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Men in Black: (Danny Elfman) An immense success in
popular appeal,
Men in Black was a film made by its improbably
fantastic plot. The concept conveyed in Barry Sonnenfeld's film has been
spun off in several directions since its introduction in 1997, including
a sequel several years later as well as a culture-wide redefinition of
the phrase "men in black" and an evolution in the way people look at
pugs. With its outrageous script,
Men in Black was a perfect
match for composer Danny Elfman, an artist with a keen sense of how to
treat the wacky and the bizarre in his music. By 1997, Elfman was a man
in conflict, though, and his score for
Men in Black is a direct
reflection of that inner toil. Having won the hearts of countless fans
with his dramatic scores of the early 1990's, Elfman had shifted his
focus violently in 1995, returning to his rock band roots and attempting
to combine the orchestral elements of his prime success with the quirky
elements of those early days. Many fans argue that it would take until
Spider-Man at the end of the decade before Elfman really
perfected this combination, and the jury is still out on the lasting
quality of Elfman's quirkier scores in between. Ironically,
Men in
Black represented the composer's first Oscar nomination, and it has
been argued that much of the attention and praise that the score has
received through the years can be attributed to just a few sections of
that score. Elfman had a tendency to do that in the mid-1990's.
Scores like
Mars Attacks! and
Flubber
featured exemplary title or finale tracks, or otherwise offered a cue or
two of stunning memorability. But the remainder of those scores' middle
sections often blurred into a nebulous kind of Elfman slapstick
underscore style that never really succeeded for him. Only the most
loyal fans of the composer (those who still enjoy listening to his "Face
Like a Frog" music from a decade earlier) seem to prefer the entirety of
these scores, and
Men in Black belongs to this group. There
really can't be any complaint made specifically about Elfman's ability
to generate zany, hip, and groovy music on a grand scale. The
instrumentation of
Men in Black has its fair share of guitar
slides, tin drums, siren whistles, electric bass and guitar, and an
array of other decidedly strange percussive sound effects that only
Elfman could conjure. The orchestral presence in the score is always a
factor, but never at the forefront. The ensemble is pure Elfman at his
best, and any and all criticism of
Men in Black that is pointed
at its score is inevitably aimed at the loose construct in which Elfman
allows these elements to wander without much cohesion. The exception to
this criticism is, of course, the title theme, the piece that most
certainly gained Elfman the Oscar nomination. Heard during a highly
entertaining opening sequence in which we follow the flight of an
insect, this title theme offers a very memorable chopping rhythm for low
strings that never strays further than four notes from center. It
appropriately has several jazzy characteristics from 1960's detective
and superhero television themes. This strong identity would actually be
better utilized by Elfman in the sequel score, for in
Men in
Black the integration of this clever rhythm into the mass of the
underscore is rather poor.
It's curious that Elfman wouldn't better utilize this
strong identity more boldly given the film's need for just that kind of
quirky, forward-thinking movement and pacing. In the score's only major
exception, "The Suit," a victorious introduction to the heroes' personas
are dealt with spirit. As is the case with many Elfman scores, the
remaining underscore is left with two or three really memorable
crescendos when electronic, synthetic, and choral unite; broad,
harmonious representations of the galaxies offer triumphant cues in
"Orion's Belt" and "Finale." A softer guitar theme for the scenes of
reminiscing seems to pass without note. The comedy writing is sparse
when forced to stand without the jokes that it was meant to compliment.
Denied of its the punch lines (the visual humor of the film), it's
difficult for the music to convey the kind of humor that is witnessed in
the film at any given moment... like a bug explosion, or a talking
animal, or an unexpected weapon discharge. For all the strange
instrumentation that Elfman employs, he seems unable to musically
represent some of these concepts. As hard as it is to pinpoint the
prevailing weakness of Elfman's slapstick comedy writing, there is one
aspect of the
Men in Black score that always remained
disappointing: its depth. The mix of the score is very dry and at the
forefront, exposing a lack of depth in the orchestral half. Cues like
"Orion's Belt" are stripped of some of the wonder that you'd expect for
a fantasy cue of such proportion and expanse in instrumentation because
of a poor overall mix. The chopping strings that set the rhythm in the
end titles suddenly (and for no reason) solve this problem, leaving
questions about whether there was a different ensemble for this one cue
or if there are general inconsistencies in the mastering or recording of
the music. Overall,
Men in Black is a score full of potential but
lacking in refinement. Its title theme is enough to float it, but aside
from that and a handful of crescendos in the latter half,
Men in
Black is ultimately a score that struggles to deliver what it
promises in its fantastic opening minutes.
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| Bias Check: | For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.18 (in 61 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.17
(in 115,373 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
