Instinct CD Review
by Jesus Weinstein
Instinct ***1/2
Music by DANNY ELFMAN
Varese Sarabande VSD-6041
8 Tracks - 38:36
Jon Turteltaub's Instinct is a rather trite and manipulative
Hollywood set piece that is not nearly good enough to warrant the brutal
"murdering of the gorillas" sequence towards the end of the film.
The film's good qualities are few and far between so it may be worth mentioning
them all briefly. First of all, the script and pacing are not entirely
boring. Anthony Hopkins is as convincing as usual, despite playing a semi-ridiculous
character. The aforementioned gorilla scene is one of the most horrifying
sequences ever put to mainstream film. (And the fake gorillas are very
lifelike and well made.) Finally, Danny Elfman's score for Instinct is
a much better effort than the movie deserves and the music actually suffers
as a result.
Elfman's thematic material for Instinct is in the same vane as
that in his recent works. There are essentially three main themes, each
a short simple and elegant diatonic motive that Elfman uses in various
layering settings throughout the score. One of these motives is a descending
and repeating piano figure first introduced in "Into the Wild."
Another main motive begins with a three-note idea moving from the dominant
to tonic to subdominant pitch (as in "The Killing"). This same
motive is translated to different pitch levels (1 to 5 to 2) but preserves
shape and intervallic relationship in "The Riot." The final melodic
idea is another simple descending line. It is used in the main title (as
a short-long rhythmic idea like in A Simple Plan) and also in several
key junctions throughout the score (including at the end of "Escape,"
the finale of the film).
There is always something to hang your ear on in every bar of this score.
Elfman's motives are constantly recycled and when they are not easily apparent,
his orchestration alone is enough to focus attention on. While the orchestration
is not quite as unusual as in some of Elfman's other recent work, it is
notable for several reasons. First of all, the piano is featured more prominently
as an important melodic voice than usual in the recent Elfman repertoire.
Also, the underuse of brass (except perhaps for French horns) makes the
section all the more effective when it comes in for the more action-oriented
scenes. Elfman also uses a heavy dose of mallet percussion instruments
and live voices in an attempt to create both location and a sense of awe
and wonder.
The "action" music in this score is not really typical of
the genre - except perhaps in Elfman's case. It is more of a symphonic
violence loaded with recurring rhythms and brass effects. Without relying
on any grounding that would result from a tonal center or an ostinato,
Elfman is able to play Instinct's action scenes without bogging them down.
For instance, the attack on the gorillas is scored without the distracting
action clichés that would have diminished the effect of the whole
scene. After "The Killing," Elfman states a beautiful elegiac
string passage to mourn over the slaughter. While the prior scene did not
have to be scored at all, the contrast between the chaotic brass violence
and the ensuing serene high string passage is marvelous. The score overall
can be likened to Dolores Claiborne's African Adventure. Elfman's
string writing in Instinct is very similar in character to that
in Claiborne. The "African" feeling created in the score
is not simply the result of pasting on standard African back beats. The
percussion Elfman uses is coupled with rhythmic devices traded throughout
the orchestra.
While watching Instinct one might notice that Elfman's music at times
seems overdone and even melodramatic. This is more due to the fact that
Elfman is being asked to do the nearly impossible task of making sense
and importance out of visual material that doesn't stand up. For instance,
he is clearly asked to overscore panoramic shots of the jungle with overblown
layering and voice in order to create wonder. Unfortunately it comes off
as rather false under these circumstances. In Good Will Hunting
this approach complements Matt Damon's understated gift, but it seems to
bounce off of some of the images in the ineffectual Instinct. There are
also several cases where Elfman is forced to draw out emotions in some
stale and plagiaristic character development scenes in Instinct.
The music naturally fails to do much for most of them - and they are so
bad that they even bring the music down to their level as part of a creeping
melodramatic mass. On the Varese CD however the music holds up quite well.
It has a good running time but should have been divided into more than
8 tracks. Also, the disc is missing some excellent action music as well
as the ballsy cue where Cuba Gooding Jr. first arrives at the prison where
Anthony Hopkins is being held. I remember sitting in the theatre listening
to that music and thinking "this won't be on the CD."
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