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| McNeely |
The Avengers: (Joel McNeely) Cinematic disasters
rarely come as total and devastating as the 1998 adaptation of
The
Avengers. In every aspect of the translation of the concept from the
small to big screen,
The Avengers failed miserably, and critics
commonly consider the film to be among the worst of its decade. A
completely incomprehensible plot, seemingly shuffled endlessly during
production, combined with clueless direction and actors who obviously
showed up simply to collect a check to create a film that was too
confusing to entertain even the most loyal B-grade matinee enthusiasts.
Meant as a comical spoof of the James Bond franchise,
The
Avengers put the unlikely pair of Emma Peel and John Steed,
lackadaisically played by Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes, up against Sean
Connery's weather-controlling villain for control of England and the
world. Nothing that transpired along the path to victory for Peel and
Steed made any sense, however, and with action sequences that could not
salvage the plot,
The Avengers is about as senseless as it gets.
Other than Peel's mandatory leather suit, the production only had two
upsides: a stunningly colorful advance poster and an overachieving score
by Joel McNeely. So unorganized was the production of
The
Avengers that even its first composer couldn't stick around for the
fun; Michael Kamen left this project to write for, of all things,
Lethal Weapon 4. His name remains forever printed on those
advance posters, though. Lucky for him, Joel McNeely was put in the
unenviable position of trying to salvage what he could from the film,
and, in typical McNeely fashion, he did a relatively good job. The years
of 1998 and 1999 were a "make or break" period for McNeely in his
efforts to burst through into the mainstream of film scoring, and
unfortunately, all the major films he scored during this time were
complete flops. Among the music he wrote for movies such as this,
Soldier, and
Virus, the last of those three may feature
the best singular moments, but
The Avengers is the most
intriguing overall work.
The surreal lack of focus in the film forced McNeely to
jump wildly in the same haphazard way, failing to allow a strong,
overarching sense of cohesiveness to result. But McNeely comes damn
close, and for this alone he should be commended. While a token concert
arrangement of Laurie Johnson's original television theme would be
tacked on to the film and album, McNeely coins a superior idea for the
snazzy allure of the concept. Heard extensively in "Main Title" and used
in various guises throughout the score, this theme is the easy
highlight. Combining synthetic rhythms, drum pads, and the full
orchestral ensemble in swinging jazz mode, this theme opens with a
stylish electronic whistling performance of the theme that closely
resembles Mark Snow's similar use for
The X-Files. This track
interestingly opens with an inverted form of Alan Silvestri's piano
motif of mystery from
Back to the Future, which is used by
McNeely here to form the basis of the theme. Weaving in and out over the
duration of the score, this theme only receives one lush performance in
the waning moments of "Invisible Jones." A secondary theme exists in the
form of an organ-led waltz for Connery's character, and this elegant
piece receives perhaps the most development (in "DeWinter Castle," "Sir
August's Garden," and "DeWinter's Waltz") of any idea in the score. Two
somewhat underutilized ideas for each of the heroes can be heard
successively in "Meet Emma Peel" (with a sensual, but poorly realized
theme) and "John Steed, I Presume" (which is a far more effective,
sophisticated representation of the character). The action material in
The Avengers is engaging in parts, but tiresome and mundane in
others. Among the highlights are "Prospero Lab Destruction" and "The
Final Conflict," which both show McNeely's tendency to imitate the
action style of Jerry Goldsmith at the time. A brief flurry of
harmonious crescendos in the first 20 seconds of "Invisible Jones"
foreshadows the typhoon cue in
Virus.
The remaining lengthy action cues never muster enough
dramatic power, nor do they step into the realm of truly cartoonish
parody, which leaves them clearly undecided. There is no distinct love
theme for Peel and Steed, and for their closer moments in "Are You All
Right?" and "Aftermath," McNeely makes very little attempt to mingle
their respective themes, instrumentation, or even allow the title theme
to convincingly evolve into something more sensual. In the end, it's
this overall sense of indecision that causes the score to wander. You
can't help but blame the film for this lack of cohesiveness, however,
and McNeely's consistent instrumental creativity, especially in the
electronics, still managed to lend the score something of a memorable
identity. Interestingly, the most notable aspect of the score was it
album release, which marked the first commercial venture by Randy
Gerston's Compass III Records, an affiliate of Samson Music. The quality
of this initial offering, including the lengthy hour of music presented
and well-engineered sound, led many film score collectors to have high
hopes for the label. At some point in the following year, the label
changed its name to Chapter III Records and, after releasing Danny
Elfman's
A Simple Plan, Mychael Danna's
Eight Millimeter,
an expanded album of David Arnold's
Tomorrow Never Dies, and
Rachel Portman's
The Legend of Bagger Vance over the next two
years, the label abruptly went out of business and all of the above
albums became rarities. While the Portman album is the most sought after
of these pressings,
The Avengers has sold for well over $100
despite the film's poor reputation. If only "Main Title," a piece of
DeWinter's waltz, and parts of "Prospero Lab Destruction" and "Invisible
Jones" could be condensed into a 10-minute suite, then that's all you'd
need to get a good taste of McNeely's valiant attempt to infuse some
pizzazz into an otherwise dead project.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Joel McNeely reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.38
(in 16 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.14
(in 8,446 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert contains short notes from the director and producer of the film.
