Whatever happened to kickass opening scores in action movies?

[Bluesmoke]

I find that in the last few years, the opening scores have been subpar or just flat-out lame. I watched X-men 1, 2 yesterday for the first time. After both movies ended I couldn't recall what the score sounded like. Went back to the titles to listen again and it was a whole lot of nothing.

Remember action movies of the 80s - Robocop, Batman, Terminator2 (ok, early 90s), Topgun, etc... all have memorable scores that people remember to this day.

I don't think there's a person out there who have the stupid Spiderman, Hulk, X-men, ringtones in their cell. I heard a guy with the Topgun theme in the subway the other day.

 

[doomguardian]

Terminator 3? Jurrasic Park 3?

 

[mike c]

doomguardian, can you remember/hmmm the tune of T3 and JP3 (right now, off the top of your head)?

Indiana Jones, Beverly Hills Cop

 

[jmgillespie]

How about the Sin City trailer song thats a pretty damn cool tune, Transporter 2 ripped it off and used it in the movie. Resident Evil had a cool instrumental soundtrack also and RE: Apocalypse had that Killswitch song which was in the trailer I believe also and in the movie that was good.

A few others would be
Collateral - Show me how to Live by Audioslave
Stealth - While not a very good movie it had a pretty good score (Burn Baby Burn, some Incubus songs, and some other tunes)
XXX (with Diesel) - Maybe a little to hard but it had some good tunes for its setting
The Matrix - Rob Zombie tune and Rage Against the Machine songs
Kill Bill 1 & 2 - both had great scores, anything done by QT has a good score

I probably could name off a few others if you want. You are probably just not thinking hard enough about the action flicks out today. Also the problem could be that most of the music today is not that great. There is only a handful of good bands out today.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

There is only a handful of good bands out today.

Wow. That's a sweeping generalization if ever I heard one.

 

[Bluesmoke]

How about the Sin City trailer song thats a pretty damn cool tune, Transporter 2 ripped it off and used it in the movie. Resident Evil had a cool instrumental soundtrack also and RE: Apocalypse had that Killswitch song which was in the trailer I believe also and in the movie that was good.

A few others would be
Collateral - Show me how to Live by Audioslave
Stealth - While not a very good movie it had a pretty good score (Burn Baby Burn, some Incubus songs, and some other tunes)
XXX (with Diesel) - Maybe a little to hard but it had some good tunes for its setting
The Matrix - Rob Zombie tune and Rage Against the Machine songs
Kill Bill 1 & 2 - both had great scores, anything done by QT has a good score

I probably could name off a few others if you want. You are probably just not thinking hard enough about the action flicks out today. Also the problem could be that most of the music today is not that great. There is only a handful of good bands out today.

I'm not talking about songs here and there. I'm refering to the main theme, or opening scores.

 

[majorloser]

Pulp Fiction?

Granted it's a D ick Dale song (Miserlou) but when I hear I think of Pulp Fiction.

Star Wars, Jaws and Indiana Jones were the last great.

 

[Khellandros66]

majorloser there a ton of great soundtracks out there. I think its poor mixing or using less music to tell the story that has declined over the years. But the following men/tracks really captures the heart and soul of story telling with music.

Hanz Zimmer

BLACKHAWK DOWN
GLADIATOR
LION KING (cloud sequence is great example)
The General's Daughter
Band of Brothers (Micheal Kamen -R.I.P.)
Man on Fire
Dracula 2000 (Score is amazing unfortunately limited discontinued release)
These are a few that I can definitely vouch for.

~Bob

 

[Bluesmoke]

Yea Hans Zimmer kicks ***! I love Crimson Tide. Very nice piece.

Unfortunately, Danny Elfman has lost his touch. I can't recall anything memorable by him in recent years.

Lord of the Ring's flute score is sweet and fitting as well.

 

[majorloser]

majorloser there a ton of great soundtracks out there. I think its poor mixing or using less music to tell the story that has declined over the years. But the following men/tracks really captures the heart and soul of story telling with music.

Hanz Zimmer

BLACKHAWK DOWN
GLADIATOR
LION KING (cloud sequence is great example)
The General's Daughter
Band of Brothers (Micheal Kamen -R.I.P.)
Man on Fire
Dracula 2000 (Score is amazing unfortunately limited discontinued release)
These are a few that I can definitely vouch for.

~Bob

Yeah, the soundtracks are good, but this thread is about opening scores, the title theme music. John Williams is still the king of opening theme music.

http://www.johnwilliams.org/

 

[mpompey]

What about the LOTR scores? Those were excellent. You can help but feel charged when you hear the horns whenever Saramon's or Sauron's armies were on the field.

"Bwu-wu-wuuuh, Wuh-wuh-WUH!

Rocked!!!