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From back in the day:
http://elfman.filmmusic.com/forum/read.php?7,14008,14008#14008
Wow, it’s kinda weird looking at something I wrote three years ago. Anyway, it appears that was written the moment I got home from that screening (I believe it was a 7:00 screening, the movie ended at 9, I took the subway and the additional drive home) so I’ll try to do the same and write something when I get back, even though it’ll be close to 3 AM with school the next day… I’m devoted to y’all!
What an awful music for an awful film. I still don’t believe that this was made by the same team that brought us Spider-Man 1 and 2. Let’s pray God it fails at box-office, it really hurts to see a director completely destruct what he build during several years.
As for the music: it’s a Spider-Man 2 situation. Young’s music is generic when not ridiculous and the new orchestrations are bland when not way too melodramatic. To summarize the absurdity of what became Spider-Man’s music: there are several cues that were rejected for the second film that are back in this third episode (Young even quote the theme of the Theater Montage cue !).
If you want to see what happens when people go crazy in Hollywood, this is the film you should see. Elfman was SO right to leave Raimi for good. The guy doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore…
Yeah, I heard it opened May 1st in many countries. Well I’ll be watching the film at midnight on May 3rd (may 4th to be exact) so I guess we’ll discuss the film and music then.
…there are several cues that were rejected for the second film that are back in this third episode (Young even quote the theme of the Theater Montage cue !).
Good Lord.
I just want to know how close to Elfman’s music the Main Titles and the music of the last swinging scene are.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but my friend who has says that Young reprised most of Elfman’s main title cue, but wrote his own thing for the “middle” part (where the Doc Ock theme is played in the SM2 main titles).
I haven’t heard about the end titles at all.
I’m almost tempted to say that composers will be hesitant to work with Raimi in the future, but I know that’s not true. They’ll gladly sign on even if they know their work will be drawn and quartered. Brilliant director, bad coworker.
I’m almost tempted to say that composers will be hesitant to work with Raimi in the future…
Christopher Young was surely happy to work with him. Sort of “hack” characteristics, isn’t it?
What a disappointing soundtrack! Young’s music made no effort to develop from Elfman’s. Totally different styles between the two. His theme for Venom has no connection to Spidey’s at all. Young didn’t even care about the original score. The whole emotional core of Peter Parker/Spiderman has been ripped out….
Overall, Spiderman 3 is not an improvement over the 2nd movie. In fact, it would be hard to relate this one to the other two.
Did not come out excited from the movie at all.
Danny Elfman
Chris Young
John Debney
Deborah LurieAre there any one else who wrote som stuff to this movie
?If Elfman described the working process on Spiderman 2 as “hell” … what could one say about this mess?
Why does Raimi even hire a composer, he seems to use every singel note of his temp tracks anyway. Even if the score is a real cut and paste job, it would be nice to get a score album (if it going to happen?). But i guess not even Sony knows which music Raimi really used.
As promised, here is my 3 AM review.
Wow. This movie was one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever encountered. And not just because of the music — I’ll get to that later — but because it was actually a bad movie! It lacked everything the first two movies had: great character development, fun action scenes, believability despite the premise. Keep in mind that I was introduced to Danny Elfman through the first movie and that it along with its sequel made me into a Spider-Man movie (not comic) fanatic. Look at my username! This is tragic!
The new characters had close to zero development, time for that for some reason sacrificed for a ton of unnecessary, stupid, out-of-place sequences. If you happen to see the movie like the rest of the world inevitably will, you’ll know EXACTLY when I’m talking about during one particular scene. Flint Marko only had a short scene devoted to his background, and his my friend and I looked quizzically at each other during his transformation sequence because it was simply too simple, especially compared to the villain transformations from the first two movies. Eddie Brock was in and out during gigantic intervals of time (as was Marko) and during his very limited time as Venom, I was just not at all impressed. I even got bored! BORED! Then there was Gwen Stacy and her father, both of whom were thrown in there without warning (or, quite frankly, desire) and not only wasted two good characters, but also wasted two good actors. James Cromwell shouldn’t be taking bit parts!
The effects were decent at times, but with a $250 million dollar budget, I expected far better. Sandman was a terrible choice for a screen villain because the effects just can’t justify that kind of imagery right now. Save for a few good-looking close-ups, Sandman felt very cartoonish. Venom’s effects were decent, but the character just wasn’t interesting enough to really pay attention. I’d try to compliment the improved CGI Spidey, but there just wasn’t much of it! Good lord, it’s a Spider-Man movie and there was just so little of him to be seen in action! They should have just done away with the Sandman character altogether and transferred the budget to more of Spidey swinging and fighting. When he was fighting, I found it very difficult to see what was going on. The combined constantly dark settings and quick, poorly composed shots made for flashbacks to similar scenes in “Hulk.” The amount of effects also seemed to take away from Sam Raimi’s style. In fact, during the action scenes, you could hardly tell it was one of his movies. One might think that it was directed by a newcomer who just got his hands on the newest effects software.
The story really did not compel me at all. I was very uninterested with what was going on and it was bursting with cliches. I noticed back in the last movie that Alvin Sargent’s dialogue was crappy, and it was taken to the next level with this movie. They should have brought back David Koepp! Also they constantly relied on flashbacks to keep the story going. One thing I loved about the second movie was how it was completely separate from the first movie, with no direct callbacks. Even the opening titles for the second movie found a way to provide a recap without resorting to reusing footage from the first.
And now for the music. There wasn’t much of it. I would say that a good third of it is temp-tracked from for first two movies, but primarily from the second. The new music didn’t stand out at all, and not in a good way. The only noticeable new theme that stuck with me was that of the Black-Suited Spider-Man, and it wasn’t anything great. I really expected something interesting during the few swinging scenes, but every single one was pretty much a repeat of the crane scene that many of you have seen/heard, with a rip from the main titles with the percussion removed. Did Young seriously think that was the best he could do with the Spider-Man theme?! I expected at least a little variation, but NONE! The main title sequence was significantly longer than the first two movies, allowing a little more time for the “villain part” of the music to play out, and it really did nothing for me. Even the titles themselves disappointed me. I know a lot of you, like myself before, are wondering about the finale, which was fantastic during the first two movies. I’ll write about the one in the third movie as a spoiler at the bottom of this post.
So here I am, at 3:30 AM writing this in a furious, disappointed, and depressed state. My favorite movies ever, at the top of my list, are scarred by an inadequate, low-quality sequel to finish off the franchise. I saw the first movie twice in theaters and the second one five times in theaters, and I bought both DVDs on their first day of release. I don’t plan on seeing the new one again, and I don’t plan on buying the DVD. That’s what it’s come to. I don’t know what happened to Sam Raimi, but he has lost his touch, and as a result, “Spider-Man 3” suffers greatly.
Goodnight, Elfmanites.
***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT***
…there is no finale. Sorry. I was left with my mouth hanging open in awe, but nope, no finale, and thus no finale cue.
I think you pretty much said it, Spider-Fan. I don’t think I disliked it quite as much, but I’m going to agree with your analysis, for the most part.
I completely agree with you Spider-Fan. I didn’t even want to write a review as I felt that I already lost two hours of my life watching the film.
Thanks !I guess I’m the only one who liked the movie. As for the music…Young’s symbiote/black suit theme was pretty good. But, Elfman would have done better.
I felt that the first 2/3 of the movie went way too fast and that it might would have been better to take the material and split it into two movies which would have allowed more development for the characters. I thought the last 1/3 was wonderful. Perhaps the problem was they tried to cram too much into the movie, but I’ve never been one to criticize movies that much. I was entertained. Musically, I felt Young did a good job in that he stayed (for the most part) true to the Spider-Man sound (when he wasn’t using the themes or pre-existing cues. I liked both the Sandman and symbiote themes. The first cue after the Titles sounded a little weird, but other than that I think he did good (although I would have rather have had Elfman!)
I sat frozen on my seat when it ended. I didn’t want to move waiting for something else to happen, because THAT couldn’t be the ending. I mean, really.
The movie was a mess, the music was an absolute mess, the Sandman theme was good, but that Black Suit theme was distracting because it sounded nothing like the rest of the music.
I’ve never been this disappointed since The Phantom Menace.
And Spider-Fan, you took every word out of my mouth too. I agree with everything you said: Too many characters given nothing to do, cringe-inducing singing and dancing by every single cast member and ridiculous memory loss and butlerclearseverythingupatthelastminute devices.
UGH, I fuming because I really wanted to love this film, but it was impossible!
Why, are you people even seeing this movie? Sam isn’t Sam anymore, and having Christopher Young try to do a Danny Elfman is absurb. If Sony really wants Spiderman 4 to be any good, get rid of Sam and hire Tim Burton.
It was a disappointment, to be sure, but I don’t dislike it the way most of you guys do. Needless to say, the first 2 are far stronger movies. I’d give Spidey 3 a C+.
Some unorganized grievances:
∙ Watching Peter Parker playing the piano and dancing was just embarrassing to watch.
∙ Mary Jane’s career progression is completely inconsistent. She was great in The Importance of Being Ernest. Why does she suddenly suck?
∙ The pacing in the first 2/3 of the movie — It felt like a montage. All the storytelling finesse that Raimi once had is gone.
∙ Mary Jane breaking up with Peter didn’t seem well-justified. What if he actually did cheat on her as Black Spider-Man?
∙ Sandman’s special effects look straight out of The Mummy, which came out nearly a decade ago.
∙ Harry’s butler is a hilarious Deus ex Machina. “Yes Harry, your father died by the hand of his glider. So there’s no way Peter couldn’t have used it to kill your father.”
∙ Why is it that Harry can see the ghost of his father? He saw him in the second movie, too. There’s no explanation for it. Has he always been crazy?
But to be fair, the scene with Bruce Campbell was wonderful, as was the Saturday Night Fever homage.
Also, why did Harry not go completely insane and develop multiple personalities when he used the performance enhancers like his father did in the first film?
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