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These internet discussion threads are funny things. I think around the time CR came out, there was a majority of voices critisising Arnold, and some of them were really well-informed and had knowledge of music theory and knew what they were saying. Very few people defended Arnold at that time. Now it feels as if there´s an army of Arnold fans who couldn´t think of a better composer for Bond. I don´t know if just the people are other people nowadays, or if so many people´s opinions changed so drastically. In any case it shows how unreliable opinions off the internet are. And I don´t mean just the obvious clowns haunting these discussions.
May be a generational thing. The Star Wars prequels were heavily maligned a decade ago as most internet users were of an older generation that were more critical of Lucas’ decisions. The kids that grew up and loved the prequels didn’t start expressing their affinity for them until this decade and have become a louder voice these days as they’re now adults. Likewise, we now have a lot of Bond fans here who grew up with Arnold as the regular composer and value him as someone that should be a mainstay. Not that there weren’t any fans back then who loved Arnold’s work, but they may have been less vocal because at the time Arnold’s work was pretty divisive, especially after the electronica heavy DAD.
Just my theory.
I absolutely love these two scores and would love to hear him build on them and close out Daniel’s tenure.
My understanding is that he didn’t necessarily have constraints put on him in the Brosnan era. All instances of using the Bond theme was on his own accord, and his general approach was “if Bond does something Bondian, I throw in the theme” which he did A LOT in Brosnan’s run. It was Campbell that told him to hold back on the theme so that when it would appear full blast at the end it would truly feel special, which I think Arnold learned for QOS.
To a degree, and I like the Brosnan films , the entire franchise of that era was guilty of cranking up the “ look how Bond we are” elements, all culminating with DAD.
Arnold was not the only “guilty” party.
Valid point.
Nice! Daniel Pemberton would be refreshing. More jazzy sound.
Certainly, but it’s telling even in GE with all of the “greatest hits” thrown in that Serra still managed to do his own thing without Campbell telling him “no no no, use the theme more for this and this!” Unless Arnold has stated that he was pressured to use the theme more, it was always on his own accord.
I do wonder when it is good enough, i think we are not just talking about Hollywood but Oscars as well which has always been biased . Things wasn't much different back then as well, i mean how many films which deserve award has gotten over the years. I am an Indian when slumdog millionaire won the Oscars I was literally laughing while watching it. That film was all right but not for Oscar imo.
I can’t say I’m a big fan of the replacement score, but at the same time I don’t think Serra’s original cue was all that great either.
Agreed, I think they're both kinda meh, but Altman at least works in the context of the scene, Serra's is just completely out of place and sounds as if it were written for the GoldenEye videogame (which actually had a much better score than the movie).
All I know is that I want a Bond score to sound like a Bond score; and to a degree that will sound like someone trying to be Barry. I can live with that.
Very much agree with this.
But James Bond films are good enough? They're not nonsense at all?
And it did. The payoff was immense, for that particular film.
Most composers like Bill Conti did a good balance of the Bond sound and their own, which is all I ask for. Another issue I have with Arnold is that he has a tendency to overwrite and turn drama into melodrama. For example the scene with Bond and Paris at the hotel. It’s way too over the top when another composer like Barry or any other composer would have had a more delicate hand in writing it.
For me Newman showed the right kind of path: being modern, sophisticated and rich in the way that expresses what Bond is all about without just trotting out old Bond elements all the time, but still with an eye on some of those essentials like a bit of brass here and there. Whether or not you liked the scores themselves I still think that's the best way to go.
Plenty of good to great composers have scored superhero films in the last twenty years, too.
BUT, BUT, MELODIES!! MUZAK!! :(
;)
It funny that you use Conti as an example; his score almost makes FYEO unwatchable for me .
Oh well, different strokes for different folks.
Yup. This. Conti had a few nice moments peppered throughout but his score is way down the list for me.
Different strokes for different folks.
I actually like much of Newman’s SF score, not so much SP; with roughly 10% more “Barry” , and a bit more integrating of the title track’s music, SF would have been a classic.
I used to find that myself but I've grown to like it. It's of its time. It's certainly more energetic, and to be honest more exciting than most of Barry's stuff from around that period.
Whenever I'm skiing fast down a hill I try to hum OHMSS, but it's always Runaway that I actually hear! :D
I agree 100%