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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Men in Black 3 (Danny Elfman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you still have a soft spot for Danny Elfman's full
range of identities for this franchise, each of them extended with
commendable skill in this surprisingly orchestra-heavy sequel score.
Avoid it... if you demand that new thematic territory be explored or that the composer rely upon his prior retro-styling for this somewhat conventional journey to the past.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Men in Black 3: (Danny Elfman) It's remarkable to
ponder the fact that despite the financial success of the Men in
Black franchise, it took fifteen years for it to reach trilogy
status. Generally considered superior to the first sequel in 2002 is
Men in Black 3 (or MIB3 for short) ten years later. Gone
are many of the auxiliary characters from the prior two films (including
the obnoxious, talking pug, thankfully) but back are the leading duo of
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the latter with something of a cameo
role due to his limited screen time. It took ten years to develop
Smith's original time-travelling idea for this film, his character
forced to follow an escape alien criminal back to 1969 and save the life
of partner's younger self. While in the past, the two rejoined agents of
the secretive alien-related organization have to restore history as best
they can, including the planting of a device on an Apollo spacecraft
that is destined to protect the Earth in the future. Sappy encounters
with younger versions of themselves extend the previous movie's flimsy
but tender personal narratives, though the creativity of the alien
creatures living amidst human society continues to sustain the
franchise's key element of humor. Returning to the series is composer
Danny Elfman, whose original Men in Black efforts yielded him
(amazingly, in retrospect) one of his first Academy Award nominations.
As director Barry Sonnenfeld reminds us, Elfman's job with the concept
was to provide the agents on screen with masculinity, their coolness
under pressure exuded through Elfman's own sense of humor in the process
of whipping up a snazzy but ballsy main theme for the concept. There has
always been a somewhat retro feeling to Elfman's music for the
franchise, and one of the most interesting aspects of Men in Black
3 is the composer's choice to minimize that former identity for the
sleaze of the alien characters and instead focus on more straight
forward orchestral activity for the human-centered story this time
around. The major detriment of the second score in the series was its
tendency to simply regurgitate ideas from the first score without
attempting to really add any new dimensions to them. There is a certain
amount of that repetition in Men in Black 3, though perhaps due
to the fact that ten years passed since the second film, the revisiting
of these ideas doesn't seem as irritating in the third entry. Elfman
once again attempts no really new thematic or stylistic direction here,
though he does faithfully wrap most of his previous ideas for the
concept into a functional and occasionally quite entertaining new
package.
While some listeners might expect Elfman to really emphasize the 1960's and 1970's-inspired instrumentation for the portions of Men in Black 3 taking place in 1969, he doesn't oblige that temptation. The electric bass, retro drums, and electric guitars all return, though outside of some playful guitar insanity in the "Main Titles" (and reprise at the end), the score doesn't highlight them. The acoustic guitar and various choral shades are utilized in familiar roles, and the orchestra seems more aggressively expressed in this work's later action sequences. Thematically, all your favorite identities return. The title theme's initial performance may be a bit abstract given its wailing guitar translation, but the remainder of the score presents the idea in several satisfying variants of its more recognizable form, including complete bursts in "Spiky Bulba," "Headquarters," and "The Prize - Monocycles." The actual melody and its underlying, chopping string rhythm are, as expected, separated for their own applications at times. There are few cues (if any, really) that don't feature at least the melody or rhythm. The adaptation of this theme into the militaristic action realm in "The Mission Begins" is the highlight of the score, hints of nobility for the space program mixed with the theme's fragments. The reminiscing acoustic guitar theme for the agents plays an understandably greater role in this score because of the time travel, the idea developed well in "Regret," "Mission Accomplished," and "A Close One." The hip secondary motif that extends out of the main theme's rhythm for the electric bass parades through several cues, including "Into the Past" and "True Story." Elfman's pretty wonderment motif for choir returns in "Griffin Steps Up" and "Under the Bridge" before being applied in the standard crescendo of grand fantasy at the conclusion of "A Close One" to close out the score (with even a false ending). This final cue may seem a bit cobbled together in its construction, but in 94 seconds Elfman manages to express nearly the full spectrum of motifs from the franchise. There is rarely a moment in Men in Black 3 when the composer isn't extending one of the existing identities, and it would be preferable to hear the him conjure at least one major new theme for each sequel. But if you can get past the somewhat irritating electric guitar "interpretations" of the main theme that open and close the score-only album presentation, you'll encounter a rather fluid and easy-going listening experience. The element of humor is restrained (the theremin is perhaps underused and a lack of a tongue-in-cheek Spider-Man reference for Smith's jump off the Chrysler building is lamentable), but the better developed orchestral bravado of the franchise themes and the loyalty to them add up to a pleasantly satisfying whole. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 53:39
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers and a short note from the director
about working with Elfman.
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