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Review of The Mask of Zorro (James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you admire James Horner's career and wish to hear him
take his trademark style of writing in a splashy and fascinatingly
different ethnic direction, resulting in one of the most engaging and
flavorful action scores of the digital era.
Avoid it... if you have no love for Latin instrumentation or were not impressed by the more robust and mature evolution of this score in The Legend of Zorro.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Mask of Zorro: (James Horner) After decades
absent from the big screen, the legendary Zorro returned in the form of
Antonio Banderas during a 1998 summer season otherwise dominated by
underachieving disaster flicks. Martin Campbell's surprisingly enjoyable
film fed off the both the mystique of the concept and the chemistry
between its three leading stars. With a lengthy backstory element, the
movie passes the duties of Zorro's vigilante antics from (an unlikely)
Anthony Hopkins to Banderas as the shifting influence of outside
politics affected the local residents of California. In the transitional
era of modern blockbusters in the 1990's, The Mask of Zorro
proved an alluring blend of the concept's prior charm and the gravity
and action required for younger audiences. The film had a sense of
charisma and enthusiasm absent from the belated sequel, The Legend of
Zorro, and in many regards remains a guilty pleasure decades later.
The plot's significant placement of the female lead, Elena (Catherine
Zeta-Jones), in the generational connections between the two Zorro
embodiments allows a strong romantic sensibility in the film that
ultimately defines the character of its music. For composer James
Horner, the concept of Zorro's plight represented a stark departure from
the genre of films for which he had begun to mechanically regurgitate
Irish-laced themes and instrumentation earlier in the decade. Horner
himself was in no need of introduction to mainstream audiences at the
time; his score for Titanic had just ended its four-month
dominance of the music charts two months earlier, and his mantle had
just received two Oscars. His score for Deep Impact, released two
months prior to The Mask of Zorro despite being crafted later,
was adequate but did little to satisfy fans awaiting Horner's next major
achievement. What those fans would hear in this film is perhaps more
exotic than expected, for despite significant critical praise and
long-standing respect in the following years, The Mask of Zorro
never caught on with mainstream audiences outside of the moderately
successful pop song that Horner adapted from his score.
In the afterglow of Titanic, Horner specifically sought an assignment that differed from his prior output artistically, and The Mask of Zorro was an immediate attraction to him for precisely this purpose. This score and The Legend of Zorro are together a powerhouse pairing that exhibit the spirit of swashbuckling adventure and instrumental creativity that was lacking from not only his period before 1998 but in the years in between these two scores as well. In the process of adapting his comfort zone to fit the flamenco sounds with which he would define The Mask of Zorro, Horner finally accomplished what many of his long-time collectors had hoped for: a perfect blend of his typical mannerisms with a refreshing new set of ideas and instrumentation. In many ways, The Mask of Zorro is a Latin variation on the composer's popular Willow, taking the best thematic and instrumental tendencies from the 1988 score and performing a cultural rearrangement for the setting of early California and the flair of Zorro's personality. While The Legend of Zorro is, on a technical level, a superior score compared to its predecessor (despite the significant plunge in the quality of the film itself), you cannot discount the effectiveness of The Mask of Zorro as its own work. Horner may have improved upon nearly every element of the music in the sequel with the exception of the actual flamenco accents, but the first score is as entertaining as ever in its own right, with a few unique aspects of its own to distinguish it. Horner introduces the two major sets of themes of the franchise in his opening action cue, "The Plaza of Execution." The original album for The Mask of Zorro combined this cue with the "Main Title" recording, which remains absolutely unique to this film in Horner's career. Starting with shakuhachi and acoustic guitar blasts that are joined by flamenco foot dancing and hand clapping sound effects at an ever-increasing tempo, Horner builds momentum for the false crescendo that was artificially but pleasantly joined on the original album with Zorro's primary rhythmic device on guitar exploding with trumpet and castanet accompaniment in the second cue. That ascending and descending rhythmic formation hails from Latin folk music and is not original, utilized extensively in countless genres through the years. (It even graces a classic Cher song.) Horner's employment of the traditional but somewhat stereotypical rhythmic device is outstanding in The Mask of Zorro, applying it in riff-like ways that the composer hadn't really explored in other works. At the outset of the actual "The Plaza of Execution" cue in film, the composer's accompanying main theme for Zorro takes the mariachi elements and bloats them to the performance depth of a full, symphonic ensemble, a style that continues throughout the score. The remainder of this cue, as Zorro stops an execution and whips up a frenzy, offers several variants of this spirited primary theme that would clearly delineate one of the composer's most memorable concepts in years. Aside from the catchiness of the actual tune, the use of castanets, maracas, tambourines, kena, zamponas, and shakuhachi flute are all referenced as fascinating percussion accents; the shakuhachi never carries a theme as it did in Willow, instead wailing as representation of Zorro's entry or exit from the scene or puffing along with a rhythm a la Thunderheart. The composer never quite achieves the same symphonic muscularity for the main theme again in this score, though brief flourishes occupy several of the action cues and Horner obliges with an arrangement in "Zorro's Theme" constructed to follow the song in the end credits. (Listeners can hear the idea expressed with better ensemble posture in The Legend of Zorro, thankfully.) The secondary themes related to Elena actually consist of three separate ideas that Horner intertwines frequently, blending their purposes. What's most commonly associated as the love theme for Zorro and Elena actually services the relationship between Elena and her father, the elder Zorro, to a greater degree. The backstory involving the two characters is supplied its own ascending identity that is more of a lamentation for the father, and this idea is applied as the interlude sequence between love theme performances in the song. A third thematic variant related to Elena is dedicated solely to her relationship with the younger Zorro, but aside from two or three subtle performances in the work, this theme is short-changed. Traditional flute performances are the highlight of the second theme for Elena, largely capturing the essence of her childhood and her father's suffering. The lushest renditions occupy the primary love theme, however, as in the final moments of "The Plaza of Execution." The main Zorro theme and primary love theme interact more extensively in The Legend of Zorro, their inseparable nature previewed by usage in The Mask of Zorro that suggest the latter was always envisioned by Horner to be a natural interlude to the former. More unique to the first score, however, is the application of the secondary Elena theme for the sentimentality of Don Diego in a cue like "Diego's Goodbye," which features another outstanding flute rendition of the idea to suggest the familial history of the thematic set as well. This material, highlighted previously in "Elena and Esperanza" and with more relevance and poignant presence at the end of "The Confession," is unfortunately underutilized and doesn't make more than a token appearance in the sequel score. In the latter moments of "Elena and Esperanza," Horner stylistically conflates two of the Elena-related themes, allowing the love theme to receive troubled, minor-key counterpoint potentially more suitable for the other idea. Horner's interpolations of these themes into the score are impressively playful on the whole, the composer masterfully altering the tempo of especially the main theme for Zorro and launching it with a sense of exuberance and high style that well matches the classic Alfred Newman approach. (If only Horner had incorporated castanets into scores with the same frequency as his bagpipes, perhaps his music would have been more interestingly stylish.) Three of the action cues after the opening scene, "The Ride" (which was used popularly in the trailers for the film), "Tornado in the Barracks," and "Stealing the Map," all present stunningly frenetic and enjoyable variations on the main theme while also serving as the most ethnically rich sequences. The pizzazz put forth by the trumpets alone is remarkable, and, more often than not, a rowdy acoustic guitar rhythm leads the way. In most of these performances, Horner follows the action with lush renditions of either Zorro's theme or the developing primary love theme. The remaining action cues are slightly more anonymous in that they very much mimic similar material in Willow, with "Leave No Witnesses..." striking several similar notes. The infamous Horner "danger motif," otherwise a simple series four sixteenth-notes for brass resolving ominously to key, is employed in a few cues for the purpose of suspense, most notably "Elena's Truth." It takes turns with major and minor key renditions in "Leave No Witnesses...." A snare rhythm with chime hits and shakuhachi wails represents the lead antagonist, Montero, in much the same fashion as the villains of Willow in "The Mine," and the culmination of this material in the timpani-pounding "Leave No Witnesses...." is adequately exciting. The climax of the latter cue can be somewhat grating in its abrasively dissonant crescendo of suspense, but it serves its purpose. Don't expect the villains in the story to receive much special treatment from Horner outside of the increasingly prevalent danger motif, sadly, the composer failing to apply some imperialistic variant on his Latin tones. Still, the highlights of The Mask of Zorro often come when you aren't expecting them. Such a cue that needs specific mentioning is "The Fencing Lesson," a combination of multiple cues on the original album. One of the more humorous developmental ideas in the film, it's additionally a moment when the strikingly crisp sound effects of the film merge very well with Horner's music. It is in this cue that Horner makes the most out of his percussion section and soloists, taking simple triangle hits and castanet spasms and slowly building them into the recognizable, traditional folk rhythm for guitar as the younger man learns the trade from Diego. Eventually, a triumphant burst of mariachi fanfare signals the lesson learned. Additionally, bass strings pluck along with the guitar to create a fuller sound, reminding in ways of Jerry Goldsmith's more fanciful propulsion from The Shadow. The slashing of a cymbal to represent the swoosh of a sword, most obvious at 4:25 into "The Fencing Lesson," is the kind of creativity that more Horner scores could use. Overall, you can't help but get the feeling that Horner really enjoyed himself with The Mask of Zorro; whereas Deep Impact seemed to aimlessly go through the motions, this score is sharp, precise, funny, and resounding. Most of all, it's extremely memorable and distinctive in a career that was otherwise criticized for self-referencing. There is enough Horner DNA in this score to clearly identify it in his established style; after all, Horner cannot resist using the clanging danger motif as an ultimate tool of climactic resolution in "Leave No Witnesses...." Some listeners will tire of either those overly consistent Horner elements or the obviousness of the Latin infusions. Even so, there is enough compelling action and drama bookending this score and providing moments of brilliance throughout the middle to earn its acclaim. On the original 1998 album for The Mask of Zorro, a welcome 70 minutes of score material was offered in outstanding sound quality and followed Horner's more favorable habit of arranging shorter cues into longer tracks. The concert version of the two primary themes in "Zorro's Theme" may be among the weaker offerings for some listeners, with both themes receiving more impressive performances in surrounding cues. Horner's lack of resounding enthusiasm in fanfare form for the theme in this arrangement continues to annoy as one of the work's few baffling aspects. Perhaps because most performance ensembles wouldn't have the necessary specialty instruments to tackle this score properly, this orchestra-only suite presentation was crafted, but it thus seems rather dull. The love theme and Elena-specific interlude are translated into the obligatory pop song, "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You," that had potential if not for the slashing sound effects and cheap orchestral hits that diminish the style inherent in the melody itself. While this song would go on to receive considerable play on radio, that mainstream version would take a more conservative mix thankfully absent these effects. A fuller orchestral ambience would have really improved either variant. In 2023, the La-La Land Records label expanded the presentation to separate the score's cues in proper film versions and then appended the album edits along with the Spanish-language version of the song at the end of the second CD. While the first album's combination of "Main Title" and "The Plaza of Execution" was masterful, it's good to hear the first 30 seconds of the latter cue, as it builds a nice anticipatory introduction on its own. While much of the middle of the score's filler material isn't fantastic, it does illuminate the Elena material better despite becoming mired in suspense. You also get a few new flourishes of Zorro's theme, as in "Rooftop Getaway." Don't expect any interesting alternate takes on this product, though, and most listeners may find the original presentation more than adequate as a result. In the end, The Mask of Zorro may not be as massive in scope or offer the incredible auxiliary action sequences of The Legend of Zorro, but its excellent thematic establishment remains an attraction and some of its snazzy solo performances, especially in "Tornado in the Barracks" and "Stealing the Map," are more appreciably raw in their enthusiasm. Both works mark unique high points in Horner's career, and both represent the most memorably accomplished score released during their respective years. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1998 Sony Album:
Total Time: 77:16
* Performed by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena 2023 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 137:45
* Performed by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena ** Performed by Jon Secada and Ana Gabriel
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1998 Sony album includes lyrics from the song (provided below)
and extensive credits but no extra information about the score or film. That of the 2023
La-La Land album contains extensive information about both. The trailers for The Mask
of Zorro included the use of "The Ride" from Horner's score, as well as excerpts
from Hans Zimmer's Drop Zone, David Newman's The Phantom, and original
material from John Beal.
Lyrics to "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You:"
Moon so bright, night so fine, Keep your heart here with mine, Life's a dream we are dreaming Race the moon, catch the wind, Ride the night to the end, Seize the day, stand up for the light I want to spend my lifetime loving you If that is all in life I ever do Heroes rise, heroes fall, Rise again, win it all, In your heart, can't you feel the glory? Through our joy, through our pain, We can move worlds again Take my hand, dance the dance with me I want to spend my lifetime loving you If that is all in life I ever do I will want nothing else to see me through If I can spend my lifetime loving you Though we know we will never come again Where there is love, life begins Over and over again Save the night, save the day, Save the love, come whay may, Love is worth everything we pay I want to spend my lifetime loving you If that is all in life I ever do I want to spend my lifetime loving you If that is all in life I ever do I will want nothing else to see me through If I can spend my lifetime loving you.
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1998-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The Mask of Zorro are Copyright © 1998, 2023, Sony Music Soundtrax, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/30/98 and last updated 5/5/24. |
