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…why cant anybody make a new and different take on it? I think you have made up your mind about this thing and it wont matter who makes it or how the new theme would sound, you´ll still think Elfman should do it
? I don’t care if they choose to pursue a different take on the music, just long at it’s a score that’s competent — one that services the visuals.
And I’m certainly not in the “Elfman only” crowd, either:
Nelson Riddle’s music in the Adam West show, or Shirley Walker’s music in Batman Beyond, for example, are two very different takes on Batman music, and they both capture the tone, visuals, and spirt perfectly.
…which focused more on detective work and less on superheroics.
I don’t find that to be true at all. How much detective work is there in Batman Begins? I recall Batman fighting more than him testing dirt samples, and whatnot.
Zimmer and Howard considered the psychological side of the story, which, if you notice, the movie dwells on a lot.
So how do they play toward the psychology of Batman?
I think Elfman is the one who dwells into the psychological side of Batman, by using sort of a “mission theme/parent theme,” that plays during the scene where Bruce drops roses on his parents murder sight, and then reprises when he goes after the Joker in the cathedral. It’s an internal theme that connects with his parents and his mission, and reminds us what drives him to do what he does, almost as if he’s bound to their will from beyond the grave.
Walker does the same kind of idea in Mask of the Phantasm. It works beautifully.
There is always this realistic feel about everything.
Be that as it may, the music that was written for Batman Begins doesn’t really play toward the grandiose and old-timey visuals, or toward Batman himself, for that matter. Batman is the Phantom of the Opera; he is the boogeyman — the night. That’s the whole point of him and his music. Nothing in the Batman Begins suggests such droning ambience all the time. Realism doesn’t equal modernism. There is nothing “real” about synthetic (i.e., not genuine) brass, or percussion. Give me a Korngold and Steiner throwback score any day.
Listen to how well this plays. And it’s just Decent into Mystery played over images from the movie. And it completely matches the grander of the film.
Its crazy how people bash it beacause it didnt sound like Elfman or Goldenthal’s approach.
I don’t dislike it because it wasn’t an Elfman approach, I dislike it because I feel it’s a largely incompetent score that actually seems to contradict the films imagery with its music, rather than accentuating it. The look and feel of the Batman Begins film has the same great film noir and art deco tone of Batman: The Animated Series, and the score that was written for Batman Begins does not invoke the same sprit or even match the footage with the music they play over it, with its droning synth rhythms, synthetic brass/percussion and cold motives.
I find it hilarious that we’re all trashing Young’s score while over at the filmscoremonthly boards most people are praising it.
That’s because some of them don’t like Elfman’s approach on the first two films, and they’re willing to laud anything Young wrote, no matter how minuscule, because one of “their guys” scored the picture. And they say this in the face of what Elfman wrote is clearly better — more textured, more clever in terms leitmotiv and in thematic development, and everything else you can think of. And if you ask them what’s so strong about Young’s material, they really can’t give you a straight answer. And that’s because they’ll praise a non-Danny Elfman super hero score for petty reasons.
To be fair, though, Elliot Goldenthal’s contribution to the comic book genre is light-years ahead of Young, Zimmer/Howard and Ottman.
Yeesh. The Venom theme sounds like when my little nephew sings music for his action figures.
It’s hard to follow the melody for the Sandman theme.
You can hear the Spider-Man theme here:
http://media.movies.ign.com/media/041/041073/vid_1964158.html
The underlining string rhythm sounds a bit like Elfman’s Planet of the Apes, funny enough. (See: “Thade Goes Ape”). You can hear it also (sort of) in the Sandman video:
http://media.movies.ign.com/media/041/041073/vid_1964158.html
I remember thinking : “And this is the most expensive movie ever made in Hollywood?!!!?? Come on guys… You can’t even edit and mix the main titles in a bearable way!!!”…
Further proof that sound mixers don’t actually have a job. I think I’ve said this before, but allowing one aspect of the soundtrack to survive (be it the score or sound effects) and then let the other die, or vice versa, is not a job. And to hear trained professionals say that it is (see: Spider-Man 2 DVD) is a joke.
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.
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?
…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.
Unless it’s a Tim Burton-type situation, Danny usually approves a film before he spends hundreds of hours working on it.
I think it’s a great score! Short, but good. Everytime I listen to it I wonder why I don’t listen to it more…..and everytime the “Crime Spree” track comes on I have to hit the repeat button, hahaha.
Me too, I love it when Elfman does his big band stuff, i.e., Corpse Bride, Chicago, Oogie Boogie’s music, so on.
However I did like Howeard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings ( btw, i’m a HUGE fan of LOTR) and I wonder if they would ‘throw him back’ into Middle Earth.
I don’t know how he would feel about writing new themes, though.
In the Darkened Theater Vol. One liner notes, it says that John Coleman conducted Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.
