[Eirik Myhr]

You’re right Thor – I am a full-blown superfan of this film. I am almost tempted to call it Spielberg’s greatest masterpiece – and that’s saying a lot.

I love the ending. I bawl my eyes out. I haven’t watched it after becoming a parent, but it’s a fair bet that it will hit even harder now. I don’t really care about it being scientifically correct or not – that thought never occurred to me. The ending of this film is simply one of the most beautiful, and most utterly heartbreaking things I have ever watched.

John Williams’ score for A.I. is, as far as film scores go, maybe his greatest artistic achievement – in my humble opinion. I love the minimalist stuff. Williams takes the *idea* of Philip Glass-style minimalism, yes, but Glass would not have combined that craft with the kind of otherworldly harmonic and melodic elements that Williams incorporate into this. For that reason, tracks like «Journey to Rogue City» and «The Mecha World» (Extended Version) are to me far more intriguing than anything I ever heard from Philip Glass. (That said, I owe myself to listen more to Philip Glass’ catalogue, as I am obviously a fan of his general style).

I believe no other composer than John Williams could accomplish this score, because the Glass-inspired stuff is really only a tiny part of the score, anyway. The themes and melodies play an even bigger role, and they are among Williams’ most beautiful melodies ever. The calm, lush and «held back» orchestration with strings, belltone keyboards and soft, etheral voices are my favourite thing ever. There are also soft, atonal/modernist passages that really have a «coldness» in them, especially in some of the opening scenes. You really feel Kubrick’s soul is still very much present in the way even Williams approached this. And as for the film itself, remember that Kubrick also did really unconventional time jumps and style shifts that could redefine the whole purpose of the film, completely contrary to more traditional storytelling structures – 2001 being a great example of this.

However, I agree that the original album does not really do the score justice. I *love* the «For Always» theme itself, but strongly feel that it works better in tracks like «Where Dreams Are Born», without the lyrics. The appearance of a «song» (as in: with lyrics) takes me out of this fantastic score. And there are SO many highlights from this score that simply are not included in the rather short original album. In this case, The LaLaLand 3CD C&C version is the one for me (sorry Thor!).