Music Makes (Or Breaks) A Movie

So last night I finally got around to seeing Spike Lee's latest "joint" INSIDE MAN. I'll spare you the trials and tribulations I had to endure to see this film. Let us just say, there were a lot of obstacles. So how was it? Well it was pretty good. Actually, it was quite a departure for Lee, whose films usually have a broader cultural agenda/slant to them. INSIDE MAN is a crime thriller about a bank robber that's not really a bank robbery...or is it?

The cast was great (Clive Owen-the man who should have been Bond, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster) and the production was nice. Good script, though I saw the major plot twist coming (sort of...I guessed something similar but thought "nah, is that even still possible?"). Overall it was a decent effort by a great director. Kind of like AI or GANGS OF NEW YORK. Good, but not the best examples of Spike Lee.

There was, however, one aspect of this film that was severely lacking. I don't know who scored this thing (and picked out the songs) but it was terrible! The soundtrack was GOD AWFUL. The film opens with said "robbery" about to be staged. We get shots of New York...and what do we hear? Some crappy New Age/World music. Was it terrible? No. Did it feel out of place? Yes. Leah tried to argue that the world feel of the music had something to do with New York being a multi-cultural city. I disagree. When a film is opening, and a heist is about to be staged (involving normal, run-of-the-mill white people) why have this strange music playing? It wasn't foreboding in anyway. In fact, it was slightly disarming. Maybe that was the point, to lull the audience into some sort of false sense of security...I might even go along with that--if the beginning of the movie had been somehow shocking or surprising. Had the bank takeover been violent I might see the point. The audience is nice and calm from the opening credit music...now BAM! Violence. However, the robbery is very much a peaceful one (*spoiler* the bandits turn out to be very kind indeed).

The film's original score was lacking as well. It was the usual, generic thriller/suspense soundtrack...it would have been good (by that I mean, it would have done it's job and I'd have barely noticed it) had it been used properly. For some reason it seemed to me that every emotion that the score usually tries to invoke was off a beat or two. Example: Something dramatic happens. Rather than the music build tension it seems to lag behind the action. Thus, once something dramatic has just happened...we get a delayed musical cue. There were a couple of instances when a dramatic musical cue came...and nothing...and I MEAN NOTHING, happened. Denzel walks across the screen (nothing going on) and BAM! Dramatic music. What?

A film's music works best when one of two things happen:

1. It does it's job and helps build tension, or illicit another emotion from the audience. It does this without the audience even realizing it. This is the most common type of score. Most people (minus music majors) hardly give a film's score much thought (at least during the film). This is because the music is there to accent what's going on onscreen (rather than detract from it).

2. The JAWS or 2001 effect. This is when the film's score seems to almost become another character in the film. While rare, there are a few films whose music is so intergal to the film you not only notice it...you'd notice it if it was different (in even the slightest way). Movies like JAWS and the James Bond series use repeated riffs in this way. Likewise, films like STAR WARS and 2001 have deep, complex symphonic scores that seem to take on a life of their own. These scores are dynamic and don't just accent what is onscreen (by framing the picture) but add a deeper depth and meaning to the screen.

The second is rare, and the first is common (and yes, I realize that two of my four examples were scored by John Williams...he's just simply that good). I went on Friday and saw THE PRESTIGE...and I can't tell you a single thing about the music in that movie--other than the fact that it was lean and efficient. It was a true number one, it went it and did it's job and went the hell home.

When a movie's soundtrack fails (as I feel it did in INSIDE MAN) the audience notices. A good score is one of those things you only notice when it's not there. I hope that the next time Spike Lee sits down to make a movie he has somone else do the score and song selection. However did it last time took a decent movie and made it lousy.