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Which are the best-scored, but underrated action/chase/fight scenes?


Josh500

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Two things:

 

1. Best-scored action/fight/chase sequences (in your opinion). From John Williams or other composers.

2. Underrated. Meaning, nothing from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. cause these scores are not underrated at all. Something maybe not everybody would know about!

 

And post, if possible, the relevant YouTube video! 

 

I'll start: 

 

"Everybody Runs" from Minority Report. This is, imo, one of the best scored chase scenes in JW's entire career! I sometimes listen to this while driving or riding the subway, and man! You instantly become a hunted secret agent running from a corrupt police force in a bleak, futuristic world! 😂

 

 

 

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I think "Pursuit of the Falcon" in Tintin generally gets its due but the duel theme is one of my favorite Williams tunes of the decade and I feel like nobody ever talks about it. Definitely a recent Spielberg/Williams highlight for me. 

 

 

For Kasey:

 

 

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11 minutes ago, hornist said:

 

God I hate this kind of generic music. Is that Zimmer? 🤔

 

Who else? 😂 

 

You can practically smell Zimmer all over this.

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I'd say that, right from the moment the alarm goes off at Precrime H.Q, to the moment Anderson turns up at Hinneman's house, EVERYBODY RUNS!/ALLEY FIGHT (my title)/ANDERSON'S GREAT ESCAPE is brilliant.

 

 

 

The best chase music, ever?

It's obvious, isn't it?

THE ASTEROID FIELD.

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2 minutes ago, Richard said:

The best chase music, ever?

It's obvious, isn't it?

THE ASTEROID FIELD.

 

You forgot 2.

 

I'm not just asking about the best chase music...

3 minutes ago, Richard said:

I'd say that, right from the moment the alarm goes off at Precrime H.Q, to the moment Anderson turns up at Hinneman's house, EVERYBODY RUNS!/ALLEY FIGHT (my title)/ANDERSON'S GREAT ESCAPE is brilliant.

 

Indeed! 

 

The fight scene in the abandoned factory is awesome too.

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19 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

High-wire Stunts from Jurassic Park

 

Good one! 

 

Yes, considering how good it is, it's rather underrated, all right.

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Probably not underrated in film or scoring history (that ram's horn at 1 min is so iconic!) but maybe some of the youngers don't know it. What JW was doing in 2002 with The Chase Through Coruscant and Anderson's Great Escape remind me of this in terms of tempo and meter.

 


Some of the cue/scene below
 

 

  

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12 hours ago, Josh500 said:

2. Underrated. Meaning, nothing from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. cause these scores are not underrated at all. Something maybe not everybody would know about!

Fair, but while the scores may not be underrated, perhaps the individual cues are...

 

I will just continue to ride my wave of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which has some outstanding action packed cues.

 

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3 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Fair, but while the scores may not be underrated, perhaps the individual cues are...

 

I will just continue to ride my wave of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which has some outstanding action packed cues.

+1. 

Go with the Pyroclastic Flow's jammin'!....though I re-named that cue Magma Opus. :P I like that title better. 

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1 hour ago, kaseykockroach said:

+1. 

Go with the Pyroclastic Flow's jammin'!....though I re-named that cue Magma Opus. :P I like that title better. 

We need a pun track title thread! You're good at it, and my Solo try was a lot of fun! :lol:

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11 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

We need a pun track title thread! You're good at it, and my Solo try was a lot of fun! :lol:

I changed "This Title Makes Me Jurassic" to "Maim Titles" awhile ago. :D 

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4 hours ago, Loert said:

Now, which action music is underrated? I think all of it is underrated! My impression is that the listening public is biased towards softer, more relaxing, "emotional" music, at least when it comes to instrumental music. I find it very hard to understand this, as for me, well-written action music has always been a thrill to listen to. So I try to increase the awareness of great action music wherever I can.

 

 

I'm talking about underrated among us, of course, the film score fans, and especially the John Williams fans!

 

The general (listening) public doesn't listen to film scores at all. So it's certainly not about them and what they think is underrated or not.

5 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

John Anderson's Great Escape from Minority Report

 

Agreed! 👍

3 hours ago, Jay said:

 

 

This somehow reminds me of the David Arnold's African chase and fight music from Casino Royale....

 

 

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I love Goldenthal's action music.  This starts at 1:20 or so and the next few tracks are all great.

 

Don Davis Matrix too but I don't know if these are underrated.  Sure they aren't classics but I think they are widely regarded as great.

 

I remember being in theater for both these films where I was immediately struck by the quality of the music by composers I was previously unfamiliar with.  Like "wow, who is this guy?" immediately taken aback by the novelty, intensity, and quality. Decades later I still think so.

 

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5 hours ago, Loert said:

And the incredible action music from the finale of ID4 by David Arnold.

 

Indeed!! Those two cues are crazy good. :woop:

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I know most of it didn’t make the final cut but I do love the music that accompanied the deleted scenes. Some nice person has edited them all together.

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Just now, Alex said:

 

Was it you by any chance? You’re a hero.

Now, that's quite an exaggeration: looking back, I'm not perfectly satisfied with it, it doesn't make me a hero and I definitely don't have it in FLAC format ;)

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Not all heroes wear capes!

 

But seriously though some of the unreleased stuff is better than what appeared on The Fathiers cue on the OST. Poor JW, all that effort for a scene of that length only for most of it to be cut.

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Was going to post this before and then didn't. Not underrated, a classic if not overly thrilling chase sequence, but I'm posting now because it dawned on me Herrmann's fandango rhythm is very similar to JW's main rhythmic motif in the main title for The Towering Inferno, since the JW disaster score thread was also in mind http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/28942-the-poseidon-adventure-vs-earthquake-vs-the-towering-inferno/&tab=comments#comment-1540807 

Hopefully thus a worthy inclusion. Both have the same count: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2

 

 

 

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This is one of the areas I find JW to be incredibly weak. His action cues overall are just background noise to me. There is nothing interesting, it doesn't heighten the scenes whatsoever. Most of the time I find the music not even jelling well with what is on screen. It just doesn't fit. 

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28 minutes ago, Lord Zimmer said:

This is one of the areas I find JW to be incredibly weak. His action cues overall are just background noise to me. There is nothing interesting, it doesn't heighten the scenes whatsoever. Most of the time I find the music not even jelling well with what is on screen. It just doesn't fit. 

 

This is the first time I’ve ever heard this opinion. Not surprised it would come from someone named “Lord Zimmer” though.

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15 minutes ago, Iron_Giant said:

 

This is the first time I’ve ever heard this opinion. Not surprised it would come from someone named “Lord Zimmer” though.

 

I had the exact same thought.... 😂 

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I hate to post in a thread with such authorship but I can make the sacrifice to promote John:

 

 

The last 30 seconds have such a masterful sense of delaying the musically inevitable which really elevates the scene.

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48 minutes ago, TGP said:

I hate to post in a thread with such authorship but I can make the sacrifice to promote John:

 

 

The last 30 seconds have such a masterful sense of delaying the musically inevitable which really elevates the scene.

The best X-Men cue from the best X-Men film!

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Your rules suck ass. 

 

Ben's Death and the Tie Fighter Attack. Truly great truly underrated and under appreciated.  It deserves much more discussion than shit like Across the Stars or Battle of the Heroes.

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