You know, amongst all the crap that is in Transformers 2 (and there’s a lot of it), I think it’s important to also highlight the positive stuff about the movie. I’ve already taken some time on the site to talk about the amazing visual effects and remarkable action sequences… but earlier today I was reading and a tune jumped into my head and I started humming it… not even realizing what it was I was humming.
Anyway, after a few bars it occurred to me that I was humming the Autobots arrival theme music. That made the think about how no one (including me) has actually talked about or mentioned the score of Transformers 2. The music in the film is FANTASTIC. Yes, much of it is also from part 1, but that doesn’t diminish how truly fantastic it is.
So close your door, turn up your speakers and just enjoy this:
The music has some emotion to it…so why don’t they try to have some in the film instead of just swooping cameras and farting robot jokes?
Movie score have been my all time favorite genre of music.
I have always loved Orchestral music. However, they almost always make Film scores WAY more epic in comparison to normal Orchestral music.
My favorite scores so far have been: Batman Begins, 300, Transformers, Equilibrium, V for Vendetta, Hancock (idk why?). And a butt load of video game soundtracks
Oh my God I LOVE the music in that scene where they arrived on earth in the first film. It was amazing and epic.
I’m seeing the second tommorow, so watch out.
Who would’ve known that Autobots were so violent? Espcially Bumblbee when he tore the spine out of that one Decepticon. Optimus gets “Resevoir Dog” points too.
It’s a good score, but the Linkin Park and Nickelback songs just killed the soundtrack for me.
I like it! I’ll be downloading it!
Cliched, unoriginal crap
Steve Jablonsky does the music for Desperate Housewives which is really some solid music… The show sucks now, but the music is still really good.
And he also did Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Does anyone realize just how much of Transformers music isn’t original? Steve Jablonsky took a lot of the themes you hear in Transformers from other scores Hans Zimmer.
If you don’t notice the Batman Begins rhythm at the beginning then I’ll be surprised. Even the new score had plenty of elements from Hans Zimmer’s scores to Gladiator, King Arthur, and even Angels & Demons.
Transformers has fun music but it’s one of the worst cases of plagiarism done in a while. Although I’m sure Zimmer didn’t have a problem with it Jablonsky using themes, but to say that the Transformers music is good I think is laughable.
Yeah, I noticed the similarities to the Batman Begins’ score almost instantly.
One thing most people don’t know…is Hans Zimmer DOESN’T compose about 50 or more percent of ‘his’ music. Hans Zimmer is a name – a product. He has a group of people that work ‘under’ him.
Plus Steve Jablonsky worked for him when he started off early in his career, which is one of the reasons their music is so ‘similar’. It IS plagiarism…but a little different. Hans Zimmer hardly writes anything original on his own nowadays. He simply takes credit for it.
That still doesn’t mean that this and all the other music by Steve Jablonski is cliched, unoriginal crap. It is. He is where he is in career-wise thanks to the contacts he made, working in Hans’ studio.
:P
I’m sorry I meant to say that all the music by Steve Jablonski IS cliched, unoriginal crap…
And I’m repeating myself a third time here :P
While I’m on the topic, another fantastic soundscore that never got released was the Bullitt score. It got re-recorded and released years later but man. What a fantastic score, a jazz fan’s dream.
The score in TF 1 was great. I haven’t seen the second one yet.
Know what score was overrated in my opinion? LOTR. It’s great in the movie, but you listen to it on its own and it’s booooring.
Know a great soundscore that never gets mentioned? Escape From New York. I own the Special Edition remastered version (soundscore) and it is AWESOME. No one EVER mentions that score.
A successful film score is not defined by how listenable it is outside its intended context (the film), it is judged by how well it underscores and enriches the atmosphere and emotion present in the film.
This sequence in IMAX was AMAZING. The music gave me goosebumps.
I just have one question everyone on this site seem to think the Transformers was crap if I may ask then what you guy would consider a “good” movie?????
I didn’t think Transformers was crap….I just thought the sequel wasn’t as good as the first.
this guy could do the score for the captain america movie…i picture the posted song during caps transformation, and/or him being found in the ice
Is this Hans Zimmer?
Yes most of the material heard in Transformers is from Hans Zimmer. Steve Jablonsky just took Zimmer’s themes and slightly altered what Zimmer had done in other movies.
It’s so unoriginal it’s insulting.
hahaha here
No offense to Mr. Jablonsky’s talent and work on this film, but a big part of TF2’s score and its integration with the feel of the movie is directly attributable to Linkin Park (and primarily Mike Shinoda). They contributed a large part to the score itself, and you can really hear Linkin Park’s influence throughout the film.
No matter the genre, I have been very impressed with Mike Shinoda’s musical production work.
I like this score and the score we here when the marines are fighting Scorponok in the desert.
*hear.
The music in Transformers was just standard action music. It’s always the same with Michael Bay’s formula of a non-stop patriotic score.
Steve Jablonsky has managed to compose some of the most generic bullshit ever heard in video games, television and movies. People can always expect a military march everytime a helicopter comes on screen and he never fails to be effortlessly banal with his Transformer’s score. Jablonsky just hits “Default” on his music selector for pretty much everything.
That, and I noticed far too many similarities between Jablonsky’s score and his mentor Hans Zimmer’s work.
good song
I’m agreed there. The soundtracks for both of these films are among the very few ones that I’ve bought in full. Beautiful stuff.
Yeah I noticed the score in the film, I remember really liking it. Thanks for posting John.
yes my favorite scene of the first transformers movie
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that part hen Optimus first apears and he jumps dow that pole from headquaters was pretty fuckin EPIC..
after that i thought they couldnt fuck up….more robots, less ppl in the final installment.
If they made the movie with only robots in it, it would totally just look like CGI. So i think it is better to have people in the movie also because when you incorporate the robots and the humans in the same environment, it makes the robots look so much real and a better experience. After I saw ROTF, it made me wonder how can this not be real? Watching Optimus Prime transforming into his true alien form in the air when he jumps off the plane was epic. This may sound kind of cheesy but i wish we live in a world like that:D
I dont know why people are bashing this movie. it was awesome. to me, by far the best theater experience i had this year. i knew what i was going in to see, and it wasnt slumdog millionaire. i bow before “the Bay”, for he is all powerful in movies. i wanted to see it at least three more times and once on imax, it was uber awesome! i have the score for the first one, it is still in rotation on my ipod. good driving music.
ofcourse this is all subjective…but i actually still have UP as my favorite movie theater experience of this year(so far)….with ROTF on IMAX a distant second…
I think the 2nd films music is better than the first. The first films music sounded so similar it was tough to know what peice was from what scene except the Autobots and Decepticons themes. The second films music have alot of variation and im listening to it when i play the movie game.
You’ve got to be kidding me, this score makes me think of the movie The Rock, cheesy. I prefer scores like Alien.
You didn’t like The Rock’s score? A man with little taste :P
^ You spelled your own name wrong – FAIL!
Yeah, the score is really great. The score for the first film is one of my favorites, kinda a new classic for me. (hopefully it gets nominated this year & for the spec F/X….. If it loses the F/X category it better be to Avatar, not, like, Wolverine…. We don’t need another Golden Compass fiasco)
Just, finally, saw “Revenge” last night and I was surprised that I enjoyed it quite a bit (from the forest battle on, that is, everything before that was rubbish). Yeah, it was really dumb at times (so was the first, but that’s still one of the best summer movie experiences I’ve ever had) I think SO much negative publicity readied me for the experience, by the time I walked into the theater I had the most atrocious image in my mind of how bad this movie would be (the Twins ended up being tame compared to what was rolling around in my head…. Yes I have SOME imagination). I don’t condone lowering your expectations for different films, but mine were damn low going into this and I was pleasently surprised.
Maybe the title should be “the only good thing about transformers?”
But, yes, very solid score. He also did Star Trek, but he is a new name for me. Would like to hear more from him.
This wouldn’t be the first bad movie with great score, I own more than a handful of them :)
Actually Michael Giacchino was the composer on Star Trek(he also does the fantastic LOST-score), while Steve Jablonsky did the Transformers-score
You mean the movie had music in it? I don’t think I really noticed.
I’ll agree the score is very good but the film itself borders on awful. I loved the first Transformers movie and couldn’t believe what Bay delivered here. As flat and uninspired as any sequel I can remember and a painful 2.5 hr sit.
Chuck
I have that on my phone, best score ever, after the James Bon-theme and the Simpsons-theme. EPIC
I LOVED the score, every time i hear it during the movie I get goosebumps! Especially in Transformers 2 whenever Linkin Park’s theme starts playing I get this vibe that makes the experience of the movie so much to enjoy
One of the better movie scores out there, though I am unfamiliar with Steve Jablonsky’s other work outside of the island.