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| Jones |
Desperate Measures: (Trevor Jones) Jokes were made
at the time of the release of the 1998 thriller
Desperate
Measures about how many unsuccessful desperate measures were taken
by the filmmakers and Tristar to make the film into a winner. Box office
disaster was the fate of the Barbet Schroeder project, its plot so
contrived that critics and audiences failed to see any point to its
narrative. The movie did represent one of the later entries in the slide
back to obscurity for actor Michael Keaton, who played his "crazy" side
perfectly in the role of a brilliant convict who devises creative ways
to fool law enforcement and escape from prison. The protagonist of the
story is Andy Garcia, oddly enough, as a police officer whose son
suffers from leukemia and requires a bone marrow transplant. Of course,
the maniac played by Keaton is the only compatible source, and in the
ill-advised process of transferring the criminal to a hospital to secure
this donation, there is the obligatory escape and the conflict of
interest for the cop. The two play a cat and house game throughout the
hospital and then the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the cop attempting
to stop other officers from killing the criminal all the while trying to
capture him for the purposes of the infusion. Fallacies riddle the plot,
and it's hard not to root for Keaton's character by the end, a notion
supported by the open-ended conclusion that suggests that he'll get the
upper hand. Schroeder's movies in this genre over the course of the
1990's typically used the services of either Howard Shore or Trevor
Jones for their music, and the latter built upon his previous work for
Kiss of Death to create an ominously forceful orchestral
environment for
Desperate Measures. Jones had a tendency to write
music that was more intellectually complicated than necessary for the
suspense and thriller genres, usually combining his symphonic trademarks
with voices or specialty instrumentation of a unique tone. For
Desperate Measures, his standard London orchestra is the clear
emphasis, utilizing synthetic backing only for adding depth to the
soundscape and presenting occasionally eerie atmospheres. Jones' knack
for over-thinking his assignments actually has the benefit of smartly
addressing the mind of Keaton's villain in the story, affording a level
of complexity in the ensemble performances worthy of a character always
two steps ahead. Also figuring into the mix is an EWI, Jones' choice
this time for the representation of the softer character theme for the
protagonist, and the slap-happy medium-range percussion that became
somewhat standard for the composer during this era.
Most notably, the score for
Desperate Measures
is probably best remembered as being a powerful foreshadowing of
Dark
City, a cult favorite released just months later. One of the two
themes in
Desperate Measures is a forcefully rising figure that
blasts over rollicking orchestral rhythms (punctuated by trios of notes)
and resounding percussive depth to almost perfectly foretell the
"reality altering motif" in
Dark City. This theme is first heard
fully at 4:40 in "In Transit" and explodes in full force just after the
three-minute mark in "Escape." It continues to highlight the score's
most engaging moments until its climax in "Chase," where the idea,
joined by prominent piano pounding, is so similar to
Dark City
that those familiar only with the later score may be bothered by the
cue. Given that this rhythmic device, complete with insane flute blasts
on top, is one of Jones best career ideas, it's hard to knock its
prominence in several of his works. In "Persistence," the motif is
joined by electric guitar and, by the opening of "Redemption," the
rising theme is expressed as a haunting shadow of itself on quietly
turbulent low strings. Jones intentionally leaves the motif hanging in
its final performance to suggest another escape by the criminal. The
other theme in
Desperate Measures is technically its primary
identity, but like its adversary, it takes a while to get moving. It's
quite reminiscent of the eerie idea for the main character in
Kiss of
Death, once again a descendent of James Horner's
Unlawful
Entry in its progressions and cold, detached rendering. Performed
by EWI in many of its renditions, the theme toils with little attention
in "Imprisonment" and "In Transit" before really clarifying itself in
"Under Pressure." The theme only truly defines its purpose at the end of
the film, the lovely piano version in the waning moments of "Redemption"
leading to the contemporary light rock version of "Into the City." That
closing sounds like one of Jerry Goldsmith's poor attempts to "popify"
his themes in the 1980's, and the retro 1970's funk element is
especially bizarre in this context. Jones' translation of his main theme
from
Kiss of Death to rowdy hard rock tones over the credits of
that score remains far superior. Overall,
Desperate Measures will
take a while to really engage the listener. As always, Jones does well
incorporating his electronics as just another section of the orchestra,
and his music here is almost always accessible. But the hour-long
score-only album is sometimes tedious, encouraging you to skip to the
next passage that mirrors
Dark City. That said, the melodic and
action highlights of this score are certainly strong enough to once
again merit interest from a faithful collector of Jones' always
interesting music.
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| Bias Check: |
For Trevor Jones reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.78
(in 18 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.44
(in 26,088 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
