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In summary – quite liked it, but not as much as other recent stuff he’s done.
James – great review. I can see your points.
I realize that not everyone is going to love this score, but at least you’ve outlined your reasons without resorting to the popular “no theme = 2 stars” argument.
Ryan
I really like this Elfman score, moreso than his Spiderman music (and that’s saying a lot seeing that I have the COMPLETE score from that film).
I guess I respond to the pathos that Elfman imbued into this score and respect his choices to use atypical instruments in his music. And I’m not talking about the Middle Eastern instruments but rather his use of woodwinds to pronounce the science/father’s legacy motif. I think it’s a great move. I also noticed that he uses solo alto flute on the quieter tracks giving a meditative tone to the scenes which the music supports.
I’m not crazy about Elfman’s use of those gurgling ostinato synths the way he used them in MIB or even Spiderman. I would have preferred the Hulk score to be all acoustic but that’s a small complaint. Otherwise, I think the composer rose to the occasion and provided a very well written and memorable score. I simply cannot believe there are folks out there who complain about the abscence of a theme! These people should remember that music doesn’t necessarily have to be thematically driven. Anyone diss Beethoven’s 5th Symphony???
’nuff said.
I finally saw the movie today and I was way impressed . . . MUCH better than I thought it would be, and I thought the music worked very well. I figured I’d have to give the CD a second chance. Then I came back home, listened to the clips a little bit more, and . . . no. Doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s excellent in the movie but as an album it’s gotta be as boring as hell.
Question though . . . while this wasn’t my main focus while watching the movie, does anybody else have any guesses as to what that flute motif represents? I’m kinda guessing that it’s Bruce’s father but I’m not sure.
Here’s another review:
>>>I simply cannot believe there are folks out there who complain about the abscence of a theme! These people should remember that music doesn’t necessarily have to be thematically driven.<<< This is the most sensible thing I’ve read for a while. What’s better – the score that weaves together countless intricate motifs and produces a patchwork of real, vivid colour and tone while eschewing the use of any really dominant “big theme” – let’s use Michael Kamen’s The Iron Giant as an example, one of the most beautiful scores I’ve heard in years – or the score that just repeats a theme over and over again without much variation? Let’s use John Williams’s Superman as an example. For me, no comparison – Iron Giant wins every time. But the reason Williams has won thousands of awards and all his albums sell big numbers is because he hits the audience over the head with a theme so they have no danger of not noticing it. And some people just prefer that approach. But I entirely agree, the notion that a score needs to have a big theme is absurd.
Continuing on the Williams and themes…uh, theme, let’s look at a classic like EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. On CD it is a wonderful listen. But if you watch any of the STAR WARS films, particularly EMPIRE, every time a character appears onscreen, the first thing we hear is their theme or motif — regardless of how many times we’ve heard it previously.
Yes, John, we know that is Han Solo and Princess Leia, thank you for quickly stating their love theme to verify that for us…
Ryan
i completely agree with you Ryan ! Hopefully, Johnny offered much more complex approach recently (AI and Minority Report).
I got the same problem with Jarre’s Doctor Zhivago : Lara’s Theme is great but it’s played every five minutes during the movie… :SMany people posit the Star Wars scores as some of the greatest ever written – and from a musical point of view, I enjoy all five of them immensely (especially the first two). But as dramatic film scores, all they’re doing is offering commentary on what you can already see.
This is why I don’t like scores that overstress ethnicity – you can SEE the movie’s in Africa without needing Lebo M chanting at you.
A score should surely be offering you commentary on what the characters are going through, or what they might do next, or something other than what is already patently obvious.
Now, with the Star Wars scores, these are essentially “silent movies with dialogue” so Williams’s approach works, but other times I just don’t see the point of some scores.
You can take someone like John Barry, who is much criticised, but he always scores the emotion, the real, human feelings that the characters go through – sometimes the results are more interesting on CD than others – but if I had to name a composer able to sum up an entire movie in a three-minute piece, it would be Barry. He didn’t use Indian chanting in Dances with Wolves or African vocals in Out of Africa – he didn’t need to – you can already tell you’re in Sioux country or southern Africa – he scored the human drama instead. And that’s the approach I would prefer!
Less you forget the Jaws motive to evoke the threat of horror rather than the horror itself – brilliant!
And if you want complexity, check out Williams’ works for the concert hall – The Tuba Concerto is a particular favorite of mine.
And with his latest scores (that harkens back to his earlier scores) he has shown that he isn’t JUST the melody-man that most people label him as.
The Star Wars films always started out as Space Opera where the music carried the emotion like the wailing of Liszt’s Les Preludes as Flash Gordon takes down a couple of robots. Williams’ scores are Wagnerian in every since of the word. People just seem to pick these large scores to represent his work when scores like ROSEWOOD and STANLEY & IRIS points out his diversity.But the bottom line is…
“If it sounds good it is good.”
I can’t say that enough.
Some people like their meat with potatoes.
Nat (included)
Oh, and I love the HULK score.
P.S. You don’t validate one composer by putting down another.
I hope I don’t have to say this again?I wouldn’t go as far to say that Superman is inferior to Kamen’s IRON GIANT, but I do love Kamen’s score quite a bit and thought it was really underrated for its time. But largely Kamen is underrated which is weird since he was scoring so many buig-budget films in the late ’80;s and early ’90’s.
I’m also a big fan of Iron Giant, and I think it is one of the best animated films from the last 10 years. When the Iron Giant sacrifices himself always get’s me crying and from that cue till the climax at the end of the film is a perfect example of Scoring at it’s best.
I heard through the grapevine that there was a Special Edition DVD of it in the works. I hope that is true, and that Kamen contributes to it.
I would also recommend Kamen’s Symphony and Band of Brother CDs.
Nat
Nat, I wasn’t meaning to disparage Williams, I think he’s one of the finest film composers there has been. Rosewood and Stanley and Iris are two very fine scores. Just trying to give examples of different composers’ approaches. I know the music in Star Wars was driven by George Lucas and I doubt Williams would have chosen to write the scores in that way, but by God they work! Some of his concert material is amazing. I probably favour his violin concerto myself – I wasn’t so impressed with the tuba – but he’s written consistently good music for many years. Just sometimes his dramatic sense doesn’t seem to be all there.
To bring it back on to the original topic, I think Hulk is better-served by the approach Elfman took than it would have been with the Superman-style score that would have kept most of the film music community happy.
“To bring it back on to the original topic, I think Hulk is better-served by the approach Elfman took than it would have been with the Superman-style score that would have kept most of the film music community happy”
I agree with you on that point.
Nat
So basically you’re just saying “To each his own”?? OK…Just say that next time! Man, it’s funny how it ALWAYS comes down to that PC BS….you can go as far out as you want, as long as you put the disclaimer and/or apologize for it.Otherwise, people think you’re judging, or are absolute GOD or something. Don’t you find it funny how people automatically take someone else’s opinion as if it is supposed to be FACT, even though you and everyone else KNOWS it’s just they’re opinion? You have to SAY it’s your opinion, otherwise people will get offended/feel challenged at your remark? I’ve always found that to be interesting…Must be some sort of human nature thing where we are naturally inclined to believe what other people say, or it’s a matter of superiority, but on a social level. Its weird. Anyway…cheers!
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