: (James Horner) After
beginning the original trilogy of Jack Ryan films with an overwhelming
cinematic and soundtrack success in the form of
, the series of adaptations of Tom Clancy's novels to the big
screen progressed with less fanfare through
. While the first film had the advantage
of conveying the most interesting story and technology of the lot, the
subsequent entries suffered from a lack of self-importance as the
criminal attention turned more towards Ryan, his family, and
introspective topics of protagonist integrity rather than
larger-than-life events of global importance. Harrison Ford was almost
becoming typecast as "the average Joe who has to do something
extraordinary" during this time, and the sequel films (if they can
really be called that) took on a similarly formula-restricted approach.
Phillip Noyce's 1994 entry,
, is still
solid entertainment, however, thanks to another gritty performance by
Willem Dafoe as an unsung veteran of invisible warfare and a spectacular
ambush sequence involving one hell of an insurance claim on several
Chevrolet Suburban SUVs. It's also amusing to look back at how people
saved files on (and desperately deleted them from) computers during the
early 1990's. Still, regardless of the surprising fiscal success of
, the less inspired methods of filmmaking
in this franchise's later entries translated directly to James Horner's
scores for the first two sequels. While his intention was certainly not
to try to match the impact of Basil Poledouris' popular score for
on its film, Horner's work for the sequels is
easily out-classed by his predecessor. Weighed heavily by its own
ethnicity and electronic emphasis,
remains one of
the most disappointing and marginally effective scores in Horner's
career.
For
Clear and Present Danger, the setting and
circumstances are far different from the prior films in the series, and
yet just as Ford runs around looking worried in the same old way, Horner
provides rehash after rehash of ideas in his final entry in the series.
If the composer is to be definitively whipped in public for his frequent
adaptation and blatant re-use of his own material,
Clear and Present
Danger is one of the more obvious points of evidence to use against
him. Not only does he lift general ideas from his previous works in this
score, but he obnoxiously and shamelessly copies and pastes significant
sections of previously existing music note for note. Ironically, he even
pulls a few interpretations from stock Jerry Goldsmith action music for
the era as well, with a primary theme largely predicting where Goldsmith
would venture in
Air Force One (that's right, another film with
Ford running around looking scared). The overall result is a dull,
repetitious, and predictable listening experience with few lasting
highlights. Without a doubt,
Clear and Present Danger exhibits
Horner on auto-pilot. While you have to give the man credit for at least
conjuring some basically unique sense of direction for
Patriot
Games (as flawed as it might have been), he tries absolutely nothing
new here. A very bland title theme featuring simplistic, rising,
patriotic progressions (taking a page or two from the structures and
demeanor of the final cues from
In Country) leaves the excitement
at the door and fails to make any significant appearance throughout the
mid-sections of the film, not even in veiled hints. The only returning
theme from
Patriot Games is a whiny, descending motif
representing the stench of bureaucratic dishonesty, and it occupies
"Jack's New Office" and "Looking for Clues," among others, with its
nearly intolerable sense of disillusionment, especially in its violin
performances in the latter cue. Surprisingly, the lack of originality
that prevails here applies to even the newly rearranged Horner
sub-motifs for individual scenes.
Among the rehashes in
Clear and Present Danger,
a nearly constant shakuhachi flute rhythm flutters in the distance (but
not mixed with the same precision as in
Legends of the Fall that
year; at least the incorrect application of this ethnic instrument isn't
really detrimental to this locale) over snare pronouncements that hail
back to
Glory. A wildly crashing piano pounds from high octaves
to low ones with the same effect as in
The Pelican Brief and
other suspense scores from Horner. Brass broods in low ranges, forming
mini-crescendos at each bar of music similar in style to
Brainstorm. A selection of tapping and clicking sounds seems
classified in the Horner sound library under the title of
Sneakers. Many of the more tense action cues lift entire
sequences from
Aliens, which will be a certain annoyance for some
listeners. Dull thuds from muddy, atmospheric synthesizers represent the
worst that Horner has recorded over the years, with
The Name of the
Rose a prime example. The cue "Deleting the Evidence" in particular
could be deconstructed by musical scholars to reveal humorously
innumerous connections to prior Horner scores. The only remotely
interesting avenue that the composer explores in
Clear and Present
Danger, regardless of its roots in his 1980's thriller works, is the
electronic keyboarding in "The Laser-Guided Missile" and "Escobedo's New
Friend," but even this attempt to supply the villains in the film with
their own style is lackluster in execution. Curiously, no Latin angle is
explored in the instrumentation, suggesting that everything on screen is
simply an American problem using the Latin drug wars as tools for
domestic gain. Only in a few snippets throughout the score does Horner
offer a short piece of music that elevates the film with striking
appeal. The single piano notes and tapping of cymbals at the opening of
"Operation Reciprocity" (repeated with brass to open "Second Hand
Copter") and the explosively heroic climax of "The Ambush" offer brief
glimpses of the quality of music that
Clear and Present Danger
probably deserved. That said, for a casual listener who could not care
less about Horner's self-quotations, this score is adequate at worst and
a smooth, brainless listening experience at best.
If you took a 1-year sabbatical from listening to
vintage Horner music, then
Clear and Present Danger could
actually be quite entertaining. For regular Horner collectors, however,
you have either heard this music before in superior form in any one of
the aforementioned scores or you would hear far better, infinitely more
inspired executions of those ideas in his forthcoming work for
Legends of the Fall,
Apollo 13, and
Courage Under
Fire. Parts of it, in fact, would be tracked into
Ransom. On
album, the composer selected only about half of his composition for
inclusion on the 51-minute 1994 Milan album that was repressed with
identical contents in 2001. Sound quality was adequate, but the
recording of this music was never as expressively dynamic as some of
Horner's other, similar works. While this presentation did feature most
of the notable cues from
Clear and Present Danger, the score is
among the composer's longest, and in 2013, Intrada Records released a
2-CD limited edition featuring every recording made by Horner for the
film, amounting to nearly 100 minutes of material. The most notable
additions on this set come at the end of the product, with the action
music from the final scenes of the film finally presented in complete
and proper order. This includes a sub-motif of nobility and victory in
"Finding the Prisoners" and "Woodroom/Finale" that builds to a
monumental crescendo (and reappearance, finally, of the main theme) in
the latter cue. Unfortunately, most of the additional music on the
Intrada album consists of Horner's droning electronics or light rhythms
from the ethnic flute, none of which unique enough to justify much
renewed interest in the score on album. The cue "Blow Up Narcotics
Plane" is so hideously reminiscent of
Commando and
Red
Heat that it is a nearly fatal detriment to the new presentation,
while other, purely atmospheric sequences, such as "Casket Arrival" and
"Greer's Last Hospital," are so non-descript that they are almost as
insufferable. This 2-CD product (along with a concurrent expansion of
Patriot Games) is clearly aimed at the most ardent Horner fanbase
and presents little new to casual listeners. Overall,
Clear and
Present Danger offers ten minutes of exciting, engaging material
split between "Operation Reciprocity" and "The Ambush," with the rest
derivative to the point of futility. Regardless of which album you
choose, don't expect clear and present originality.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16
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