Review
#1 by the Groovy Yak
For the eigth Burton/Elfman collaboration as director and
composer, we find ourselves on a planet with multiple moons, a handful
of humans, and a whole lot of primates. Tim Burton’s “re-imagining” of
Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, Planet of the Apes,
is another crowd-pleaser like Burton’s last hit, Sleepy Hollow.
But, for fans of the original film and of Tim Burton, this new film is
a bit of a let-down. The film itself is a bit sloppy. First of all, some
of the casting seems a bit odd. Mark Wahlberg (the lead human- Leo Davidson)
is a pretty good actor*, but he seems out of his element in this film
despite the fact he’s not given much to do. He’s definitely not the typical
Burton protagonist. And Estella Warren might be one hot human, but whoa…
she needs to invest her paycheck for this film in a new acting coach.
Tim Roth, who has made his career playing incredibly evil men, is way
too two-dimensional as an incredibly evil ape. (Helena Bonham Carter shines
as the human-loving Ari, though. She’s truly one of the film’s saving
graces.) However, it’s the shallow and unsophisticated screenplay that
really derails this film - there’s some glaring plot-holes that left people
scratching their heads- not to mention the tacked-on ending, which left
just about everyone baffled. (I loved it, though. I don’t think it was
meant to be pondered.) The original film’s screenplay reads like Shakespeare
compared to this new version. The best this new one can do is twist the
famous lines from the original.Probably the most disappointing factor of this new Burton
film is how little of Tim Burton’s style can be found in it. Sure, there’s
a few great visual touches, and some Burtonesque jokes (once again, Burton’s
woman Lisa Marie completely steals a scene), but there’s just a lot that’s
lacking. In fact, if it weren’t for Danny Elfman’s score, one probably
wouldn’t KNOW that they were watching a Tim Burton film. Yes, Elfman definitely keeps up his end of the collaboration.
His Planet of the Apes score is yet another wild wild ride through
his always-fertile musical world. Now, to get this out of the way first,
Elfman’s score bares little resemblence to Jerry Goldsmith’s original,
despite the two scores being heavy with lots of unique percussion sounds.
Goldsmith’s approach is largely atonal and experimental- creating a very
alien and mildly perverse soundscape. Elfman’s POTA is tonally centered,
and concentrates on brute musical force to underscore the proceedings.POTA takes the award from Mission: Impossible for “most
percussion found in a Danny Elfman score.” This baby is loaded to the
max with about every metallic, wooden, and membrane-based percussion instrument
one can think of. If you’re looking for a score with long, lyrical themes,
you’re looking in the wrong place as it’s rhythm that rules this planet.
Elfman got his feet wet creating interesting interlocking rhythms and
polyrhythms late last year in Proof of Life. In POTA, he
displays his mastery of writing for percussion. His choice of vibrant
percussive colors is what makes this score yet another Elfman masterpiece.
In almost every track one can find an interesting percussive sound or
rhythmic gesture. He also creates a handful of rhythmic motives that pop-up
constantly. The most prominent is a three note motif played on what sounds
like sampled wood chimes.
To add strength and brutality to the wild tribal sounds coming
from the percussion, a very healthy dose of brass can be found in POTA
(in particular low brass- just like in Sleepy Hollow). I’d imagine
an abnormally large amount of brass players were contracted to perform
this score. Most of the melodic motives found in the score are performed
by the brass.
And despite what some may tell you, there’s actually a handful
of melodic motives (they are definitely motives and not themes) that function
as the glue that holds the entire score together. There’s a main motive,
an ape motive, a Thade motive, and a very ambiguous love “theme” (is this
for the unspoken love between Leo and Ari or the contrived and obligatory
attraction between Leo and Daena (Warren)?) For the most part, Elfman
seems entirely uninterested in creating melodic material for this score.
And although there’s some wonderfully lyrical and tonal moments in the
score, it’s sheer force and walls of sound that Elfman concentrates on.
The motives are merely the means to which he acheives this.
Planet of the Apes is still quite a well-rounded score
in terms of its tone. There may be a ton of action and brooding brass
and percussion, but there’s also plenty of softer moments. One of my very
favorites is the unsettling “Old Flames” which seems to teeter between
warm and sensual harp and strings with the cold, dark sounds of alto flute
mixed with tam-tam. (This cue is absolutely perfect at nailing the tone
of this scene, by the way.) The aforementioned love theme gets a workout
in the score. Elfman has lots of fun harmonizing it- in fact the unused
“Ape Suite #1” contains minutes where Elfman just reharmonizes and modulates
the theme over and over again. It doesn’t get boring for a second, though.
There are few composers who can get away with doing that.
There are way too many highlights to mention in this score,
but I think many will find “The Hunt” to be one of the best moments on
this album. Personally, I find “Preparing For Battle” to be quite the
adrenaline rush. It’s pure Elfman-brand excitement where one thinks the
music is going to max out and then Elfman pushes everything up to an even
more intense level. Tracks like “Ape Suite #2” and “Branding the Herd”
sound very much like vintage, old-school Elfman and are certain to please
fans- even if they both are a little on the short side. Also, one has
to listen to the wonderful “Deep Space Launch” which contains some fun
bombast and dissonance and some cool electronic choir effects- something
new to Elfman’s canon.
Perhaps the best cue in
the entire score is the “Main Titles.” While I found Sleepy Hollow
to be one of Elfman’s weakest Burton main titles, I find Planet of
the Apes to be one of Elfman’s strongest- next to Mars Attacks!
and Edward Scissorhands that is. The melodic material may be sparse,
but Elfman completely nails the mood and tone of the film. The “Main Title
Deconstruction” is just as great too- it’s basically a remix of the main
titles music.
Speaking of remixes, praise also must be directed to Paul
Oakenfold for his “Rule the Planet Remix” that closes the album. It’s
a pretty cool techno reworking of some of Elfman’s material. If you listen
closely you can catch some of the interesting things Oakenfold does with
Elfman’s score. It’s a very nice way to close off the album.
Finally, there’s Sony Classical. This is the first Elfman
score they’ve released and hopefully it’s the beginning of a great relationship
as they did an excellent job with this album. The packaging is absolutely
terrific- wonderful cover art, and I challenge you to find a CD that looks
cooler than the hostile monkeys found on the CD itself. The amount of
score is perfect as well. (Even if there are a few really great unreleased
gems found in the film.)
It took me a few weeks to really accept Elfman’s Planet
of the Apes as yet another masterpiece from the composer, but now
I’m certain. It’s a challenging score to be sure- especially since many
people are accustomed to thematicism. Of course, if you’ve been following
Elfman’s career as of late, you probably know that he’s been shying away
from that type of score... And in terms of enjoyment value, I’m finding
POTA to be one of the most enjoyable Elfman scores I’ve heard since
Mars Attacks!(!), and I’m definitely not monkeying around when
I say that. (Sigh…)
Rating: * * * *
* - Yes, I said he’s a good actor. Go rent Boogie Nights
again. Or Three Kings… Or even The Perfect Storm…err, on
second though, don’t rent The Perfect Storm.
Review
#2 by Ian Davis
A short review for a score
short on specifics. Mr Elfman produces a technically accomplished, texturally
unique, thunderingly BLAND score for Burton's Twilight Zone pastiche
sci-fi-fantasy-epic. Thematically the composer gently lifts from Sleepy
Hollow and Mission Impossible, although his choices are deliberately
non-threatening, since these are both themes which serve secondary purposes,
subservient to his chief aim: to produce a score which matches both the
tone of the movie [Burton's gift is colour and texture - in terms of design,
plotting and emotion. It's a fundamentally flawed concept because it lacks
temporal momentum, but it still makes for a fascinating, sometimes riveting
experience which is never less than memorable] and its volume. All other
themes used are either of the same stock or merely in-jokes, and not part
of the structure of the score - of which there is practically none.
Where Elfman and Burton diverge is oddly
enough in humour - Burton is customarily liberal with it in places (some
of the ape characters are a scream, literally, and there are a few groaning-inducing
one-liners) whereas Elfman keeps this in check with a padding of grumbling
underscore. This might sound like a power struggle when score and film
elements are separated, but in combination Elfman is merely continuing
what he started in Sleepy Hollow, and that is anchoring Burton's
more wayward (and sometimes less audience-friendly) tendencies to a more
focussed holistic view of the film.
Much of his success here is in this concentration
on timbre and texture over thematicism, proving that his dissatisfaction
over the presentation of his score to Batman Returns has indeed
paid dividends. BR was his most involvingly thematic score, a glory
in leit motivic drama, but ultimately a dead end in the composer's stylistic
progress. Since then he has experimented in battening down thematicism
beneath experimental soundscapes and adventurous dissonance, and for the
most part this has proved a successful development - particularly as he
has never allowed previous experience to let his style flounder in repetiveness.
Elfman has never feared returning to styles of writing long thought past,
and the old goofy sounds recur in his output enough to keep both his fans
and critics guessing.
That said, Planet of the Apes may
sound comfortable in the composer's current artistic progress, but this
reviewer can't help feeling that this score doesn't quite stand up to
close scrutiny and isn't focussed enough on the drama to lift Burton's
swift but messy film beyond its two dimensions.
I stand by my previous premonition that
the "Buddy pack escape" cue from Spy Kids stands as a
teasing hint of the composer's true big score that never was of 2001.
I'm just disappointed I wasn't proved wrong.
Score in film: * *
*
Score on CD: * *
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