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ID4: Independence Day: (David Arnold) If you doubt
that anticipation alone can sell a non-franchise film as a blockbuster
long before its release, then study what 20th Century Fox accomplished
with
Independence Day. The film itself was mediocre, just as all
of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich's early productions turned out to be,
but it became a classic disaster staple due to its revolutionary special
effects, a likable performance by Will Smith, and a tendency to bloat
every aspect of its production to overblown levels. Starting with the
film
Broken Arrow early in 1996, Fox pushed trailers showing the
fiery destruction of the White House (a compelling image given that it
was a presidential election year and the public still enjoyed a
desensitized pre-9/11 mindset) and other landmarks. With a story full of
as many preposterous loopholes as that by Devlin and Emmerich, seeing
the spectacular annihilation of the cities of the United States,
primarily, was the main attraction. Like any good science fiction
invasion flick,
Independence Day didn't require the nasty-looking
aliens to have any reason for choosing Earth as their next target. Nor
was there any reason to shy away from melodramatic deaths, a poke or two
at the pious, and noisy and blatant patriotism at its flag-waving best.
Contributing to the overbearing noise factor was David Arnold's score
for the film, recorded with 90 players, a choir, and every last ounce of
stereotypical Americana he could muster for the occasion. Devlin once
commented on the apparent fact that "you can leave it up to a Brit to
write some of the most rousing and patriotic music in the history of
American cinema." Indeed, the score is not only among the most obvious
fanfares representing American culture in the modern age (or perhaps
ever), it has also proven to be one of Arnold's most memorable and
popular. Along with his striking opening cues for Devlin and Emmerich's
Stargate in 1994,
Independence Day caused many film score
collectors to speculate that Arnold could be the long-awaited
replacement for the maestro John Williams. Ironically, Williams would
replace Arnold for 2000's
The Patriot and, outside of some highly
varied, but occasionally outstanding music for the James Bond franchise,
Arnold's career never soared as expected.
Still, the high quality of the music for
Independence
Day, regardless of how obnoxious it can potentially be outside of
context, was proof that Arnold's previous two major scores,
Last of
the Dogmen and
Stargate, were not flukes. Some doubts about
the score's originality have been raised through the years, however. A
lawsuit was reportedly leveled against Fox and Arnold by a composer
named Terry Herald, who claimed that a theme in the
Independence
Day score was lifted directly from his 1991 television documentary
Air Force One: The Planes and the Presidents. The same reports
indicate that Herald was paid off in a settlement, and given that such
legal troubles are usually mopped up quietly, there's a definite
possibility that all of these circumstances are true. That scenario has
also led to speculation that the lawsuit is responsible for the fact
that the
Independence Day score has never, surprisingly, received
the expanded commercial album release it deserves. Regardless of the
inspiration for the score (which Arnold claims came to him in a Los
Angeles hotel room), the composer very successfully tackled the
assignment with the same ferocious patriotism and sense for Americana as
the vigorous plot. No plug remained un-pulled for
Independence
Day, with all the snare-ripping, wild piccolos, blaring trumpets,
and cooing choral elements necessary for such a story. The precise
orchestration of constantly overlapping lines (a true introduction to
the talents of orchestrator and conductor Nicholas Dodd) and the
enthusiasm of the ensemble's performances are the reason why
Independence Day is more than just a loud mess of noise. Critics
often denounced it for its sheer volume, but the robust structures in
the work are intelligent enough to satisfy those who might usually avoid
such elevated volume. For all of its bravado, Arnold's work here is
surprisingly well developed and complicated in its handling of the three
primary themes. Given that the commercial album was arranged with most
of the banging and clanging action music as the emphasis of the
presentation, fans may write off
Independence Day too quickly, a
problem only rectified unfortunately by widespread bootlegs that have
dominated the market for the score since 2000.
The three primary themes developed in
Independence
Day are extremely well integrated, often blurring the lines between
the two that represent mankind. The first and most obvious one is the
hopelessly optimistic and most patriotic brass theme that sometimes
extends to the high woodwinds. The "End Titles" suite offers a strong
presentation of all three ideas, and this aforementioned primary theme
opens and closes that suite with all the flair you can imagine for an
upbeat fanfare. This idea is provided in slower, darker hints, often by
soloists, in the first half of the score. When humanity starts fighting
back, however, the theme's more expansive performances define not only
America's struggle, but that of the entire world. In the trio of
adjoining cues from "David Gets an Idea" to "Planning the Attack" and
the popular "International Code," this theme gains a sudden burst of
momentum that launches it to its numerous explosive performances in the
twenty minutes of straight action material late in the film. The second
major theme is one that represents both the American president and the
more compassionate side of humanity. You hear this theme often during
scenes of the aftermath of the initial attack and most prominently in
"The President's Speech." This idea holds most of the running time late
in the "End Titles" suite and, as in much of the score, is often
elevated in tempo to match and blend with the patriotic theme. The
sometimes sappy nature of this theme is augmented more often by choir,
and it's easy to hear that Arnold was attempting to maximize the
melodrama in this idea. The third theme represents the alien invasion,
or at least it seems as though Arnold intended that to be the case. This
theme was originally set to open the film, as the aliens pass the moon
and approach Earth, but was replaced with a more generic, tense
crescendo. Regardless of whether this idea was meant to accompany the
aliens or a broader sense of devastation is somewhat moot, for Arnold
utilizes it extensively as a fanfare of doom in the first half of the
score. Whether its descending progressions are being performed by
massively ominous brass layers or in subtle fragments during the earlier
scenes of the film, Arnold carefully reminds the audience of the idea so
well that it's one of the more distinctly memorable "badguy" themes in
recent times.
There are other thematic ideas that come and go in
Independence Day. A sensitive woodwind theme for Captain Steven
Hiller's (Will Smith) relationship with his family is heard in both
"Cancelled Leave" and, more extensively, "Pre-Flight Check." There's a
hint of James Horner's
Apollo 13 in this theme, but given the
motif's overall brevity, the impact of the similarity is minimal.
Another consistent theme exists for Mary McDonnell's somewhat lame
portrayal of the First Lady, an unnecessary character. Arnold
nevertheless gives her a tender, somber theme heard initially at the end
of "First Lady Found" and carried for several minutes in "The First Lady
Dies." Unfortunately, you'll catch yourself thinking of the lyrics
"tomorrow never dies" during the main phrase of this theme, for it
heavily influences the softer sections of the composer's first Bond
score the following year. Meandering choral progressions meant to stir
up wonder and awe are heard in "Area 51" and "Spaceship from Roswell,"
giving the old 1950's sense of fantasy some due respect. The
instrumentation in and itself serves as a great factor in the cohesion
of the score. The fact that Arnold never resorts to the synthetic realm
(as well as the complexity of the simultaneous lines of action in the
louder sequences) is likely what caused many listeners to compare this
work to that of John Williams. The percussion section is often
disregarded for its rampant snare tapping, but the "Base Attack" cue
offers a stereo-bouncing effect of struck metallic effects (anvils or cow bells?)
in its third minute that remarkably synchronizes with the ensemble's
tone in its use of a full octave (more of this in the score would have
been awesome). A tambourine in "International Code" supplies additional
depth to the Russian-style vocals. That cue, in many ways the highlight
of the entire score (and film), appropriately infuses some stereotypical
Arabic progressions (comparable to
Stargate in its waning
moments) and Morse code-like effects. In the brass section, a wildly
blaring figure is used for the alien destroyers' actual firing
mechanism, and that motif is used as a foreshadowing tool at 2:05 into
"Base Attack." Arnold even allows the trumpets to wildly meander off
tone at 3:05 into "Evacuation" to represent the mounting panic. The
strings, while often frantic in their contributions, seem to get lost in
many of the more ambitious cues.
The mix of the score on the 1996 commercial album is
quite strong; the choir provides depth without adding volume. But the
tragedy of that RCA/BMG product has been its brevity, with its
arrangements offering only half of the material heard in the film. In
most cases, such highlights on a commercial product would suffice, but
Independence Day is an exception. First and foremost, the score
is of outstanding quality in even its less spectacular moments, so the
music left off of the first album is quite good. Additionally, many of
the arrangements of the cues for the album differ from what you actually
hear in the film, a problem that persists even on the later bootlegs.
Finally, the last two or three minutes of the "End Titles" suite from
the score are used frequently in fireworks displays around America, not
to mention the score's use in everything from small-town band
performances to Memorial Day ceremonies in large American cities. As
such, interest in the music has persisted. Arnold's more elegantly
compelling cues of a softer volume, like "First Lady Found," "Area 51,"
"Spaceship from Roswell," and "The First Lady Dies," are all absent on
the 1996 product, leaving "Aftermath" among the few such representations
intact. Released two days before the film's opening, the RCA/BMG product
was not only short, but it offered lousy packaging that only printed the
track titles on the CD itself (an illogical faux pas that should lead to
the firing of any album art director). An expanded album was promised
late in 1996, but one was never released (reportedly due to financial
restrictions, but the lawsuit is still a possibility as well). It was
thus only a matter of time before the bootlegs appeared on the market,
and for a short time during their main debut in late 2000, they were
sold at regular soundtrack specialty outlets (oh, the good old days when
they peddled bootlegs along with everything else!). While substandard
attempts to bootleg
Independence Day had been floating around for
a few years, the first mass-produced bootleg of the score hit their
shelves as the sixth part of the so-called "World Records" bootleg
series. Many variants have existed since, and whichever one you happen
to obtain will offer top-notch sound quality (outside of some minimal
upper-range hiss). Overall,
Independence Day is a spectacular
score, and it's a rare occasion when you really do need to seek a
bootleg to enjoy the music in all its glory.
Music as Written for the Film: *****
Music as Heard on the 1996 Album: ***
Music as Heard on the 2000 Bootleg: *****
Overall: *****
| Bias Check: | For David Arnold reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.21 (in 14 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.33
(in 37,463 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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