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Lorne Balfe's BLACK WIDOW (2021)


Jay

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This brilliant track, contrary to popular belief, is not by either Powell or Zimmer, but by Balfe

 

 

I'd give the guy a chance but it's not like the Black Widow movie is gonna give him much room to stretch his legs....

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Yes, he has great talent, actually. It's just that he 'phones in it' a little too many times, given the nature of the projects.

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They could have been planning on recording Desplat's score in April, giving them plenty of time to have it all ready for the original May 1st release date.

 

Desplat could have been replaced because they are now planning on recording the score closer to the new release date and Desplat has other commitments then, because they didn't like his score based on mockups of what he had written, because Balfe can provide a score that is mostly synth with some solos recorded live, or any number of other reasons 

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Are you implying Rogue One and Black Widow are the only 2 times Desplat was connected to a movie, then wasn't?

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3 minutes ago, Jay said:

Are you implying Rogue One and Black Widow are the only 2 times Desplat was connected to a movie, then wasn't?

A Disney property.

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Desplat could have been replaced because they are now planning on recording the score closer to the new release date and Desplat has other commitments then, because they didn't like his score based on mockups of what he had written, because orchestras in the USA aren't allowed to be in the same room right now and Balfe can provide a score that is mostly synth with some solos recorded live, or any number of other reasons 

 

Yeah, I guess it was probably that.

 

And, for me, personally, this is sad. Marvel could've waited until the pandemic is over to record Desplat's score. But the fact that they are scoring it right now with mostly synths and Balfe indicates that they want the movie finished as soon as possible... so they can release it on Disney+ or something.

 

Gosh, I hope not.

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Desplat might've been the only reason to see this film other than to oogle at Scarlett Johansson doing ridiculous stunts, now he's gone!

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Jay said:

Are you implying Rogue One and Black Widow are the only 2 times Desplat was connected to a movie, then wasn't?

 

No.

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2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Link, please.

I think Drax might be referring to 2:49 here. 

 

Honestly, I don't mind Balfe's score to Fallout all that much, and there are one or two tracks I kind of dig when played at the right time, but it's not all that good/creative and is mixed so very poorly in the film. Immensely dissapointed that Desplat has got the boot here, and I hate to speak too soon, but I'm pretty sure we know what we can expect from Balfe on a blockbuster superhero movie (i.e. more of the same).

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That's not a Balfe composition, that's "The Plot" written by Lalo Schifrin for the original TV series. Five of the six M:I films use it throughout their scores (Zimmer is the only composer who didn't bring it in)

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2 minutes ago, Jay said:

That's not a Balfe composition, that's "The Plot" written by Lalo Schifrin for the original TV series. Five of the six M:I films use it throughout their scores (Zimmer is the only composer who didn't bring it in)

 

Really? I didn't notice it until I saw Fallout. 🤷‍♂️

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

That's not a Balfe composition, that's "The Plot" written by Lalo Schifrin for the original TV series. Five of the six M:I films use it throughout their scores (Zimmer is the only composer who didn't bring it in)

 

Exactly. HanZ probably didn't know about it.

 

13 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

it's not all that good/creative and is mixed so very poorly in the film.

 

Too loud, you mean?

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That middle eastern version from MI5 is mixed very loudly in the film

 

All of them are very noticeable on their soundtrack albums

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

I disagree, and I also don't know why Balfe used it for a bad guy, when it was always used for the good guys before

 

Overall I think it's funny that the one thing you found to praise about Balfe's effort was actually written by somebody else

 

Well obviously it sticks out if it's the only thing I remember from that score. And I didn't know it was a Schifrin composition, I simply heard it in the movie was like "hey cool bad guy music!"

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Tbf, Balfe used a few times I could remember, and not as bad guy music:

 

 

And not sure if it was released (surely somewhere?) but here, too:

 

 

I don't think Balfe was explicitly using it as a bad guy motif in the helicopter chase anyway, it played as much for Ethan antagonising the bad guy as anything else

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I was just going by what Drax said about the scene, I don't remember the scene, or anything Balfe did in the score, myself

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The big issue I have with the idea that Balfe is only here as a result of COVID-19 affecting recording schedules is this post from the start of March, which would've been made before Hollywood made any of the big choices they did:

 

I suppose it's possible they were doing early preparations before making any proper announcements, but this feels like it had already been set in stone prior. Who knows for sure.

 

I dig Balfe's full, mostly unused score to Ad Astra (not the selection on the OST), but that's really about it. Fallout is okayish, but I've more been disappointed by him than anything else. I'm more concerned about the fact Disney possibly might've kicked Desplat out of Hollywood, considering that's now two huge profile films he's been removed from. He'll probably still get some gigs sure, but it just sets a likely precedent, I feel.

 

EDIT: Oh right, there was a poster released after Balfe's FB post that still had Desplat's name on it. While it could've been a contractual thing, I guess it's likely Marvel enlisted Lorne to make a few demos while trying to decide the fate of the score for the film. And now that we are in pandemic mode, they could use that as the official excuse if ever prompted about it.

 

Is this the first time the MCU has had a score be replaced? There's probably one or two films that had different composers lined up originally, but I can't really think of any off the top of my head.

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22 minutes ago, ddddeeee said:

They didn't have enough time to do the whole thing, but Elfman was replacing Tyler's score on AoU. He wasn't lending a helping hand as was reported.

And yet there is a lot of Elfman stuff that wasn't used in the finished film and replaced with Tyler's material.

 

Karol

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Indeed. I tried to study the score for Age of Ultron through the recording sessions leak that came out last year and compare it to the movie, but I gave up. It was simply a horrible, atrocious mess, mixing material from Elfman, Tyler and Silvestri (for the first movie), plus the additional composers.

 

The funniest part is that the music editors knew that they have done their job so poorly that they drowned that horrid mess of a score in amidst the sound effects, so the music is barely listenable on the movie.

 

But yeah, long story short Tyler recorded a full score for that film, including a new Avengers theme, Elfman wrote lots of alternates (and another Avengers theme) for almost all Tyler cues on all reels except for reel 3 (the confrontation on Klawe's ship and the Hulkbuster battle on Johannesburg), and Silvestri's material for the first film replaced here and there.

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Additional composers? I'm aware both Elfman and Tyler each had their own teams on the film, but I don't recall hearing anyone else working on the film outside of the tracked stuff.

 

Tyler's unaltered AoU score was actually his best MCU effort, so it's disappointing it was treated poorly. Elfman's score is one of his weaker efforts from what I can recall currently, but it definitely had its moments. There's nothing great in either, but there was stuff to enjoy at the end of the day.

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3 minutes ago, HunterTech said:

Additional composers? I'm aware both Elfman and Tyler each had their own teams on the film, but I don't recall hearing anyone else working on the film outside of the tracked stuff.

 

Tyler's unaltered AoU score was actually his best MCU effort, so it's disappointing it was treated poorly. Elfman's score is one of his weaker efforts from what I can recall currently, but it definitely had its moments. There's nothing great in either, but there was stuff to enjoy at the end of the day.

 

I remember reading that Elfman used one or two additional composers, I guess Paul Mounsey...? I'm not exactly sure. I read that on that deceased forum dedicated to the JRPG.

 

And in my opinion, although Tyler's Ultron score is decent and have its moments (I reallty like "Sacrifice", specially the film version), I still think it could've been better, specially when he said he was going to be inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark. Maybe if it wasn't for so much interference by Whedon, Feige and whoever Marvel producer was on those sessions...

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Tyler's part included additional music by Keith Power, Elfman's replacement included additional music by Chris Bacon, T.J. Lindgren, and Paul Mounsey

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