Movies, even fantasy, sci-fi, or dark comic book adaptations, are much more than just nailing the visuals. Sure, that’s the first step to convincing the geek constituency a studio is on track, but these films like all pictures, are also about capturing the right mood tenor and tone which infinitely more abstract and sometimes ineffable.
“The Dark Knight” was as super successful and genuinely great as it was not only because it was thrilling, dramatic, well-acted and realistic, but because it carefully zeroed-in on and calibrated the exact right atmosphere and timbre of the goth-y caped crusader. It entrusted high caliber people in all realms of filmmaking to bring their world and character to life.
In recent weeks we started believing “Watchmen” could be… maybe not as good as a super hero movie (that’s far too much to ask), but at least strong and genuinely entertaining escapism in the vein of “Iron Man.” But listening to a quick preview clip of Tyler Bates’ “Watchmen” score (pinched from an amazon mp3 preview) and this thought sounds like it could be extremely wishful thinking. A tasteful and powerful Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard score this is not. In fact, quite the opposite. The bad techno-metal score herein this preview clip, called “Prison Fight” sounds straight out of “Ghost Rider” courtesy of the corny testosterone techno rockers, the Crystal Method. Isn’t this something you’d hear in “Doom” or some flick like “Mortal Combat”?
Yes, it’s only one song and it’s only thirty seconds of that track, but Bates isn’t exactly known as a Academy Award winner like Zimmer and Howard for example and this just reminds us we’re working with a different, and lower frankly, class of film. A lot of “Watchmen” elements out there so far like the trailers and whatnot and their obsessive use of slo-mo and terrible Smashing Pumpkins rock (their worst era too) had seemed pretty corny to us, but we’d sort of forgotten about it a bit and been a bit more forgiving. This quick clip is a fast slap to the face and a wake-up call. This film is probably still fine for the geeks, but likely wont have a Christopher Nolan-like Batman wide appeal. Here it is, it’s pretty damn troublesome and would probably make Alan Moore violently wretch.
Meanwhile the “Watchmen” soundtrack comes out on WB’s Reprise label February 24, but no track list has been revealed yet. However, Zack Snyder has already said that My Chemical Romance will cover Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” in the film [ed. the highest form of heresy], plus counter culture track featured will include Jimi Hendrix “All Along the Watchtower, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,” another Dylan track, Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence,” and Nena’s “99 Luftballoons”( the German version of course) and “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole.
And we just found (and downloaded), this tracklist for a purported “pre-release” ‘Watchmen’ soundtrack online. Obviously it could be fan made, but it’s worthwhile to note. Could these songs not already called out by Snyder be in the final cut? If you saw that preview screening in Portland and can confirm, email us, but as of right now, we’re hoping “Watchmen” isn’t any corny as this track.
01 Billie Holiday – You’re My Thrill
02 Nat King Cole – Unforgettable
03 Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’
04 Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
05 Bob Dylan – Desolation Row
06 Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound Of Silence
07 Iggy Pop – Neighborhood Threat
08 John Cale – Sanities
09 Elvis Costello – The Comedians
10 The Police – Walking On the Moon
11 Devo – Jocko Homo
12 Smashing Pumpkins – The End Is The Beginning Is The End
