 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Oct 8, 2014 - 7:13 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
barryfan
(Member)
|
I have been listening all week to just X Men scores and here is what I thought:
X Men (Kamen) - very blah, no memorable themes, the poorest of the four I have listened to.
X Men 2 (Ottman) - has a very distinct main theme, which makes it better than Kamen's, but other than that, I thought it was nothing special. Of course, I have never heard anything by Ottman that I thought was worth writing home about.
X Men 3 (Powell) - also has a very distinct theme that I like MUCH better than Ottman's. It is spread throughout the album rather nicely.
X Men: First Class (Jackman) - For me, this is easily the best. It also has a great theme that is entirely different from the first 3 movies.
I do not own the other X Men/Wolverine scores, so I cannot judge them.
In sum, each score got better and better. I doubt that X Men: Days of Future Past is even better than First Class because they went back to using Ottman. Did Ottman use his theme from X2, any of the X3 or X: First Class stuff? Or did he write all new stuff?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Best" is a little hard to say with any authority, but I will say that I think, in terms of the development and elaboration of its musical ideas throughout the score, Powell's is probably the best of the bunch. Very memorable themes, used well within the film's fairly ramshackle framework - it really holds the narrative together, and provides the emotional core that the movie itself doesn't have much time for.
In terms of the X-Men score I'm most likely to want to listen to, though, I have to go for Kamen's. One would think a film like this would get something closer to a "Die Hard" aesthetic, but instead, we get the icy emotiveness of "The Dead Zone," and it's that unexpected choice (honestly, I'm surprised that more of the score wasn't fooled around with in post) that really sells the movie, and the score. The "Logan and Rogue" cue is quite gorgeous, and I find the tune pretty memorable (would that some of the more contemporary superhero scores would get a theme like this somewhere in there); his skittering, pulsating string writing for "Cerebro" might be the best musical representation of that idea, and I think the "Death Camp" opening contains some rather powerful writing, as well. On the whole, I think Kamen's score captures a very unique tone, which I appreciate. I think La-La Land hinted that they were working on a new edition of this score, to come out sometime next year - and if I do remember that correctly, then count me in as someone really looking forward to hearing the score in a form more representative of Kamen's original intentions.
Ottman did reuse a snippet of his "X-Men" theme in the opening of "Days of Future Past," and I believe he quickly quotes his theme for Stryker in the new film, too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Powell has the best theme, but I actually have grown to like the Kamen score (on the album, at least).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jackman's First Class sounded really good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Kamen's score never sat well with me when I first saw X-Men, but over time I've warmed up to it, and the good parts are really good. His main theme is kind of weak, though there are one or two places where it is given a chance to shine. The score as it appears in the film is apparently a mishmash of several different versions plus overdubs, I'm very interested in hearing what Kamen had originally intended.
I enjoyed John Ottman's X2, but more because of the little references than anything else. I do like his main X-Men theme, though (yes, I know, LifeForce — I still like it), and really loved his music for Jean Grey. The score is limited in its scope, but what's there was enjoyable to me.
I wasn't overly thrilled with his score for Days of Future Past, but I did like his revisiting of the main theme. “Paris Pandemonium” features Stryker's motif from X2 as Logan freaks out; other carryovers include references to his main X-Men theme as Erik addresses the world, the “smoke clearing” motif heard when Logan and Charles discuss the future on the plane and at the end, and Magneto's motif seems to be based on the hand grenade section of “Magneto's Old Tricks”.
My favorite is the John Powell score, hands-down. It bursting with themes and emotion, working overtime to compensate for the limitations of the film it was attached to. His main theme is really strong, with numerous supporting memorable themes and motives, with a standout being his Phoenix theme. The soundtrack album covers most of the more important parts of the score, but I would love an expansion which includes all of the choral overdubs.
I have to admit that, despite my initial misgivings, Henry Jackman's score for First Class has grown on me. I still think that it comes across as a little anachronistic — the overall sound of the score has a very 80s vibe to it on top of the established MV/RC sound. Of course, while it's his relentless music for Magneto that tends to get the most attention, I think that his main X-Men theme is actually pretty good, but that it rarely gets played in the score to its full potential.
I never warmed up to either Harry Gregson-Williams' or Marco Beltrami's Wolverine scores. I might give them another spin sometime soon, but nothing really grabbed me about them either watching the films or playing the albums.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Oct 14, 2014 - 12:42 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Francis
(Member)
|
I find the first one by Michael Kamen the best, for a multitude of reasons. I personally don't find it bereft of good themes ("Logan and Rogue" is nice) and find some of the more serious moments beautifully tragic ("The Death Camp", ). The fusion of electronic elements (samples of breathing, drum n' bass loops, lots of echo, flanger and what has to be a severe noise filter effect, like a low rate mp3) works well given the X-men futuristic/technological savvy appearance and the Staccato strings for magneto ("Magneto's Lair") are just fun; I enjoyed that in Die Hard, but here it's even more pronounced. Simple and to the point. My favorite track is the "X-Jet" because out of all the movies this is the one track that channels for me the excitement of watching the cartoon and is a cool moment in the movie. "Mutant School" is reprising Dead Zone, but given the short amount of time he had to compose the score, I'll overlook that. This got a lot of play and I can't wait for a label to release the film score in it rawer more synth/electronic heavy form. 
I'm not nearly a tenth as passionate about any of the other scores, the Ottman is a good follow up, not overly familiar with the Powell and the Jackman I found one of the worst scores of that year for the way it did not work in an otherwise excellent movie IMO, on its own it might still be ok but it was the wrong ingredient for that movie. Again IMO.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I vote for Powells X Men The Last Stand.
Its by far the best in my opinion.Great themes and terrific action music.The other scores in this series are very forgettable ( Especially Kamens ).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For me, I love 2 and 3 and First Class about equally, and think that all these films below have excellent music. But what I remember most about the X-Men scores are moments in the movies that I think are especially well-scored.
Kamen's X-Men: Death Camp and Train
Ottman's X-2: Sneaky Mystique and Magneto's Old Tricks
Powells's Last Stand: Dark Phoenix’s Tragedy and Farewell To X
Jackman's First Class: Sub Lift and Coup d'Etat
Plus the fuller statements at the close of the albums of 1, 3 and First Class, and Ottman's Overture in his original release.
(Haven't seen Days of Future Past yet and barely listened to the music, and don't care for the Wolverine films, though Beltrami's score was typically effective).
|
|
|
|
|
|
I vote for Powells X Men The Last Stand.
Its by far the best in my opinion.Great themes and terrific action music.The other scores in this series are very forgettable ( Especially Kamens ).
Your thinking on Kamens score is especially forgettable.
I personally signed in just to put you in your place.
Not you specificly just your lack of brain cells on Kamens score.
Butthurt Kamen fanboy alert!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
