After director Wolfgang Petersen rejected Air Force One's first completed score --
Randy Newman's work was reportedly deemed too dark and insufficiently patriotic --
Jerry Goldsmith was brought in as a replacement, and while it hardly feels like a rush job, the completed project remains one of
Goldsmith's lesser efforts. For better or worse, he delivers on everything
Newman did not. This
Air Force One is undeniably rousing and shamelessly jingoistic, but it also recycles ideas and approaches from earlier, better
Goldsmith scores to diminishing returns. His consummate mastery of the action genre remains astonishing -- the eight-minute "The Hijacking" is a veritable master class in suspense -- but the scarcity of new and compelling ideas dilutes the music's overall impact. ~ Jason Ankeny