Age of Ultron Avengers: Orchestra Assemble! Composer Thread

[JB-the-Hunter]

The AoU score overall wasn't anything special, but including Silvestri's Avengers theme was a brilliant move.

 

[drod1985]

The AoU score overall wasn't anything special, but including Silvestri's Avengers theme was a brilliant move.

Yup. Aside from the original theme the score was largely forgettable. Which is a bummer, as I really enjoyed the rest of the Phase 2 scores.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

I am kind of surprised Ultron doesn't have his own theme, given that his name is in the title of the movie.

 

[AnneFan]

I haven't really given the MCU scores any attention, to be honest. Nor do I remember any themes or hooks from just watching the movies. So I don't suppose it's fair for me to give any criticism or praise. I may start giving them a listen soon.

 

[hafizbat]

Thank goodness they kept the original theme. I would have been livid if they abandoned it as they have been wont to do in the MCU. At long last, themes have been solidified. Cap's theme, Stark's theme, and obviously the Avengers all have their own theme.

I'm a huge, huge fan of the original theme and I liked the update in AoU. If they stick with it, it has the potential to become a truly iconic theme in the vein of William's Superman theme, Elfman's Batman, or even the Star Wars theme.

I'm really hoping Elfman gets the full load next time. He's on a whole different level compared to Tyler or really anyone else the MCU has used, and you can tell in the AoU score.

 

[slumcat]

Anyone know why they did not use the Marvel fanfare?

 

[The_Manhunter]

Anyone know why they did not use the Marvel fanfare?

I'm wondering why they didn't use it too.

 

[Drizzle]

It might have just been that they didn't use the Marvel fanfare because of the special occasion that it was an Avengers film, because they had the Silvestri theme incorporated into the score for the Marvel logo this time around. I think it'll be back for Ant-Man.

 

[TeeKay]

"Avengers Unite" was the best part of the score.

 

[moviedoors]

I barely even noticed Brian Tyler's work outside of noticing the Iron Man 3 theme. Huge chunks of the score sound like repurposed themes from Silvestri's original recordings. I'm fine with that though. Marvel finally has a thematically coherent film music world.

Spoiler

Even the helicarrier got a call back to its original theme!

Bravo to Tyler for being smart to know when he should just get the hell out of the way. It's shows maturity. Now if he just could've given us a memorable theme for Ultron...

I really didn't care for Danny Elfman's gussied up version of the main theme. He added a lot of bells and whistles, but it's too damn busy. It obscures the main melody in a sea of harmonic flourishes. I prefer Silvestri's more cleanly arranged version.

 

[The_Manhunter]

I really enjoyed the soundtrack, but one thing that I don't get is Ultron not having a consistently-used theme. If he did, I missed it.

 

[Drizzle]

Was the piece of music that played when the title appeared supposed to be Ultron's theme? Because if it was, I don't recall hearing it later in the film.

 

[thanos1990]

"Avengers Unite" was the best part of the score.

That was Epic

I like heroes too

 

[Quasimod0]

I really missed the Marvel fanfare.

 

[DanielFM]

After listening to it a few times, I really like Heroes, Sacrifice, Avengers Unite and the New Avengers theme.
More than my usual share of likes for MCU scores.

 

[AgentGojiraRgr]

If you listened to the "New Avengers" track and watched the film, you'd noticed they drop part of the track and inserted the end of the "A Promise" track from The Avengers for when we're introduced to the new Avengers.

Thankfully they did, it works better and a nice call back to the end of The Avengers.
Hope they do it again for the end of Infinity War Part 2

 

[Elevator Man]

Even though on first viewings of movies I pay little attention to the score. It still didn't have any impact on the film or me as a viewer. Especially during the crucial moments in the film that would normally call for it. However what did stood out was the tracked in Silvestri cues from it's predecessor, which was at times distracting and almost took me out of certain moments in this film because of how blatant it was. What was the point of hiring an A-list veteran composer like Elfman at the 11th hour if the score in the movie is basically nonexistent and poorly utilized throughout the film with Silvestri cues being tracked in and re-recorded? Should've called Debney if they wanted something like that. Just a waste of Elfman's talents and time. Hopefully the OST, which I have yet to hear, will better represent his music. But disappointed they wasted Elfman like that in the film.

 

[moviedoors]

Even though on first viewings of movies I pay little attention to the score. It still didn't have any impact on the film or me as a viewer. Especially during the crucial moments in the film that would normally call for it. However what did stood out was the tracked in Silvestri cues from it's predecessor, which was at times distracting and almost took me out of certain moments in this film because of how blatant it was. What was the point of hiring an A-list veteran composer like Elfman at the 11th hour if the score in the movie is basically nonexistent and poorly utilized throughout the film with Silvestri cues being tracked in and re-recorded? Should've called Debney if they wanted something like that. Just a waste of Elfman's talents and time. Hopefully the OST, which I have yet to hear, will better represent his music. But disappointed they wasted Elfman like that in the film.

Aw, Debney would've crushed it. He so thoroughly absorbed Alan Silvestri's musical persona when he scored Predators. He let all those great themes from the original film speak for themselves whilst seamlessly weaving it all together with his own music. He'd have been the perfect guy to wrangle together all the Avenger's various themes into something cohesive.

 

[mclay18]

Elfman's contributions stand out better on the soundtrack release. Both his and Tyler's writing tends to be buried under the loud sound mixing.

Tyler's score doesn't reference Silvestri's Avengers theme a lot. One review of the soundtrack accurately notes that he plays around with the chord progressions but only outright states it in one cue. Also, not only does Tyler reference his own Iron Man 3 theme, but you do hear his Thor theme stated around 2:48 in "The Battle" too.

 

[Johnny-Oh]

In the movie I remember hearing the IM3 and Thor TDW themes, it was seriously lacking Cap's theme though and even if that wasn't from Tyler he should have included it.

 

[Just_Human]

In the movie I remember hearing the IM3 and Thor TDW themes, it was seriously lacking Cap's theme though and even if that wasn't from Tyler he should have included it.

Cap's theme was in the movie - when he dodged that car during his fight with Ultron

 

[ddddeeee]

There's hardly a character in the movie that doesn't have a theme.

Tyler's Iron Man theme returns and his Thor theme cameos, he also wrote a new themes for Ultron, Bruce/Natasha and Vision.

Elfman wrote a new Avengers theme which uses Silvestri's original theme in its construct, he also wrote a theme for the Twins and a little motif for Hawkeye and his wife. (He also made a cheeky reference to one of his Hulk themes from the Ang Lee movie.

Natasha's theme from the first movie is tracked in twice.

To say there aren't themes is nonsense, there are so many! And on album they're all heard plenty of times. The problem is that the mix is so terrible you can't make most of them out in the film.

The only time any new music makes a real impression is Elfman's 'Avengers Unite' and 'Inevitability/One Good Eye' when Scarlet Witch's big moment is accompanied by a huge rendition of Elfman's Twins theme that is then succeeded by the new Avengers theme, signifying her becoming an Avenger.

 

[Elayis]

I liked that we got both Silvestri's original theme and Elfman's new one. We weren't forced to pick and choose. However, aside from Elfman's new theme there's almost nothing worthwhile in the new material. I've listened to the soundtrack several times (20+), and the only other track that stands out to me is Vision. It's a very simple little cue, but it does its job and I enjoy it.

Other than that, this is one of the worse Marvel scores yet. I may not have been a big fan of Tyler's score for IM3 & T:TDW, but those at least had a thematic arc and identifiable themes. Same goes for Jackman's CA:TWS.

They had an opportunity here to finally weave all of the characters themes together and build on what all of the many composers have done since the last Avengers film and they squandered it. The score is very much structured like an old TV show or a trailer: reactionary tracks that offer bombast or obvious sentiment to highlight the scene they go to, but they don't build to a cohesive musical narrative narrative. I was very surprised that Tyler, who composed new themes for Thor and Iron Man in previous films, only used them in very brief snippets. And the material from Silvestric's Avengers score was either tracked or rerecorded with barely any noticeable changes.

Other than Elfman's very fun new theme, this just barely manages to not be the worst MCU score, but that's only because Tyler Bates' GOTG.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Who cares about GOTG's score? Its soundtrack is the star anyways.

 

[Just_Human]

I liked the music when Vision, IM and Thor blasted Ultron