Duh (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, May 30, 2016, 18:30 (3099 days ago) @ Claude Errera

I went to see Captain America: Civil War yesterday with nico, who pointed out something I completely hadn't noticed:

There is no longer a huge connect between the music and the movie.

Movie scores have often complemented the on-screen action with themes - characters have specific themes that follow them throughout the film, which helps build emotion during any climax scenes.

Cap has a theme... but it's used so infrequently in Civil War that by the time the big fight comes at the end, the theme does nothing for you... because you don't even recognize it as related to Cap.

The overall mix of the movie is so weighted towards dialogue and sound effects that the music is nearly inaudible in places.

As nico rightly said, it was a huge wasted opportunity... and apparently, it's becoming more common.

I re-watched X-Men 2 a few months ago, and the thing that immediately jumped out at me is how prominent and "in your face" the music is compared to the modern Marvel films. It made the movie feel strangely dated, in a way.

I obviously wasn't in the editing rooms for any of these films, but as someone who has gone through the final editing and mixing process many times, I know that I make a lot of those kinds of decisions based on how good the music is, or more specifically, how well it is "clicking" with the scene. My personal impression of the music in the recent Marvel movies is that none of it is particularly strong. It is serviceable, but not much better than that. If I were the one handling the final mix for these films, I would burry the music a bit as well. It isn't strong enough to push it into the foreground, IMO.

Compare that to the music in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or even Nolan's Batman films. All those movies feature fantastic, memorable, effective music that earns it's place in the mix.