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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (2018) - Film & Score


Damien F

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4 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I'm sure it hasn't - Balfe is probably very happy.

 

I'm sure poor "just following orders" Balfe hates all of the attention the studio is giving his humble score.

 

Frankly I'm pretty neutral to the music he wrote: it's by no means awful (though please stay away from Schifrin). I'm not even gonna say he had objectively had shortcomings that were being called out. I'm just tired of composers hiding behind the excuse of "I was hired to do X", as if they implicitly are saying "the powers that be are the ones responsible for the quality, I'm just the scientist with the daughter held at gunpoint!" 

 

I'm not trying to reignite the discussion on what makes good film music that we had in this thread a few months ago.

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That’s sort of how it works, though. The composer is there to fulfill the director’s vision. Anyone in the industry will say the same thing. The reason why this particular score is getting so much “love and attention” is because of McQuarrie. Highly doubt the decision to do an isolated score track and composer commentary track was Paramount’s. 

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8 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

That’s sort of how it works, though. The composer is there to fulfill the director’s vision. Anyone in the industry will say the same thing. The reason why this particular score is getting so much “love and attention” is because of McQuarrie. Highly doubt the decision to do an isolated score track and composer commentary track was Paramount’s. 

 

No one's disputing your larger point  (and on the latter replace my earlier "studio" comment with "director" and the point stands). It's one of the number one unwritten tenets a film score fan has to accept 

 

It's purely that people didn't dig what he did, mentioned so (sometimes in ways that frankly were unnecessary at best), and he throws out that cliche to ward off any personal involvement. He's pretty consistent in his sound and approach from the growing high-profile projects he's accrued in the last year or two, would he really have written something that much different if, by God's grace and mercy, the producers and director pretty please with a cherry on top give him free artistic reign?

 

 Just own it and recognize some people don't like it, man! (said rhetorically to Balfe)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting review of Fallout by Filmtrack's Christian Clemmensen.

 

http://filmtracks.com/titles/mission_imp6.html

 

Very well written and spot on, and despite its lack of quality he's trying hard to say something positive about the score. Here's some highlights:

 

Quote

Balfe blasts you in the face with this material without any significant deviation in technique, and the emotional variance within the score is surprisingly ineffective; you have diarrhetic action, action, and more action, followed by occasional constipation in the form of brooding, ambient suspense or emotionless drama. Balfe has mostly lost the sense of style inherent in the franchise's music in the process of confusing Hunt with Batman, and all of the score's highlights are tied directly to the Schifrin interpolations at their most obvious.

 

Quote

The brass could be organic or manipulated to the point of despair, parts of the score forcing symphonic elements through processors meant to give the instruments an abrasive, synthetic edge.

 

Quote

Balfe has proven he is no fool, but he sometimes writes like one, and directors like McQuarrie are the reason for that continuing loss of finesse.

 

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I thought Balfe's score was fine for a bloody Mission Impossible film. Maybe some people are so invested in this series, but I really don't care who scores these films as long as they're committed and the music services the film - on both counts Balfe seemed to be enjoying what he was doing and the score had its moments...

 

QOaP.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/9/2018 at 6:32 PM, MrJosh said:

I still haven't listened to this. Is it better than Zimmer's M:I II? 

Most definitely. Miles better and more fitting  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I have half-watched the film with director and editor commentary track. The amount of times they praise the score is really unheard of. Filmmakers really seem to think this type of scoring is a pinnacle of this artform. No offense to Balfe, he was hired to do what he does. But this is truly depressing. :(

 

(The track is great... other than that)

 

Karol

 

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5 hours ago, crocodile said:

Well, I have half-watched the film with director and editor commentary track. The amount of times they praise the score is really unheard of. Filmmakers really seem to think this type of scoring is a pinnacle of this artform. No offense to Balfe, he was hired to do what he does. But this is truly depressing. :(

 

(The track is great... other than that)

 

Karol

 

You missed the countless other times McQuarrie praised Balfe’s score? Shouldn’t be a surprise!

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I wonder if McQuarrie wanted Zimmer all along and then Zimmer pulled out and gave the duties to Balfe? Then McQuarrie was like 'oh shit, yeah, Balfe, he's amazing, incredible, he delivered an outstanding score, so complex and diverse etc.' 

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

I heard that the score was butchered by the editor. Apparently Balfe talks about this in the commentary track with the director.

I will give this a listen. As much as this music isn't my cup of tea it's great to see so many features devoted to film music on a release. I'm interested in what he has to say.

 

Karol

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3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:
3 hours ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

I always thought Balfe was Zimmer's footstool. 

Fixed!

What's the difference?! :lol:

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6 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I can't help it, it just bothers me the outsize praise Balfe's score gets from "normies" compared to Kraemer's.  It bothers me.

 

I feel the same way. It’s not that I’m against the idea of hype, but taking it to this level for such a mediocre product is a little frustrating.

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  • 6 months later...

Celluloid Tunes exists outside time and space! :) We post reviews about current releases, old releases, semi-old releases, everything, whatever one feels like at any given time.

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  • 11 months later...

Having now seen the film, yeah, uh, about that "it works in the film": it reminds of some of those awkwardly scored Steven Segal movies.

There's a bike chase in Paris and its aftermath, which is, at best, there because the scene would feel even more awkward without music. It's nondescript, flat, orchestrally vapid, detached from the scene emotionally, and free of any attempt to even shape a scene. 

The score has an astonishing lack of colour and timbral variety. The usage and implementation of the Plot theme in the Paris chase aftermath is clumsy and extraordinarily amateurish. 

Moreover, the score doesn't indicate that the composer behind it has any notable sense for pace, let alone in a broader sense.

Or any ambition. 

If a washed out trope could be used, it was used. If one of the few short faint melodies sound okay on a single instrument group, don't bother fleshing them out. 

If you ever wanted to have a score combining the most overused scoring tropes in the blandest way possible, this 110 minute soundtrack is for you. 

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  • 3 years later...

Does anyone have a tracklist in chronological order? - with the bonus tracks?

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