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Your favorite big sexy opening action track


Jay

Your favorite big sexy opening action track  

22 members have voted

  1. 1. Your favorite big sexy opening action track

    • White Knight by David Arnold, 1997
    • Show Me the Money / Come In 007 Your Time Is Up by David Arnold, 1999
    • African Rundown by David Arnold, 2006
    • The A400 by Joe Kraemer, 2015


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Listening to White Knight again thanks to the expansion made me appreciate it all over again, and made me think of other times a score gets off to a killer start with a big, blow-out, thematic action track.  Arnold did it superbly three times, and Kraemer's contribution for MI5 is just as awesome in my book

 

What is your favorite from these options, and can you think of any other scores that have something like these kinds of tracks right at the start of their films?

 

Let's only consider options longer than 5 minutes!

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Bounty95 said:

I have to listen to these cues later to be able decide, but I'd add Escape from TLJ. 

I think the poll refers specifically to just spy/action movies? Otherwise, it would had too many options to choose. I myself could choose something like Two Towers' Glamdring... lol

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Thise 4 are indeed terrific and it's hard to choose. But I went for White Knight mostly because the orcheatration and using of the James Bond theme and melody from Surrender.

 

Other choices:

Indy's Very First Adventure - John Williams

 

The Battle - Hans Zimmer (Gladiator)

 

And these 3 might be a bit of a cheat:

The Thestral Chase - James Newton Howard (2nd half is action)

 

Themyscira/Games - Hans Zimmer (2 cues but great action)

 

The Power Of Grayskull - Bear McCreary (not the opening of a film but very early on in the series. I had to include it)

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6 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I think the poll refers specifically to just spy/action movies? Otherwise, it would had too many options to choose. I myself could choose something like Two Towers' Glamdring... lol

 

That's not even 4 minutes long.  This poll is about long setpieces

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7 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I think the poll refers specifically to just spy/action movies? 

 

You may of course be right, but Jay didn't specifically state that so I thought I had some leeway here. 

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I'm fairly positive this counts after watching the opening sequence (though the mixing could've been better in a few spots in the scene itself):

 

I wasn't actually expecting this piece to open the film, as the way the score was composed made it seem more likely for it to be tracked somewhere else instead, and yet sure enough it's the first thing you hear:

 

I might've posted the opening cue to Hellraiser II, but I'm unsure if it actually is unbroken like that in the movie (plus it's more a fantasy horror piece than action oriented).

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5 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

This is my favorite I think:

 

Yavar

 

Good one! Both Legend and Mask of Zorro are high on my list for expansions and they would make a great 2 score release from one of the labels.

 

Also love Gladiator and WW1984 Fantastic Beasts 2 which have been mentioned a few posts up.

 

In the poll I voted for African Rundown but the other Bond cues and A400 are all great as well.

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2 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Other choices:

Indy's Very First Adventure - John Williams

Actually 4 (?) cues.

Main Title - Klingon Battle. STTMP

 

Cheating a bit, as it's not really an action cue, but it sort of is at the same time.

 

Fire and Water BotFA

 

Would went with My Dear Frodo if there was more action in it.

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3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

This qualifies as a James Bond style action track for me:

 

4 hours ago, Jay said:

Let's only consider options longer than 5 minutes!

 

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1 hour ago, Clockwork Angel said:

Fire and Water BotFA

 

I strongly considered adding that to the poll, before deciding sci fi / fantasy tinted ones were hard to compare against the four spy action ones I mostly had in mind when thinking about this poll, so omitted it.  But DAMN do I love that opening track!

 

I also considering adding this opening banger, but it was too short

 

 

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A400 did give me pause. It does everything you want a Mission: Impossible opening to do. But to be fair, it ONLY does that. (Perfectly.) Ok, wow, it's so good!

 

But White Knight gets it. Because it does everything you want a Bond opening to do. Perfectly. And then at 7:10 those horns (not those horns, THOSE horns) come in with Surrender! It's like a gear shift. Yes, there can be MORE than the Bond themes.

 

4 hours ago, HunterTech said:

I'm fairly positive this counts after watching the opening sequence (though the mixing could've been better in a few spots in the scene itself):

 

You know, there's a school of thought to introduce a theme in bits and pieces. Build it. Let it mature.

 

At 3:00 John Powell says "There is another way." Astrid's theme comes out in the biggest, boldest, fullest version in the whole film. God bless him!

 

May I offer...

 

I think this might be the best or at least the second best track in Star Wars. (Not all of Star Wars. Just Star Wars. The first one.) And (as we know) there are a lot of great tracks in Star Wars.

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