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| Davis |
Behind Enemy Lines: (Don Davis) The depictions of
war in 20th Century Fox's 2001 release
Behind Enemy Lines are so
incredibly asinine that it should have humiliated first time filmmaker
John Moore upon the much-hyped initial showing of this travesty. It just
so happened that the film debuted for the crew of the real-life American
aircraft carrier featured in the story, and you have to wonder if those
sailors and airmen were as horrified by the fallacies of logic in
Behind Enemy Lines as many critics and civilian audiences. Set
during the Bosnian War of the early 1990's, the movie follows the
struggle of two American fighter pilots shot down by Serbs while on a
surveillance mission. The casting of comedian Owen Wilson as the lead
American on the run and Gene Hackman (in one of his final roles before
announcing his retirement) as the admiral who breaks the rules to rescue
him combines the worst of a stereotype on one side and miscasting on the
other. Anyone looking for authenticity in regards to the Serbian
villains will be struck by how ethnically inaccurate their portrayals
are. Moore's career had consisted of television and video game work, and
his haphazard, frenetic new-age style of shooting the film was as
senseless as it was nauseating. Despite its obvious shortcomings, the
$40 million production yielded marginal profits, led to two even worse
straight-to-video sequels, and was resurrected for a relatively long
life on the cable television circuit. Along with the ridiculous script,
the style of
Behind Enemy Lines was seemingly inspired by Michael
Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer, and at its worst moments, Don Davis' score
emulates the most stale elements of the Bruckheimer-encouraged Media
Ventures sound of action music from that time. Davis was at the height
of his career in 2001. The former orchestrator had burst forth into
mainstream film scoring with 1999's
The Matrix and was in between
his involvement with sequels in both that franchise and
Jurassic
Park. Despite the intelligence often conveyed in his diverse
structures and instrumental choices, his projects of this variety didn't
produce the kind of lengthy, high-profile career that many had
anticipated for Davis (his output diminished to near nothing by the end
of the 2000's). Never released commercially, his music for
Behind
Enemy Lines is competent but too predictable, reduced to formula
applications in nearly all of its quarters. Because of its inherent
bravado, however, the score remains popular among enthusiasts of the
composer and film.
So much of this score reminds the listener of its
contemporary peers that
Behind Enemy Lines never really develops
its own musical identity. That said, Davis is precise enough in his
alterations to the temp track-inspired sounds that the score functions,
but only as a stream of consciousness kind of accompaniment.
Stylistically, the music is all over the map. It features a heroic theme
that is clearly related to Jerry Goldsmith's
Air Force One at
several levels. There are symphonic ostinatos that will recall Davis'
collaboration with James Horner from a decade earlier. Rhythmic loops of
grinding synthetic fashion will remind of Harry Gregson-Williams'
militaristic thriller music of the same era. Grandiose choral passages
of melodramatic harmony with brass counterpoint seem like a leftover
from the early David Arnold adventure scores, Joel McNeely's
Virus, and, in "Jet Smash," Craig Armstrong's 1990's work.
Straight, bad-assed electronica noise and uncomfortable dissonant
passages best represent Davis' own production at the time. Nowhere in
any of this material does a truly cohesive score for
Behind Enemy
Lines develop; this isn't like Gregson-Williams' concurrent
Spy
Game, which at least contained fifteen or more minutes of tightly
woven, synthetically enhanced music of distinctive character. No cue in
Behind Enemy Lines represents the score better than "Burnett
Bereavement," which includes everything from melodramatic symphonic
themes and choral majesty to painful, dissonant suspense and
electronica-styled garbage. Or you could compare the two solemn "Ustao"
cues, which convey ethnic sensitivity through stark choral melancholy,
to the end of "Burnett's Body" and middle of "Battle on Thin Ice," both
of which utilizing obnoxious rock percussion to underscore the coolness
of the American military while it defeats an enemy so inept that it
comes across as silly. The closing action cues, including "Airborne
Rescue Brigade" and "Battle on Thin Ice," are so badly reminiscent of
Air Force One that you have to wonder where Davis' own
capabilities went for these important scenes. There are individual
highlights in
Behind Enemy Lines, the resounding middle section
of "Burnett Bereavement" among them, but there is just too little unique
intelligence in this music to recommend it as a whole. It was only
released promotionally by Davis not long after the debut of the film,
and the 68 minutes of material on that release (which sounds great in
terms of clarity) has been bootlegged many times since. It's difficult
to understand why so many listeners are willing to accept such an
unfocused whole to ensnare the short harmonious highlights. They
cheapened this film and simply aren't worth the trouble.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Don Davis reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.3
(in 10 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.06
(in 44,959 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert of the promo includes no extra information about the
score or film. The bootlegs contain different fan-made cover art.
