I’d say it has far more than just some personality. For some movies, Pirates, Gladiator too, and a bunch of other stuff, the music is part of the movie. Klendathu Drop makes the scene, the scene without the music isn’t anywhere near the same. Or Gladiator without the music.
But that sort of “epic” movie music is a favorite of mine.
For what it’s worth, I’m not arguing that the music in these movies isn’t impactful in the moment. I love a good, stirring orchestral score. Check out my contributions to the videogame music fight thread, for instance.
More, it’s just that once the movie’s over and I’ve gone home, the notes slip out of my mind and I lose any recollection what I just heard. The idea that one score is “good” enough to remember forever and another is forgettable enough to drop without concern is odd to me, since they all get forgotten :(
Guardians has beautiful instrumental scores. I am assuming you mean something else by “memorable” though.
Did you ever play music. While everyone else was learning useful languages in high school, I geeked out in music courses, jazz and symphonic. I can’t help but notice the music; I key in on it… and if it’s really bad or really good it can really shift my perception of the movie. I do the same thing with games, and I’ve never listened to my own tracks or anything while playing any game. It’s part of the experience.
Words make music easier to remember IMO.
I think the Avengers has the most memorable theme, but it’s still not great. It’s just a simple theme I can recall that brings up fond feelings for the movies because I enjoy those. It’s certainly nothing iconic like a John Williams score, and that’s a shame because it’s one of the only areas where these films don’t stack up against the rest of cinema in pop culture.
I watched Iron Man a couple weeks ago, and for about a week I could summon the Iron Man theme to memory; it’s already gone again. I can dimly recall the horns of Captain America’s theme. Couldn’t tell you a thing about the music of either of the first two Thor movies, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, I’ve got nothing. I remember when the Incredible Hulk used the TV show theme.
What stands out to me is the Star Spangled Man from the first Captain America movie. That is a great song. The use of classic pop/rock in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies is also fantastic. And Immigrant song in Thor: Ragnarok is perfect for the film.
I can also remember Bucky’s theme in Winter Soldier, but I think that comes down to my love of the film again. It’s a little better than most of the Marvel themes, but not amazing. And I’ve only seen Thor: Ragnarok once, but I remember liking Mark Mothersbaugh’s spacey electronic score, I suspect that might be better than most Marvel scores. But no, I can’t remember any of the original score for either Guardian’s movie.
To bring us back to Blank Panther, it’s still unclear to me how much of the album that was just released will actually play during the film. The full title is “Blank Panther: The Album Music From and Inspired By” (or something like that, I can’t tell if iTunes is re-ordering the wording). I suspect there’s going to be more music in the film than what’s on this album, an instrumental score. I hope that’s excellent, I don’t know if Kendrick Lamar is involved in any way or if that’s someone else. But right now I have no idea.
The album that’s out is a new direction for the promotion of Marvel films and their sound, that’s still good news, but I’m not ready to declare that they’ve turned a corner and actually started making their movies sound better too.
I don’t disagree that Marvel isn’t pushing or especially strong with their musical scores, but I think it’s a little odd that Guardians was mentioned since that one does have a number of fairly memorable and good instrumental pieces (Guardians 1), and I am not just talking about the theme. A number of heroes, and Avengers, have notable themes… Guardians shifted the tone of their music nicely when it needed to be shifted and it mixed the themes from other tracks and kept it going. I just don’t think Guardians 1 should be used as an example of why Marvel’s soundtracks, instrumental, are weak is all.
Dunno what to tell you. Maybe it’s harder for me to remember Guardians’ original stuff because the licensed stuff stands out, but I remember nothing at all from those scores.
Yes, this is what I was hinting at. So, now that I’m at a proper keyboard, let me expound.
Broadly there are two types of soundtrack music. One is where music exists to add intensity/ emotion to a scene, without being part of the identity of the scene. The other is where the music is integrated into the scene.
Very broad strokes, and one that is spliting hairs in my own particular way. Perhaps examples might make better.
There are a few composers who I feel really emphasize the second form, namely John Williams, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, and a few others. Now, obviously, we’ve all seen the recuts that make Psycho a buddy comedy by changing the music in the trailer, or make Toy Story a horror film by the same. If not, here’s an example:
So even the workman like scores play a role to the tone of a movie.
But what I mean is a score that elevates a film, that brings in another element. Something that brings a unique aspect to the film.
In this case the music is loud, oppressive, and give a sense of power and dread to the fleet. But listen as it drops down when the officers appear, and how it really integrates itself into the action of the film.
Jack’s entrance has this grand adventure music playing, pushed forward in the mix, and he strikes the heroic pose.
Then it pulls back and you see his boat.
Playing it straight with the music, not devolving into some jaunty comedic bit, really helps setting the tone of the film. It has a unique feel, it sets the universe, and is integral to several scenes.
You can start at the top, but this is where the Shire theme really starts. Again I could give examples through the film where each individual area, each culture, or even character is given their own theme. Hobbiton gets this playful fiddle music, emphasizing the warm pastoral environments, in contrast to the bass and drum heavy dwarf music of Kahzad Dum.
They all three are examples where the music is used to tell a story. Each of those films has multiple cases of that. Binary Sunset, The Asteroid Field, Jack’s theme, Ride of the Rohhirim, Lothlorien, music telling a story through choice of instruments, tempo, the way it is layered into the film.
Nothing like that really in the Marvel films exists. Or many of your blockbuster films really.
What story does this music tell, on its own
It exists to serve the film, not to be a stand alone element. Which is fine, but certainly lesser than the other music.
Sounds like those movies use music as a crutch in lue of actual storytelling. For shame!
I say, bring back silent movies!
The Captain America and Avengers themes are very recognizable to me, but overall Marvel movies do have very “workmanlike” soundtracks. There was a great video I watched last year which summarized it:
That said, the Black Panther soundtrack is incredible! Already listened to it straight through a few times.
Is anyone going to talk about this movie?
Probably after we watch it.
It’s not released yet, well to the general US public anyway.
Hmmm, there might be something there. I do read music and I’ve been fairly proficient in a couple instruments in my time.
BUT, I’ve never been particularly good at identifying notes by ear. I’m far from tone-deaf, but unlike my daughters I can’t tell if a note (in isolation) is an A or a middle C or whatever. Nor could I tell you what key a song or tune is being played in.
Whereas I am not only tone deaf, I am also timbre-deaf and unable to keep rhythm. Some fairly prestigious university used to offer an online test of your abilities in each of these areas, compared against anyone else who’d ever taken it, and when I took it, I scored in the bottom 5th percentile in every category. Oops.
I played music from junior high up until graduation. It kind of pushed music to a forefront, so I don’t just notice the big thematic paces but the background changes. Black Panther is getting a lot of press around the modern music. That’s probably not going to be tops for me, but I am sure I will enjoy the movie and am glad the soundtrack is getting some buzz.
Great post!
I recently watched a documentary on film scores which was pretty interesting and illustrates the evolution of the artform.
When they get to the current generation of scores they refer to the “Zimmer era” taking over from the previous “Williams era” and celebrate its experimental more “percussive” as opposed to “melodic” nature. The narrative of the documentary seems pretty happy about that development, whereas all I can think is: “Noooooo! You ruined it!!!”
PS - That Avengers clip reminded me how horrible the default “smooth motion” function on modern TVs is!
Frankly, I believe I will boycott this one due to prejudice. With a predominantly black cast they clearly added Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis in order to have two Tolkien white guys.
Nice!
this forum needs a groan button