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Well that’s good, but what about the score?
Out of these three, I'd pick Giaccino for at least one Bond score. But hey, Romer may surprise us yet.
Part of the reason why Mission: Impossible is so popular is because no one film is like the one before it, aside from the stunts. They've had five directors and as many composers across the six films, and it wasn't exactly unpopular before McQuarrie directed Rogue Nation. The only parts of the formula that have remained consistent is the teamwork and the stunts.
I wasn't keen on Balfe's score but it has grown on me considerably, and I really enjoy some of the action cues. They're good fun. I still prefer Kraemer and Giacchino's efforts, though.
But anyway, I'm still very intrigued by the idea of a Romer Bond score.
About as unremarkable as the film.
Fallout was a mess but yeah I liked RN a lot . On of the reason was Ilsa's character.
That's why we got two dreary Newman scores.
If you want to see a scene that really mimics Hitchcock’s TMWKTM, check out The Bedroom Window.
They wouldn't give him a blank check, even with Fukunaga's full support, as the guy hadn't worked so far on blockbusters. The situation is completely different from Skyfall, where Thomas Newman had dozens of major projects under his belt. Even if he came up with an uncharacteristic (for Bond) and bland score, it wouldn't be jarring the way the Goldeneye soundtrack was a misfire to some.
And I take it as a positive that the guy hasn't tried to make a John Barry-esque score for films that weren't fit to a John Barry score. I won't judge him before I hear what he's come up with.
To be fair his past works are a small clue about what he might do. Not saying it proves or means anything, just saying that we do have a clue.
As much as I love John Barry’s works, him scoring a movie like BLADE RUNNER would be ill suiting. As much as I would have liked to hear Barry score GE, Serra’s work fits like a glove with the tone of that one.
You had me, but lost me with the GE reference; Barry’s touch for Pierce’s debut would have been epic.
I always thought Barry was pretty hot on doing space themes.
Barry would have turned GE into an absolute classic if he had done the soundtrack. Even I may have warmed more to that movie then.
I cannot see a Barry score fit that well for a film that was a clear update in terms of tone and setting from the old days. Barry had written THE SPECIALIST right before GE came out. I love that score; it's hauntingly beautiful, jazzy and sensual. However, it lacked the "punch" a Bond film in '95 needed. Serra's score may be painful to many as a standalone listening experience, but the darker electronics somehow worked very well in this story of computer centres controlling forgotten Cold War weapons. I doubt any of Barry's scores would have given GE the right tone. Case in point, a few years later, Barry composed MERCURY RISING, once again a beautiful score but in its attempts to convey tension or action, "unsatisfying" for the '90s. I'm not saying Barry had lost it; I'm saying the Bonds were moving away from Barry's colourfulness to something more befitting the digital age, despite Arnold's obvious worshipping at Barry's altar. For the record, I'm a huge Barry fan, but I'm also a Debussy fan and I know that you can always score with Debussy during a lovely candlelight dinner, but not when playing Call Of Duty Modern Warfare. Serra didn't write a Bond score, but he brought the right sound for GE. Barry would have written a killer Bond score, but possibly one less serving of GE specifically.
As for Romer, I believe we may yet be surprised. He must know that he's getting involved with something far bigger than his own resume. Unlike Newman, he hasn't yet been nominated for an Oscar multiple times. He has yet to establish himself in the more mainstream scene. I doubt this is the project for him to drop an elephant in the room and pretend like there's no such thing as "Bond music".
I’m sure it would have been fine, but I like what Serra brought to the film and it’s part of what makes GE positively distinctive in Brosnan’s run. Serra may not have played with the “Bond sound”, but I couldn’t give a shit because I want something to work for the individual film rather than work for the franchise. It’s why I appreciate a film like CR willing to drop “Bond staples” like Q and Moneypenny. It’s why I watch DAF and view it on its own merits rather than damn it for not being a sequel to OHMSS.
His sci-fi attempts aren’t really my favorite. He didn’t have a knack for the genre the way John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith had when he tried scoring for THE BLACK HOLE and STARCRASH. Film scores aren’t a one size fits all deal. They should serve the film rather than follow conventions laid out by past films.
I'm sure @MakeshiftPython wasn't disparaging Barry's '79 scores, which, incidentally, you correctly labelled marvellous. I too am a huge fan of THE BLACK HOLE. My friend the Python does, however, make a fair point, in my opinion, that surely we can all agree that the operatic might of Williams' STAR WARS and the atmospheric beauty of Goldsmith's ALIEN are quite different from Barry's work on THE BLACK HOLE and STARCRASH. I, for one, love all of these scores, but I think it's only fair to concede that THE BLACK HOLE and STARCRASH, while joyful and pleasant, are lightweight musical entertainment compared to, for example, STAR WARS.
Pretty much. Barry gave it a fair shot at the swashbuckling space adventures, but I think his real strength lied more in movies like SOMEWHERE IN TIMR, OUT OF AFRICA and DANCES WITH WOLVES that heavily benefited from scores that really delved into slow romantic strings more than the space opera films did from his work. Where John Williams is a fast exciting rollercoaster ride, John Barry is a pleasant row boat on the pond. That’s why he noticeably did less adventure films in the latter part of his career.
Goldsmith’s ALIEN is indeed great but it’s more about the ambient sounds than actual orchestral music. Even though those sounds do work great for the film. But it doesn’t compare to writing actual music that takes your breath away.
@ringfire211
Hold on, now, sir. You're drawing a few false conclusion there, I'm afraid. ;)
A) MR ranks in my top 3 Barry scores. @MakeshiftPython was originally talking about STARCRASH and THE BLACK HOLE, not about MR. I don't know where he stands on MR. I certainly wasn't comparing MR to STAR WARS. MR, after all, is not a Sci-Fi flick the way THE BLACK HOLE and STARCRASH are.
B) I didn't claim that STAR WARS is the greatest movie score of all-time. In my opinion, E.T., CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, TEMPLE OF DOOM, ... are greater Williams scores. I can easily agree about BEN-HUR. Again, we were discussing STARCRASH and THE BLACK HOLE in comparison to STAR WARS. That was it.
C) Regarding ALIEN, your comment, "But it doesn’t compare to writing actual music that takes your breath away", is another case of personal opinion. It takes my breath away, albeit in a different fashion than, say, Vangelis' score for BLADE RUNNER, Barry's score for ZULU or Morricone's score for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.