David Arnold Will Score #22

Loeffelholz · October 2007

Probably not a surprise to anyone, but it looks like it's official, according to CBn, quoting Arnold's website:

http://commanderbond.net/article/4582

I'll be interested to see how he decides to intersperse the Bond Theme into the new film. I wouldn't be surprised, given #22's rumoured starting off point as "two minutes after" the end of CR, if he leads with it :007)

frostbitten · October 2007

Very good news. Arnold certainly has a way with lush, beautiful melodies (he is not as good as Barry, but easily as good as any other current film composer I know).

Tee Hee · October 2007

Loeffelholz wrote:

Probably not a surprise to anyone, but it looks like it's official, according to CBn, quoting Arnold's website:

http://commanderbond.net/article/4582

Glad to hear that Dave's locked in for Bond 22. I say, as long as the quality of his work remains excellent, Arnold should continue to score the Bond films. {[]

Loeffelholz wrote:

I'll be interested to see how he decides to intersperse the Bond Theme into the new film. I wouldn't be surprised, given #22's rumoured starting off point as "two minutes after" the end of CR, if he leads with it :007)

I certainly hope so. The lack of the "James Bond Theme" in CR was blasphemous IMO.

Let's open Bond 22 with "The James Bond Theme," and the traditional gunbarrel too!

Moonraker 5 · October 2007

Loeffelholz wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised, given #22's rumoured starting off point as "two minutes after" the end of CR, if he leads with it :007)

A thumping rendition for the new gunbarrel sequence, with any luck.

taity · October 2007

I really have liked his work so far, on the whole most of the movies have been very well done. Not a huge fan of his action scoring, but I feel he excels himself in all the romantic or foreign location elemnts (no matter what you say about DAD's score, that Cuba music was damned cool)

Loeffelholz · October 2007

taity wrote:

(no matter what you say about DAD's score, that Cuba music was damned cool)

Agreed; I really enjoyed Arnold's 'Latin' flavourings as we watched Bond's pre-Castro-era car cruise along the road B-)

emtiem · October 2007

Loeffelholz wrote:

I'll be interested to see how he decides to intersperse the Bond Theme into the new film. I wouldn't be surprised, given #22's rumoured starting off point as "two minutes after" the end of CR, if he leads with it :007)

Yeah; tricky that. I don't really think that the very retro version he used at the end of CR suited the new Bond- he just doesn't seem like a jazz kind of guy to me!

It'll be interesting to see what he does, although I can't deny that I wasn't blown away by his CR stuff- it still sounds pretty much like his old Bond stuff.

Barbel · October 2007

David Arnold Will Score #22

Good. Some continuity. I'm not a fan of Arnold's action music, but his slower pieces are superb and getting better all the time ("City Of Lovers").

darenhat · October 2007

Barbel wrote:

David Arnold Will Score #22

Good. Some continuity. I'm not a fan of Arnold's action music, but his slower pieces are superb and getting better all the time ("City Of Lovers").

Agreed. I think Arnold is great, especially with the melodies, but his action stuff tends to be a bit repetitive and relies too much on a 'drum machine' sound IMO. Barry was able to create some exciting, classy rhythms in his earlier work without a using a pervasive drum beat.

walther p99 · October 2007

i hated that the james Bond theme was only played a very few times throughout CR, and those wee only subtle hints, i cant wait to hear how he incorperates it into action cues and such.

youknowmyname · October 2007

walther p99 wrote:

i hated that the james Bond theme was only played a very few times throughout CR, and those wee only subtle hints, i cant wait to hear how he incorperates it into action cues and such.

good to hear arnold is back with the baton in hand. I would like to hear that theme a few more times as well in the next one. I suspect we will hear it a little more, since the beginning of the groundwork is done and bond, james bond is coming into his own (as follows the CR timeline) in 22.

Loeffelholz · October 2007

emtiem wrote:

I don't really think that the very retro version he used at the end of CR suited the new Bond- he just doesn't seem like a jazz kind of guy to me!

I rather liked the 'retro' take on the theme there; it seemed to make sense given the 'reboot' of the character.

emtiem wrote:

It'll be interesting to see what he does, although I can't deny that I wasn't blown away by his CR stuff- it still sounds pretty much like his old Bond stuff.

CR is my favourite of his Bond scores, TND being the second. I enjoyed hearing Arnold 'sidestep' the theme at various key moments in CR, as the character passed through key development points...and then the brassy retro theme at the end B-)

It seems almost a given that we'll get more 'Bond Theme' this time round...what he does with it will, as ever, be the thing.

emtiem · October 2007

Loeffelholz wrote:

emtiem wrote:

I don't really think that the very retro version he used at the end of CR suited the new Bond- he just doesn't seem like a jazz kind of guy to me!

I rather liked the 'retro' take on the theme there; it seemed to make sense given the 'reboot' of the character.

I dunno- I wasn't sure that it did. It was so 60's, and our new Bond just isn't a man of the 60's. I liked it, but to be honest I think the trailer version, if any, suits him more.

Loeffelholz wrote:

emtiem wrote:

It'll be interesting to see what he does, although I can't deny that I wasn't blown away by his CR stuff- it still sounds pretty much like his old Bond stuff.

CR is my favourite of his Bond scores, TND being the second. I enjoyed hearing Arnold 'sidestep' the theme at various key moments in CR, as the character passed through key development points...

Yeah I did like that. I really didn't mind the lack of loads of Bond theme- we got about the same amount of it that John Barry normally gave us anyway, so it was no big blow. And the YKMN theme was rather nice as it was- a real shame he didn't play it a bit fuller- imagine a nice rocky action version of it over the Miami airport bit a la the TLD theme playing during Bond's rooftop chase etc.

spectre7 · October 2007

Casino Royale is Arnold's best Bond score to date, but even that one isn't without its problems, namely his poor action writing for the Venice climax. A shame, as his other two big action cues, African Rundown and Miami International, were well considered and constructed pieces that propelled the on-screen action.

It should be noted that the lack of the Bond theme was one of the reasons why the Casino Royale score was a success. Arnold greatly overused the theme in his other scores, suggesting a lack of ideas and motivation on his part. Even John Barry never used it as much as Arnold. For #22, Arnold needs to use the theme sparingly, although of course it is only right that it should appear more often in the score this time around.

emtiem · October 2007

spectre7 wrote:

It should be noted that the lack of the Bond theme was one of the reasons why the Casino Royale score was a success. Arnold greatly overused the theme in his other scores, suggesting a lack of ideas and motivation on his part. Even John Barry never used it as much as Arnold. For #22, Arnold needs to use the theme sparingly, although of course it is only right that it should appear more often in the score this time around.

Yes definitely. And Barry often didn't use it much more than it was used in CR- think of AVTAK or Golden Gun for example- a full blown version somewhere, a couple of phrases from it and that was pretty much it. Pretty much the same as CR.

taity · October 2007

nah, Barry certainly used it more. For example in TMWTGG it was used in its entirety when Bond was sneaking into Andrea's room. YKMN only had the first couple of lines used. That said, I did like that we didnt get the James Bond theme every two minutes.

To me the over use of the James Bond theme feels like a forced attempt to remind us that we're watching a James Bond movie.

emtiem · October 2007

taity wrote:

nah, Barry certainly used it more.

A bit more yeah, but not by a huge amount. AVTAK for example- off the top of my head (and I daresay I'll miss a few!) had a phrase in the pre-credits when the sub shows up; a big version in the Paris chase and then I can't recall any other uses of it in the film at all. Is there a little version in the spa?
Whereas CR had small bits of it popping up in the arrival at the Bahamas, the Bahamas card game, the dinner jacket scene, and a couple of other small places, and then a big version at the end. If he hadn't said that he wouldn't be using it much so publically, I don't think many would have noticed.

Agent Wade · October 2007

Tee Hee wrote:

Glad to hear that Dave's locked in for Bond 22. I say, as long as the quality of his work remains excellent, Arnold should continue to score the Bond films. {[]

I certainly hope so. The lack of the "James Bond Theme" in CR was blasphemous IMO.

Let's open Bond 22 with "The James Bond Theme," and the traditional gunbarrel too!

Now let's be fair. Anyone with an ear can tell the difference between a lack and a tease. The Bond theme was all over the movie in little bits here and there trying to sneak through. The covering and blending of it into "You Know My Name" was one of the most clever creations I've hear in a long long time. Tell me you did feel an adrenaline rush when that music finally cut loose in the end!:v

David Arnold Will Score #22

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