X-Men Scores

Third film, third composer for this franchise. This time it's John Powell of Paycheck, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the Bourne movies and so forth. Is his fusion of orchestral and modern electronic music appropriate for a superhero epic? I hope so! I'm looking forward to it.

 

I wasn`t found of the music in the trailer but then again it was probably just stock music

 

I hope Jean's theme is used.

 

why do they change every time? i liked the music in the first one, but the second one was incredibly generic (the main theme especially).

 

I am thoroughly excited to hear Powell's music for X3. We finally get to hear what he can do with a big budget action flick and I am psyched.

He's my favorite composer to come out of the Media Ventures stable.

 

Neo... really? I thought just the opposite! I loved the ending theme with Jean's narration and the sort of 'X-men march' directly afterwards- but I couldn't pick out ANY themes whatsoever in the first one! But, I guess time will tell about the third, eh?

 

I agree 1 had a much better score

 

why do they change every time? i liked the music in the first one, but the second one was incredibly generic (the main theme especially).

I liked the music to X1 more than X2. But both did there job well. Singer replaced Kamen with Ottman because he's good friends with Ottman. For X1 I believe it was more of a studio decision bring Kamen on board. But that doesn't matter now anyways. Michael Kamen died a few years ago and Ottman went with Singer to do Superman Returns.

As for Powell, I was really hoping for someone like Elliot Goldenthal who has a history of taking over the third film of franchises. Like Batman Forever and Alien 3. Both had great scores. Let's hope John Powell doesn't let us down. He just barely made my top 100 film composers list.

 

Is his fusion of orchestral and modern electronic music appropriate for a superhero epic?

Oh God. I've never heard any of his music, but this description doesn't bode well. Electronic music sounds empty.

 

Vaderbait, trust me, Powell's one of the few who merges the two styles well.

 

QFT. Also, he co-composed, with Harry Gregson-Williams, Antz and Shrek, so he can do the fantasy heroics fine, too. But if you have any doubt, check out Paycheck.

 

"I loved the ending theme with Jean's narration and the sort of 'X-men march' directly afterwards"

that's the part i hated the most. sounded like a cheap superman ripoff. a williams imitation

"but I couldn't pick out ANY themes whatsoever in the first one!"

that's probably why i like it. it did have a couple very nice themes (heard when magneto walked out to the chopper after the train station scene, and near the end, when logan pulled rogue out oif the machine). but the rest sounded more similar tto don davis' matrix score (my absolute favorite score).

"Michael Kamen died a few years ago and Ottman went with Singer to do Superman Returns."

well, that sucks.

maybe the new score will combine the styles annd themes of the previous 2. the only carry-over from the first one to the second that i heard was mystique's music. it's irritating when movies in a series have entirely different scores each time. i prefer the consistent, yet progressive, scores of star wars, the matrix, and spiderman.

 

I also like 2 more than 1
but Powell for 3 (why didn't I check the credits in the trailer ) doesn't exactly excite me too much - even though I love ANTZ.

btw, what was that music in the trailer? Only thing I didn't like about it.

I think I can only be pleasently surprised then...

 

I wasn't too impressed with either of the scores for the first two films, but I'm pretty interested now that John Powell is attached. I haven't heard a lot from him, but what I have heard is pretty impressive. As Well_Of_Souls mentioned, he is one of the few that merges electronics and orchestra very well. One of my favorite pieces of his is "To the Roof" from The Bourne Supremecy; there the electronics work for the spy type movie, so I'm interested to hear what he'll do with an X-Men film.

 

and near the end, when logan pulled rogue out oif the machine).

The score for the first movie is largely forgettable, but that one track, I forget what it's called, is absolutely beautiful. It doesn't fit with the rest of the score, but it's easily one of the most beautiful, powerful pieces out there.

I'm a fan of X2 myself. You thought it was a Williams/Superman ripoff? I thought it was more of a Wrath of Khan thing. Probably because I haven't seen Superman in years.

 

Funny you should mention Wrath of Khan, considering that's the feel Singer was apparently going for with the end of the X2 storywise and musically.

People who haven't heard much from Powell should definitely check out AntZ, Chicken Run, Evolution, Paycheck, The Bourne Supremacy, Robots, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. His music tends to be the best thing about each movie he scores.

 

Funny you should mention Wrath of Khan, considering that's the feel Singer was apparently going for with the end of the X2 storywise and musically.

So I guess it worked.

 

Unless you're Basil Poledouris doing RoboCop!
But, that's a different story, now isn't it.

P.S. I had no idea that Micheal Kamen died.
How did he die?

 

He suffered from multiple sclerosis.

Edit: This composer sounds like a good choice.

 

Sad.
Thanks for the reply Boba_Phat.

 

i'm really excited about the music for this movie. i expect it to be really epic like. especially w/ the scene of magneto moving the golden gate bridge as seen in the teaser trailer

 

Seeing that the soundtrack will be released Tuesday, I thought I would give this thread a bump. I've heard some samples from this score and it sounds promising. It's always difficult to tell what a score will sound like from 30 second clips, but I'm liking what I hear. I hope that Powell's does many more scores. I really like just about everything I've heard of his. Anyway, here are links to the clips:

Clips One
Clips Two

In other John Powell news, his score to United 93 will be released on June 6. The score helped the movie quite a bit, but I'm not sure how will play on an album.

 

Hmm, those clips were decent but not great. I'll have to hear how it sounds in the film and then on CD before making a judgment, though.

It just seems a little too over-dramatic. Perhaps a little less bombast would have helped.

 

Me, I enjoy the bombast, but...

IS there actually an X-men theme? I mean, it's kind of hard to say, considering we have a different one for each movie! Me, personally, I liked the X2 theme. To each their own. But to me, this X3 theme is kinda like the FF... you can recognize it within it's own context, but it doesn't really stand out or seem recognizeable otherwise- slightly disjointed and tuneless- and not at all catchy like some of the great superhero cinematic themes. I don't know, it just seems to bland... not 'insufficient bombast, music is too slow'-type bland, but 'half-effort, no creativity in main themes anymore'-type bland.

 

I agree about the themes, although I like what I'm assuming is the Dark Phoenix theme.

Powell is one of the few composers around who usually composes thematic material that I find myself humming randomly during the day. These clips don't seem to hold that same quality, though.

And bombast is perfectly fine, especially the kind that Powell usually churns out, it's just that I guess this bombast sounds rather unfocused to me.