Godzilla vs. Kong Soundtrack Discussion
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-26-2021 4:17 PMI recently downloaded the entire soundtrack. You can also listen to it on Spotify and Youtube.
Since 2014, we have had seven new Godzilla scores--This is undoubtedly the absolute worst of anything we've received in the last seven years. Maybe that's not entirely damning since I think the Reiwa/Monsterverse era has overall been the weakest era of Godzilla music so far. Or maybe it is... Depends on how you look at it.
I didn't care for Godzilla: King of the Monsters as a film, but even if you remove the Ifukube and Koseki themes, McCreary delivered the best Godzilla score since 2003. Hattori composed the most visually matched Godzilla score of his career with the anime films, particularly City on the Edge of Battle. I don't think his themes were as memorable as they were in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla or Godzilla 2000, but they certainly matched the films more. And while I find Sagisu overrated, and a bit redundant, there are pieces in Shin Godzilla that make up for the sum of its parts in spades. (Particularly "Persecution of the Masses" and "Who Will Know?")
Now, I'll admit, I'm not a fan of Holkenborg to begin with. He did alright with Mad Max: Fury Road and I was thoroughly entertained by his Terminator: Dark Fate score. I hated his DC movie contributions and his work on Deadpool, Sonic and Alita was just sonic wallpaper. Nothing memorable, nothing fun and nothing emotional. I couldn't begin to hum a single bar from any of those movies.
Here, Holkenborg is trying to craft memorable themes for the two title monsters, but it just comes off disingenuous. Every time his Godzilla theme comes up, it sounds like an off-brand, Ifukube theme. It's trying so hard to emulate a better motif, but it comes off as a low rent parody.
Kong's theme is a little better, and has a heroic flare. But I can't help but think of the superior 2005 theme by James Newton Howard every time it comes up.
The rest sounds like generic trailer music. Much of it is too electronic--Which is fine to an extent. Ko Otani utilized electronics for Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and it worked beautifully. Hell, even Pacific Rim: Uprising pulled it off better. The problem is the themes written here demand a more natural sound and heavy brass. Modern electronic methods just don't fit the bassy pieces. As a result, most of the score sounds like Holkenborg's hideous Batman theme--As if it were bad video game music.
On the plus side, "The Throne," is easily the best track on the official release. And the end of "Hollow Earth" plays with a Vangelis inspired variation of Kong's theme, which is sort of neat.
I wish I could say there were other themes to look forward to, but there's really not. The last 2-3 minutes of the soundtrack have a semblance of emotion that crescendo, unfortunately, to a stop before it does anything interesting. It's been a long time since I've been this disappointed in a soundtrack--Any soundtrack. It's a shame, because Godzilla and Kong deserve a lot better.
Djdndnejwnwn
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 4:19 PM@Gman
I agree
expecting the worst, sets you up for thr worst
sonictiger
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 4:23 PMThe soundtrack...is fine, I guess. Holkenborg's best work is easily still Zack Snyder's Justice League. I liked how he remixed Hyper Potions in Sonic, and also liked Jia's "theme" in the soundtrack. It's overall a 6/10. I've seen better.
sonictiger
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 4:25 PMAnd Bear McCreary should've collaborated with Junkie XL in order to make the score better.
KOTM's Godzilla theme was easily the best Goji theme.
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-26-2021 4:29 PMsonictiger,
That's because McCreary was using Akira Ifukube's theme from the original films. It's not just Godzilla's best theme, it is his penultimate theme.
I wish they just brought McCreary back. This wasn't the right project for Holkenborg.
sonictiger
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 4:32 PMZack Snyder's Justice League, I could understand.
But GVK? I'm not sure....
sonictiger
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 4:44 PMActually, I'm surprised Junkie didn't use a tune similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiULmf-AZ8
G theorist
MemberBaragonMar-26-2021 6:38 PMI'm not going to listen to the soundtrack until the movie releases here(in America), but hopefully its not...too horrible? I wanted it to surprise me, but by the sound of it, looks like its going to disappoint me instead.
I was expecting a godzilla theme that emulated the one in KOTM but had a eerie or sinister feel to it while Kong had a more or less standard emotional heroic nature type theme.
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-26-2021 6:53 PM"I was expecting a godzilla theme that emulated the one in KOTM but had a eerie or sinister feel to it while Kong had a more or less standard emotional heroic nature type theme."
Maybe you won't be disappointed then. Godzilla's theme is similar to the Ifukube motif, but it's also so close that it makes no sense as to why they wouldn't use his real theme. It sounds like a cheap knockoff of Ifukube's theme.
Kong's theme is certainly the better of the two, certainly heroic at times, but also a little generic. I think the main problem is their themes are brought to life largely by electronics and synth, instead of real instruments.
G theorist
MemberBaragonMar-26-2021 6:57 PM
Uh oh, Gman.i think this is a largely zoomer vs boomer scenario.
You cant deny it, you're just sick of those darn zoomers with their electro-pop music.
G theorist
MemberBaragonMar-26-2021 6:58 PMI'm joking, but I find that alot of new new age music don't use real instruments anymore. Atleast, the music i listen to. :(
I want to see a movie studio do an official Godzilla soundtrack that uses portions of his original theme, not enough to feel like its a copy but it brings something new and exciting to Godzilla and his theme...Oh wait
Hey, atleast people weren't turned off from the movie by the music. :)
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-26-2021 7:12 PMI love electronic music, but its effectiveness depends on what you're trying to do with it. The Godzilla theme here falls flat because it feels so hollow compared to the actual instruments Ifukube used and McCreary used to bring it to life as well.
Electronic music was primarily used for one of my all time favorite Godzilla scores. The difference was it wasn't trying to sound like low-rent Ifukube and created a wholly original theme for Godzilla on its own.
Djdndnejwnwn
MemberGiganMar-26-2021 10:28 PMthe theme isnt orignal its a bunch of chords pretending to be Ifukube. It sounds random and not thought out
expecting the worst, sets you up for thr worst
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-26-2021 10:38 PM"the theme isnt orignal its a bunch of chords pretending to be Ifukube."
Pretty much the best description possible.
flowersonthewall
MemberMothra LarvaeMar-27-2021 5:16 AMliterally!! it was fine during the movie but listening to it later was so,, depressing? godzillas theme in gvk is a constant tease of the recognizable introduction without leading into the rest of it. Kong's is fine and fun, but the antagonist deserved better. I was so excited to hear that theme reimagined for a somewhat more 'serious' movie.
Godzillatheking123
MemberBaragonMar-30-2021 11:02 PMI enjoyed KOTM as a film very much. So to each his own. As for the soundtrack...why not wait until you see it with the movie. Sometimes listening without the movie doesn't do it justice, you know.
G. H. (Gman)
AdminGodzillaMar-31-2021 5:22 AMGodzillatheking123,
I saw the movie Sunday night at a preview screening I was invited to. You're right, the soundtrack is improved largely because the sound effects drowned it out so I didn't have to hear it.
Djdndnejwnwn
MemberGiganMar-31-2021 7:40 AMThe Hollywood Noises just blend together
expecting the worst, sets you up for thr worst
