Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,734
Written 11/16/09
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Buy it... if you are familiar with Randy Edelman's distinctive
action style and enjoy his simple but functional combination of
synthetic and organic components in undemanding structures.
Avoid it... if you feel the need to be challenged by your film
music, for Edelman breaks absolutely no new ground with this effort.
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| Edelman |
The Mask: (Randy Edelman) As difficult as it may be
to recollect in retrospect, the 1994 Charles Russell comedy The
Mask was considered by many movie reviewers to finally be a chance
to see actor Jim Carrey perform some real acting in the mainstream.
This, because the Ace Ventura star actually had a rather serious alter
ego in The Mask, one that stumbles upon a magical tribal mask
through improbable means early in story and is transformed into the
Carrey that more people will appreciate. When affixing the mask to his
face, this rather nerdy and shy man becomes a Tasmanian Devil in a zoot
suit, his facial features exaggerated and his mannerisms animated in
ways never imagined just a few years prior when live action and cartoons
were merged in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The early 1990's brought
the CGI revolution, however, and the only reason The Mask existed
was to allow the computer whizzes at Industrial Light and Magic to turn
their attention from dinosaurs to Carrey's physical humor. The
production was little more than an excuse to show the actor not only
wildly overperforming in usual slapstick fashion, but also to use its
sizable special effects budget to accentuate that exact element. It also
happened to be the debut of Cameron Diaz, introduced in both vibrant
colors and skimpy outfits. Together, the antics of The Mask
grossed well over $100 million and propelled Carrey into a series of
similar, though lower budget comedies of a ridiculous nature. Perhaps
with its budget exhausted by the fees from ILM, bargain composer Randy
Edelman was hired to provide the frenetic score for The Mask. In
many ways, this assignment would have been best suited for the likes of
David Newman or Jerry Goldsmith, and it is not surprising that in its
most effective moments, Edelman's score resembles the work of these
composers. With Edelman, however, you know exactly what you're going to
get: basic structures, plenty of keyboards and drum pads, and a marginal
role for an orchestral ensemble. This formula is, as you would imagine,
sufficient to meet the basic needs of the film. But, as is typically the
case with Edelman's music for assignments that seem a bit of a stretch
for him, the music is highly restricted by the composer's own
tendencies, reducing it to a series of rather cheap-sounding and
predictable ideas. There's an intangibly affable quality to Edelman's
fluffy action writing, and The Mask employs this sound liberally.
It's a score that tries so very hard to be as dynamic as Carrey's
performance, only to make a lot of noise without any true energy built
into its constructs.
It's easy to hear what Edelman was trying to accomplish
at every moment of
The Mask (it certainly is functionally
consistent), though whatever grace of the melodic lines or fright of the
pounding, dissonant figures that delineate the romance and mysticism in
the score is compromised by the fact that Edelman's smusic simply sounds
cheap. This circumstance was a critical point of failure in his popular
score for
Gettysburg the previous year, though it's less of a
problem here because of the silly tone of this story. Whenever Edelman
attempts to challenge the abilities of the (Irish!) orchestral ensemble
to produce the Warner Brothers cartoon style of sound that he attempts
to emulate here, his abrasive keyboards and drum pads interfere. It's a
problem that will doom this score for some listeners. For others,
however, there is some merit to be heard in the enthusiasm of the work's
highlights. There are essentially two themes in
The Mask, one of
tender woodwind stature (most fully realized in "Lovebirds") and the
other of brass (and faux brass) menace for the mask itself, heard
immediately in "Opening - The Origin of the Mask." The latter theme has
an introductory motif of suspense that combines David Newman's
stereotypical comic atmosphere with Carter Burwell's somewhat awkward
chord shifts. The love theme is extended in "The Man Behind the Mask"
and "Finale" while the mask's theme (exploding in the last moments of
the opening cue) is heard frequently during Carrey's (and others')
transformation scenes later on. Intriguingly, starting with a
foreshadowing at the end of the first cue, Edelman sometimes combines
the first half of the love theme with the second half of the mask theme,
most notably in "Tango in the Park." Because of the somewhat unclear
time frame in which the story exists, Diaz's sultry character receives a
vintage, sax-led jazz identity in "Tina." There is also an undercurrent
of carnival rhythm in
The Mask, performed by the keyboards in pan
pipe mode. Edelman uses this style of playfulness in lieu of pure
orchestral ruckus of a bombastic nature for Carrey's most hyperactive
scenes. The action material is best represented by "Milo to the Rescue."
Which shifts from robust orchestral rhythms in the first thirty seconds
to lame synthetic pounding thereafter. The fake choral effects don't
help. Overall, this is an Edelman score through and through, which means
that it will entertain those who don't require instrumental sincerity
and complex structures at times when they are the most necessary. This
music serves its purpose and offers five minutes of truly lovely solo
woodwind and piano performances of the love theme. For such a dumb film,
that's fine, but don't bother looking for a copy of the short-printed
score-only album unless you have no qualms about the limitations built
in to Edelman's method of operation at the time.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Randy Edelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.05
(in 20 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 29,260 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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