Dragonfly

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

One of the movies that made an impression on me was Dragonfly, when its trailer was unleashed upon us several weeks to months of its release. Of course this was due to the rather intriguing scenery with evidently spot on music, consisting of these wonderful choral phrases that demanded attention right from the word "go". This was a call sign to me that I was looking forward to the composer in question, John Debney since he might have composed something in the vein of this wonderful and brilliant trailer music. The first use of music was perfectly chosen, it were the more magical tones of Brainstorm and the second is still unknown to me, but whatever the case, I was interested in the movie (never saw it so far) and I was interested in the score (actually bought in on used sales). Meaning I might have expected something that it ultimately wouldn't justify the attention. Of course I hoped in the end I was wrong but still, Dragonfly isn't superior stuff as some have commented it to be. It is a very interesting score to listen to but it all comes down to one superior highlight and several good to great tracks. And for only a 30 minute running time score it isn't enough to really warrant that special sign on its own.

Basically this is a mix of the more magical tones of Brainstorm with the sometimes creepy music of Howard's The Sixth Sense, which was obviously temp tracked with several scenes during the movie. However it doesn't really hint forward to a piece of Debney, even if some come to mind. The piano work reminds me more of James Newton Howard than Debney himself. Still, Debney makes great difference between the dark mysterious sides of the other world and the more magical redemption that comes to the fore in the end of the movie and score. The score starts good with one track I easily enjoyed from the begin, 'Main Titles' with its Daylight like tension building and light choral accompaniment during it, ending with emotional strings and piano. However a really big main theme that states its presence isn't noticed and even after several listens, it has to state itself like for instance the piano themes of Howard in The Sixth Sense. 'Joe and Emily Flashback' covers some mysterious use of light choir in the begin and some light dissonance in the end, the dissonance showing its face really better in 'Donor Body Awakens', a track that brings dark slashes of brass and urgent building strings near the end. How well The Sixth Sense was temp tracked with the movie is obviously noticeable in 'Meeting Sister Madeline', from 3.30 the eerie mood is back and just at one specific tone you would almost continue the melody with a theme of Howard, that close is it. The track nonetheless captures light heavenly choral passages. And while the score of Dragonfly doesn't have a theme that notices itself, its light choral presence around 2.00 in 'Emily's Grave' is picked up, along with a grieving cello performance.

In the end Dragonfly could have been a very normal score but it is luckily for the score fans that something like 'Emily's Message Revealed' ends the soundtrack in full glory. Again the cue doesn't start very promising but the light choir is heard from 3.35 and basically grows to splendid heights during the latter minutes. Especially the last 3 bring sensational minutes and easily let's you forget that the rest was just effective background music. The main theme that isn't noticed much appears around 4.00 and around 5.00 with magical choir, reaching a climax around 6.00. It is frankly the one and only track that gives you a piece of magic for a change. Dragonfly isn't directly the magical listen or magical movie, but Debney nonetheless brings a dark and at the same time emotional redeeming listen. It is for its 30 minutes interesting enough but without the final track, it would have lost a lot of its final impressions. Yet, I'm glad to see Debney in the role of dramatic composer as opposed to the light fluffy comedy stuff that Cats & Dogs was. It is more orchestral than The Sixth Sense, less vintage in its pace, effectiveness and beauty than Brainstorm and equally climatic as The Sixth Sense, bringing all to all a score that delivers a mix into a pleasing sign as what we call in the afterlife a "Dragonfly".

Promo

When practically nobody enjoyed the movie of Tom Shadyac Dragonfly, I thought it was a normal to effective supernatural drama which at least held some very effective scenes in how to startle a person with finesse. Yet, almost everybody loved the score of John Debney in the process. A short but to the point release of Varése Sarabande confirmed what John Debney has written, or not? After I saw the movie I realized that most of the score backed up by choir was missing and so I stumbled upon the promo version (containing 40 minutes more of music). And here the choral music backs up the listen much smoother, especially from the second part of the score, when Joe's search reaches the truth as the mystery behind Emily's reappearances. And so it has to be said that whoever thought the original release didn't completely satisfied you, then the promo will likely do it more. The score captures a lot more soft quiet effective yet ultimately long lasting (meaning boring) underscore, but from track 17, it does become much better with the choir becoming more prominent through the music. However as said, to reach that, you need to get through effective but ultimately the same background score which can get annoying the moment you hear it one after another. And so the question is simply, which Dragonfly will satisfy you the most? The answer is the one capturing the highlights of both releases in one 45 to 50 minute listen. However, with the one you have too less, the other too much which makes us neither satisfied.

The score opens a bit differently with 'Opening', it misses the tension building music and covers half of the choral accompaniment, as it was used in the picture since it basically was altered on the disc. However that is a minor complaint since I have both versions now. However, this is still the one used in the movie. And so the score is basically set for the same. Especially noticeable around the promo are two things, first of all that the main theme is much easier to pick up after only three tracks and secondly, how well that this score takes pages from James Newton Howard's effective and praised score The Sixth Sense. But anyway, some tracks capture something more then just background score, 'Emily's Joe' has in the begin some piano and choral phrases of the main theme before light eerie dissonance is spotted, 'Bird Goes Crazy' has some very effective crashes of the orchestra that really scares you the moment you awake from the background score, it also has a slight choral variation on the main theme. 'Haunted House' covers some very Sixth Sense swells of the orchestra to create disbelief and is a short but excellent moment in the movie and on disc. One of the best highlights which was non released is 'Travel to Venezuela' which has the best main theme versions with choir to show for, along with a nice percussive rhythm.

And from here one the score is no longer the background listen per se, with some magical choral swellings in 'Villagers Recognize Emily' which appear at the end and a 3 minute action track which covers basically the struggling swim of survival in 'River Jump'. 'Joe Runs to the Village' has again wonderful choral accompaniment and as we know, the magical finale in 'Emily's Message Revealed' is for once a true highlight in the meaning. For 30 minutes, Dragonfly was too short, for 74 minutes Dragonfly "Promo" is too long. Together they could have made the best score available since there are obvious tracks on this disc that belonged on the original and especially the end captures the non background material and states either the choral accompaniment or the various action moments this movie barely possessed anyway. So, how to change that? Simple, people that either loved the original or loved the music they heard in the film but didn't find it on the original will be happy with the promo version, others might find the first 40 minutes a drag to get to the good stuff. And basically it is, but the good point is that the last 10 tracks are far more earth shattering then those 40 minutes can ever be. And its sad to discover that after all that time. The quotation however remains the same since I have to take those 40 minutes with it when I listen to the last 30 minutes and that of course makes all the difference. But if people want the best sample of Dragonfly, then take the best moments of the promo and make one of 45 minutes, that one will give the best presentation of the music which Debney composed.

Dragonfly: ***
Dragonfly "Promo": ***

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Titles (4.12)

2. Joe And Emily Flashback (3.42)

3. Donor Body Awakens (4.47)

4. Meeting Sister Madeline (5.35)

5. The Plane Ride (2.32)

6. Emily's Grave (3.14)

7. Emily's Message Revealed (7.11) Excellent Track

Total Length: 31.19

Promo

1. Opening (3.57)

2. Suicide Girl (1.18)

3. Going Home (0.52)

4. Package For Emily (0.51)

5. Joe & Emily Flashback (3.44)

6. Oncology (4.29)

7. That's Our Jeffrey (0.53)

8. Transition to Jeffrey (0.41)

9. Emily's Joe (2.54)

10. Visiting Ben (2.57)

11. Bird Goes Crazy (6.38)

12. Wiggly Cross (2.29)

13. Meeting The Madeline (5.37)

14. Kidney Donor (1.21)

15. He's Not Dead (4.22)

16. Friends Plan Trip (0.57)

17. Haunted House (5.02)

18. Travel To Venezuela (1.20) Excellent Track

19. Plane Ride (2.34)

20. Trek To Graves (3.20)

21. Villagers Recognize Emily (1.35)

22. River Jump (3.25)

23. Joe Sees The Light (3.56)

24. Joe Runs To The Village (1.51) Excellent Track

25. Emily's Message Revealed (7.07) Excellent Track

Total Length: 74.26

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: John Debney ===