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Grade Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End by Hans Zimmer


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Grade Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End by Hans Zimmer  

49 members have voted

  1. 1. Grade Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End by Hans Zimmer

    • A+ (100%)
      7
    • A (95%)
      3
    • A- (90%)
      1
    • B+ (89%)
      11
    • B (85%)
      4
    • B- (80%)
      6
    • C+ (79%)
      3
    • C (75%)
      3
    • C- (70%)
      1
    • D+ (69%)
      1
    • D (65%)
      1
    • D- (60%)
      2
    • F (0%)
      6


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The movie is out, the score is out, and now that you've seen and heard both, how would you rate this new film score?

I personally would give it a B-.

Thus far, the JWFAN.net community has rated:

Lady in the Water by James Newton Howard A-

X-Men: The Last Stand by John Powell B

007: Casino Royale by David Arnold B

The Da Vinci Code by Hans Zimmer B-

Apocalypto by James Horner C

Charlotte's Webby Danny Elfman C

Blood Diamond by James Newton Howard C

Superman Returns by John Ottman C-

Eragon by Patrick Doyle D+

All the Kings Men by James Horner D

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Dead Man's Chest by Hans Zimmer F

The Overall Output of the year 2006 as graded by JWFAN.net: D+

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I gave it a B+ It is a lot better than the second, but still not quite as good as the first. I especially like the "Up is Down" track.

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B+

Integrated just about all the themes from all 3 movies pretty well and is certainly a more enjoyable listen than the first two.

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A+

I may be biased because I'm a Zimmer fan, but this is why I started listening to film music to begin with. It has action, drama, humor, and more importantly it's enjoyable in the film AND on CD. The themes are terrific and there are just so many FUN cues... I love it!

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I like it. A good effort, excellent in the film. Not bad on the album. 'Up is Down' is definately the highlight.

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If this is any kind of an A, there are letters of the alphabet previously unknown to me. :shakehead:

Seriously though, without having seen the film, it's probably a B-. Some good passages and themes, and refreshingly few power anthem moments (though not quite few enough). The action material ultimately suffers from often being just too much loud bombast and too little substance (somewhat like CutThroat island, though that is a better score).

For a Zimmer blockbuster score, it has some surprisingly good key moments, and is overall quite enjoyable.

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I'm being nice and giving it a B. The scores for all the Pirate films so far really work well in their films but on their own in my opinion are just ..........meh. I don't really care to much for them.

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B+. I didn't give A since there are some flaws and unoriginal moments. There are however also A+ moments on the album - like my favourites "Up is Down", "Drink Up Me Hearties" and some portions from "I don't think now is the best time").

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B- after seeing the film. It's a fun score and a well produced album for the most part. The second half of the end credits is the only major omission that I can think of.

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A. I loved the soundtrack before I saw the movie than after I saw it I was kind of disappointed how lacking the soundtrack was compared to the movie. I love "Hoist the Colors" and the ending of "At Wit's End" how Zimmer used the Jones locket and organ theme and made it more....powerful to say the least. I wish they would make a complete score for this movie only.

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C+ for me. Not at all impressed. The new love theme was more bland and generic than the one Badelt/Zimmer/all the king's men wrote for the original POTC. Older, perfectly viable themes were abandoned all over the place. The random electic guitar power chords in that one shot left me feeling slightly queasy. I was even bored by "Hoist the Colors." The Asian percussion was interesting but overused. The return of Davy Jones' theme is a welcome one, but it isn't developed any more than it was in the second score. Seriously, I've improv'ed through far more interesting variations on that theme while sitting at my crappy old upright. I haven't listened to the album on its own, but it's not an experience I'm terribly eager to have. Believe it or not, I'd rather listen to the first score. It may have been more monotonous, but there are many moments that are quite fun if you listen to them without the rest of the score.

Who knows, maybe this score will grow on me a little like the second score did. But that isn't saying a whole lot.

- Datameister, who's a noob and will probably buy the score anyway

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:mellow:

Now that Zimmer takes over for Badelt and uses more orchestral elements and takes more chances with the music, people are enjoying the first score all of a sudden? Hah!

"Fickle"

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I was kind of disappointed how lacking the soundtrack was compared to the movie. I wish they would make a complete score for this movie only.

Exactly. Maybe we'll get lucky and the popularity of the movie will cause an 2 disk complete version to be released.

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F

My ears still hurt from hearing it in the film last night

I want the people who gave it an F to back it up.

It represents everything I loathe about "modern" film scoring.I hated Hanz Zimmer for ruining film scoring last night

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I didn't walk out of the theater with any of the "3rd movie only" themes in my head. The only memorable themes were the ones that were used in the first two movies. Other than that, the rest seemed like bland underscore to me. Except for that...different...electric guitar cue, which made it sound like an adult film....

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D-

Flickers of life here and there. Mostly forgettable. Boring, boorish. These movies could have had awesome scores.

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It's always amazing how these Pirates movie have scored mixed to eardrum shattering level (I don't think it's an exaggeration),while Williams gets the barely audible level treatment.

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Yes they could have.

Yes, they could have. :(

Each score has some nice highlights, though. In fact, contrary to popular belief, if you go back to the first score, there are actually some hints of intelligent and original thought hidden in there. Check out the triplet/sixteenth-note polyrhythms in "Walk the Plank," for instance, or the surprisingly subtle sections of "One Last Shot." No, it's not particularly complex, and no, it's not particularly original, but I don't think it should be deemed a capital offense for enjoying these moments. I confess to even enjoying the stereotypical MV minor-key French horn plus strings action themes, as long as I don't listen to them too much. ("I said no lies!")

The second score had some cool moments, too, and I guess my ears perked up at a couple of measures here and there in the third. Perhaps those were just interesting by comparison.

How I would LOVE to hear what the John Williams of the late 70s or early 80s would have done with the themes from the first and a few from the second...some of them have such incredible potential, IMO.

::dons kevlar suit in preparation for flaming::

It's always amazing how these Pirates movie have scored mixed to eardrum shattering level (I don't think it's an exaggeration),while Williams gets the barely audible level treatment.

It's okay, the loudness of the trumpets in the ROTLA album makes up for any aural inadequacies in his filmography. :fouetaa:

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How can be rated the Hal Zimmer score as there is 7 composers on the film ? :fouetaa:

If you want to argue semantics, how could we respond to that which does not make sense? :(

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Not everyone has english as their first language.

It makes perfect sense what he's saying: "How can we grade Zimmer if he's using 7 composers?".

:fouetaa:

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Instead of ridiculing somebody whose first language isn't English, why don't you just admit that he has a point? IMDb does indeed list many composers of "additional music." Come on. You guys know Zimmer couldn't have actually written two and a half hours of music by himself.

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Even Clemmenson mentions Zimmer's ghost writers. No getting around it.

John- who hasn't seen the film yet so isn't voting. Like you don't know what it's going to be.

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Instead of ridiculing somebody whose first language isn't English, why don't you just admit that he has a point? IMDb does indeed list many composers of "additional music." Come on. You guys know Zimmer couldn't have actually written two and a half hours of music by himself.

Gosh, you're right! Why hasn't anyone EVER mentioned that before?? :fouetaa:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still somewhat inappropriate for the film/genre in the movie, mixed overly loud (or maybe its just the theater i was in) which with the also loud sound effects makes for ear shattering aural mess. On CD its somehwat of a guilty pleasure though, something which I wouldnt say for the first two. So overall a B-, though I'm tempted to drop it to C+ for the very annoying metallic thumps (booms? clangs?) in Hoist the Colors. :(

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The decision to go more traditionally orchestral was nice, in theory. The sheer acoustic-ness of some of the quieter moments is greatly appreciated...but on a gut level, I still enjoy the first score the most. (Again, I mean that I enjoy it in small doses.) It presents some good--and, usually, thoroughly unoriginal--ideas, occasionally with spot-on execution but usually with mediocre or poor execution. The action power anthems are guilty pleasures for me, but definite pleasures nonetheless. The second score brings back the trumpets that are mostly absent from the first score, but the performance is so strident that they aren't a welcome addition. The third fixes the problem with a compromise.

I now have the third album--in fact, I'm listening to it now--and my reaction is mixed. "Hoist the Colors" ain't really my cup of tea, but it's not particularly offensive to me. The "Asian" music for Singapore was actually more enjoyable on the album than I expected, and the misplaced statement of Jack's first theme (as he comes over the dune on the Pearl) is rather nice. Certainly an improvement over its comparatively hideous counterpart from the second score. "Multiple Jacks" is rather entertaining, though much more so in the context of the film. Musically, the ending to this film is the weakest of the three. The first had a rather nice and semi-intelligent ending: after the action was all over, it quieted down to a more romantic and wistful tonality. Not terribly original, but I like it. Then it picks up the pace with the understated cello ostinato from Drop Zone and a few other MV scores, before "He's a Pirate" delivers a heavy dose of guilty pleasure. The second film is understandably dolorous until Jack's rescue is proposed, at which point there's a very nice build with that whole i - VI - IV progression, finishing with the full orchestra playing that playful theme from the first score. (If only the following "He's a Pirate" re-recording weren't so hideous...) But the third film's ending has a lot of great musical elements that come together to form a completely disappointing whole. The playful stuff with both of Jack's themes is entertaining, and the big statement of his original theme is nice, and the latest "He's a Pirate" re-recording is not bad, but the whole finale lacks the musical contour that the other two had. I'm enjoying listening to it, though.

The one musical element that REALLY bugged me when I saw the film was the new love theme. It felt so out-of-place, especially considering there was still room for development of the old love theme. I felt like I was watching a relationship develop between two totally different people. Oh, wait...no, that was the film's fault. :) But anyway, it's grown on me a bit, despite its blatant unoriginality.

Yeah, as I listen to some of the third score's action music, I gotta say, the slightly more symphonic feel is nice. :) I've said it before...I'd really love to hear a symphonic suite of music from all three films extensively re-orchestrated by John Williams and recorded with full-sized, reputable orchestra. Perhaps a little synth here and there to introduce sounds that aren't acoustically possible and to augment the acoustic percussion, but mostly a symphonic sound. I've yet to be convinced that an intelligent attempt at this would be impossible. I think the Williams of the 70s and 80s would do a fantastic job.

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I've said it before...I'd really love to hear a symphonic suite of music from all three films extensively re-orchestrated by John Williams and recorded with full-sized, reputable orchestra. Perhaps a little synth here and there to introduce sounds that aren't acoustically possible and to augment the acoustic percussion, but mostly a symphonic sound. I've yet to be convinced that an intelligent attempt at this would be impossible. I think the Williams of the 70s and 80s would do a fantastic job.

OMG, he's associating Williams with POTC!

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Yeah, as I listen to some of the third score's action music, I gotta say, the slightly more symphonic feel is nice. :) I've said it before...I'd really love to hear a symphonic suite of music from all three films extensively re-orchestrated by John Williams and recorded with full-sized, reputable orchestra. Perhaps a little synth here and there to introduce sounds that aren't acoustically possible and to augment the acoustic percussion, but mostly a symphonic sound. I've yet to be convinced that an intelligent attempt at this would be impossible. I think the Williams of the 70s and 80s would do a fantastic job.

Heck yeah, man. I listened to the first score again recently, and I think it could sound wonderful in a true, full orchestra. :)

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Beats me. It really doesn't make any sense. For the most part, it just makes listenable music sound worse. For instance, "Swords Crossed" (which is mislabeled, if I recall correctly) could be a pretty cool cue, except for the fact that it often sounds like video game music and has superfluous electronic guitar sounds and such.

EDIT: The above was to red_rabbit.

It's telling, though, that most people don't even know there's an orchestra under the synths most of the time. I can sometimes pick it out here and there, but...

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He has used a true, full orchestra many, many times actually.

He's just augmented it with a battery of synth's and samples and other kinds of effects.

But POTC would've sounded so much better without those synths and other gizmos.

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He has used a true, full orchestra many, many times actually.

He's just augmented it with a battery of synth's and samples and other kinds of effects.

Yeah, but none of that bothers me nearly as much as his orchestra as synth stuff. I mean, that just makes no sense. I don't mind a lot of the electronic augmentation in the PoTC scores, it's all part of the feel that Bruckheimer wanted to achieve.

He has used a true, full orchestra many, many times actually.

He's just augmented it with a battery of synth's and samples and other kinds of effects.

But POTC would've sounded so much better without those synths and other gizmos.

But it would have felt different. I love the classic swashbuckler scores, but I can undertand the want to have a less-old fashioned approache. I do not doubt that I would enjoy a Hook or Cutthroat Island type score more, but, these scores have connected with people to a great extent, despite us film score fans.

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I've said it before...I'd really love to hear a symphonic suite of music from all three films extensively re-orchestrated by John Williams and recorded with full-sized, reputable orchestra. Perhaps a little synth here and there to introduce sounds that aren't acoustically possible and to augment the acoustic percussion, but mostly a symphonic sound. I've yet to be convinced that an intelligent attempt at this would be impossible. I think the Williams of the 70s and 80s would do a fantastic job.

Yeah that will happen.

Williams has better things to do than waste his time with that drivel.

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I'd also like to hear the themes arranged into an orchestral suite by someone competent. Doubtful that it'll ever happen though.

Ray Barnsbury

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