longer than the one in the film and slower. You don't get the quick trumpet cue for when the Jap starts talking back to the yank soldier or when he looks up at the birds (but who would want that anyway?)

4. "Light"

This is the love theme used in the long sequence when Elias' character leaves on the plane, the shot of the soldier having a fit, when Bell thinks of his wife and also when the airfield is blown up. Added neatly onto the end of this is the other (full) version of "Christian race" which is sadder and has bells in the background (used for the scene with the young dying soldier).

5. "Beam"

The Jon Powell track for when Bell is alone, thinking of wife while he approaches the enemy to get recon info.

6. "Air"

This is the brief bit where Witt is being chased by japs at the end of the film. It includes VERY loud (but infrequent) crashing drum beats and the track is extended by extra synth piece which rises up to a long deafening chord at the end (that last bit was not used in the film).

7. "Stone in my Heart"

Not used in the film. It's the main "two-tone" theme with string riffs in the background - makes me think of a soldier running or something. Shame it wasn't used in the film. It's brilliant!

8. "The Village"

Not used in the film. The same theme as above but without the riffs and happier. It has a bit more of an individual theme at the beginning and a few places in the middle, but nothing memorable.

9. "Silence"

This is a lower-pitch version of the sad theme used in several places in the film like the bit where Bell fanaticizes about his wife in the bathtub. It follows the last track, which was major and happy with an effective changing of chord and tone which is minor and really sad. It ends with the rumbling synth piece used when the soldiers are traveling away from Guadalcanal and you see the shot of the island disappearing into the distance from the boat.

10. "God U Tekem Laef Blong Mi"

The only village chant on the CD. This is the one with orchestra accompaniment used at the start of the end credit roll.

11. "Sit Back and Relax"

Not used in the film. A weird sequence of synthesizers which is as close as you will get to the music used for the combat scenes.

What you don't get is:

- The nice organ/string version of the main chant used in the village scene at the beginning

- The two main village chants (you can find those on the Melanesian choirs TRL CD)
- Any of the other versions of Christian Race. This really annoyed me because the one I really wanted to hear was the really beautiful string/harp one used in the end credit roll. No sign of it anywhere (this is a shame as it could have stood as a main theme like Adagio was for Platoon). Infact there are 5 versions of Christian Race in the film. This CD only has 1 and a half!
- The drum sequence for the beach landing.
- The clock-ticking sequence used when the soldiers are walking through the jungle and hills.
- The cosmic beam music used for the battle sequences
- The bit where Penn gives morphine to the dying soldier.
- The REALLY moving theme used for when Caviezel is talking to Penn in the field and in the empty house
- The music for Witt's death
- All the other short, bitty cues... If I haven't mentioned it, it's not on the CD!

I hope that all made sense to you and has been helpful. I don't want to put you off buying this CD as the music it has is still excellent. Well done Mr. Zimmer!

Terence Mallick seems to do no wrong in the movie world. His latest take on WWII is a film called The Thin Red Line. Hans Zimmer was asked to write another brilliant score in his career, and boy did he come through. Zimmer's ability to create an emotion with music is absolutely breathtaking. In The Thin Red Line score Zimmer carries a very slow moving, almost throbbing, melody that amazingly recreates the emotion you experience during the film. Once again Zimmer has written a native tune that is sung by village folk just off Solomon Island in the movie. This song goes well with the rest of the soundtrack in that it is redundant in melody, but his use of different instruments and dynamics make this song moving emotionally. I can not really compare this score to any other movie score, not even by Zimmer himself. This is the most unique score he has written and you won't be disappointed. Hans Zimmer takes you to the Solomon Islands and throws you on to the battlefield. He makes you experience the long days of heat, the horrible act of war, and the beauty of life that is so often forgotten. After listening to this soundtrack, you will sit there thinking to yourself for hours trying to understand how beautiful this music really is. Prepare to let you mind be swept away in a very dark, poetic score by Hans Zimmer.

I purchased this score album without ever having seen the film (and as of yet, still haven't) simply on the reputation of its composer alone. A longtime fan of Zimmer's work, I had come to expect rollicking action scores and powerful percussion, none of which were to be found here. Instead, I found a thoughtful and moving score with very little resemblance to any of Zimmer's previous works. Particularly touching were the climactic "Journey to the Line" and "Light" with its glorious harp ostinato. An incredibly well-composed and well-recorded disc (in HDCD, no less!), this is some of the most relaxing and thought-provoking music I have heard in a long time (yes, relaxing music from a war movie!). Fans of traditional Zimmer may be disappointed, but those who have an ear for a more mellow score may want to give this one a listen.

This past July, while watching one of the many less-than-par movies that Hollywood released this past summer, I was able to view a preview for the upcoming movie "Pearl Harbor." I remember being floored by the music that had been used for the preview. I had never heard any piece of music as beautiful and rousing as the 2 1/2 minutes contained within "Pearl Harbor." Luckily for me, the very next day my brother and I decided to watch "The Thin Red Line" and give it another chance (when I first walked out after seeing "TTRL," I couldn't describe how much I hated the film--boring, pretentious, melodramatic, but of course the visuals were beautiful--although that oppinion has since changed. Malick's film offers an interesting and rather rare look at the other side of the second World War--the Pacific). During one of the battle scenes, I noticed that the same music I had heard the day before was being played for this movie. I immediately came to this site and learned that Hans Zimmer had done the score to Malick's film. I was actually quite shocked because I have been a huge Zimmer fan for years, and yet this score managed to pass below my radar. I guess I simply assumed everything associated with the movie was bad.

However, after listening to some of the selections above, I ordered the score, and it has become one of my top five favorite scores (incidentally "The English Patient," "Braveheart," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Schindler's List" round out the other four). I didn't think that after "The Lion King" or "The Prince Of Egypt" (his God theme brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it) Zimmer could possibly top himself. And although his "Gladiator" score should win this year's Oscar, this score is his most deserving of that award. Every track is filled with some of the most beautiful notes ever put together, and Track 3--"Journey To The Line"--is the best piece of score-music I have ever heard. Zimmer's score is subtle and gorgeous; some tracks stop your heartbeat--namely "JTTL," which begins with wonderful bravado and ends with heart-breaking elegance--while others are very subdued and introspective, much like many of the movie's main characters--Silence" is a prime example. If you've seen this movie and loved it or even didn't like it all, this score is amazing regardless. I could probably spend numerous wasteful lines describing the music with complex and big words, but I won't because this score is described the best when it's simple: beautiful, moving, heart-breaking at times, peaceful and tranquil at others. It is a true sign of greatness when one can thoroughly dislike a movie yet still adore the accompanying musical score--and Zimmer's name, reputation and ability doesn't hurt it either. If you're a fan or collector of musical scores like I am--and I'm pretty sure you're either one of the two considering you are actually taking the time to research this score--than you owe it to yourself to order this score. It truly is Zimmer's best work, and it is one of the best pieces of music ever composed--motion picture and beyond.

Beautiful. Poetic. Spell-binding. All of these words could be used to describe the score from the Thin Red Line. Journey to the Line(#3) made me feel sorrow, glory, beauty, and death all in one. It was a perfect theme song to a perfect(well, almost) film. If a song can make us feel like that, it is a masterpiece and that song certainly is. But don't get me wrong, there are others on this cd that are amazingly beautiful. Light(#4) contains a moving piece that seems very slow at first but it quickly becomes one of the standout tracks on the cd. The Village and Silence(#'s 8 and 9) and also both moving pieces that demand a second or third reply on the disk player. The Coral Atoll(#1) is also a very nice piece once you get past the extremely loud beginning. Take it from me, I have nearly thiry movie scores and this is the one that gets played the most!

No main themes. Williams pulled it off in Saving Private Ryan now Zimmer pulls it off with The Thin Red Line.

"The Coral Atoll" begins with low rumbles becoming ever louder before being joined by a loud French horn blast. Once the horn fades away the music becomes soft and mellow and remains so for the next 7+ minutes.

"The Lagoon" is more of atmospheric music than much else. A distant male chant and bell clang during the beginning of the track. The track ends with underscore before fading off to a ticking clock leading up to . . .

"Journey to the Line" the most emotional and powerful score cue Zimmer has ever composed. The ticking clock is joined by low strings and plays in loops increasing in tension for the next four minutes then climaxing to synthesized brass blasts. After the horns fade off the song continues on high strings and carries on for the duration of the track. This song alone is worth the album price.

The rest of the album is airy with rolling strings and some tense moments with brass sections like "Stone in My Heart" and "The Village".

Overall, this is Zimmer's best work because the orchestra, not the synths, carries the score. Can't go wrong with this purchase, unless you wanted an action score because this is a dramatic score.

No words can really portray the beauty of this score. The amount of power it contains is unbelieveable, and only when listening to it will you see what I mean. I have always been a fan of Zimmer. From his 1987 Rainman to his score for the recently released Gladiator, I have always adored his work. In 1998, Prince of Egypt was released, and I had not believed Zimmer could do any better, it was the best I had heard from him. Then came The Thin Red Line. I remember being excited when I saw the trailer for Mallick's masterpiece, seeing "music by Hans Zimmer". Well, I took a listen and was blown away like never before. Like every other listener says, track 3 is the highlight of this album. This piece is so beautiful, haunting, and well done in the film it's unbelievable. It is my favorite track of all time, and I have never heard a better cue from any film. It alone is worth the price of this cd. Track 5, composed by John Powell, is surprisingly good. Track 8, with the theme used in track 3 to a slower, moodier tone is also incredible. Every track has its beauty, and again, I really can't explain it in words. It is the best score of the 90's, and you simply have to see the film and hear the music for it to be fully appreciated. Get it now, you must.

Ever since I saw the movie, this music has haunted me. Visually stunning, Hans Zimmer's score matches the film's images. Ever since buying it, I have played it often. The use of native chants was stunning and moving. I'm not familiar with Zimmer's work, but after hearing this CD, I will seek out more of his music. Some minor complaints. Zimmer used a section from Faure's Requiem in the lagoon sequence which is not on the CD. Also after the stunning battle theme, a pounding, brutal theme used for the fighting in the island village, Zimmer shows the wounded and the dying and strains of The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives follow the vultures and again is not on the CD. And all the native chants used in the film were not featured on the CD, probably the most orginal element. I even recorded my own version, adding Faure and Ives to complete the score and it was powerful. What a complete score of The Thin Red Line would add to its effectiveness. A masterful score, with some missing parts. I can only hope that there will be a complete CD version in the future of this great score by Hans Zimmer. Even in a shorter form, it is the best score of the year.

I picked this up in a bootleg store in Korea a few years back, since it was cheap, and I had loved the movie (perhaps more so than any other of Mallicks's others, even - speaking of which, if you get a chance to see Badlands on the big screen, do yourself a huge favour and do so).

As I recall, I didn't really enjoy it on first listen. But then, somehow, I got sucked in. Almost as much as the film itself, this is a hypnotic, haunting slice of poetry. Nothing happens for about a minute, and then it builds and builds.

Unforgettable, otherwordly and quite beguiling.

The structure of the soundtrack (especially the songs toward the end featuring Polynesian gospel-style singing) is strongly reminiscent of the Mike Oldfield cd, 'Songs of Distant Earth'. Highly recommended, but do give it a couple of listens, because it might take a while to make its charms felt.

If you listen to this music - composed by Hans Zimmer - you notice that it's nothing like the usual war-movie sounds (a lot of brass, pounding drums, etc.).Instead it's music that makes you dream away and it takes you to beautiful and peaceful places where you have never been before. The music is quiet with a simple but beautiful melody, sensitive and sometimes a little sad but never sentimental. This sadness and the fact that on two or three occasions you hear eerie voices and sounds, reminds you that there is a war going on. It's a soundtrack you can listen to without having seen the movie