Spider Man 2 | ||
 | Composer: Danny Elfman Label: Conductor: Buy this soundtrack: | |
Track Listing | |||||||||||||||||||
| 01 Spider-Man 2 Main Title (3:21) 02 M.J.'s New life / Spidus Interruptus (2:31) 03 Doc Ock Is Born (2:23) 04 Angry Arms / Rebuilding (2:51) 05 A Phone Call / The Wrong Kiss / Peter's Birthday (2:06) 06 The Bank / Saving May (4:27) 07 The Mugging / Peter's Turmoil (3:21) 08 Doc Ock's Machine (1:42) 09 He's Back! (1:50) 10 Train / Appreciation (6:16) 11 Aunt May Packs (2:51) 12 Armageddon / A Really Big Web (6:28) 13 The Goblin Returns (1:36) 14 At Long Last, Love (2:59) 15 Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (3:14) Total Length: 48:02 | |||||||||||||||||||
More Soundtracks by Danny Elfman
Reviewed by - Grade: Sam Raimi and Danny Elfman are a dynamic duo. The original Spider Man score by Elfman was a fantastic composition that echoed the journey of a young boy into the manhood of responsibility. This time around, Peter Parker is struggling with his identity and Elfman focuses more on the emotional
layers of the film. He has added subtle changes to the main spidey theme and it works perfectly. The string sections in the Spider Man 2 Main Title are notably different with the addition of bells and strings that seem to sputter at a more feverish pace and set us up for the heroic journey that is
about to take place. We are quickly introduced to the players of the film and seem to pick up where we left off. Peter yearning for the love of M.J. and familiar themes are once again resurrected with the love theme of the original. When I was watching the film in the theater, I was surprised to hear Christopher Young's Hellraiser theme incorporated into the Doc Ock sequence. At first I was disappointed, thinking Elfman had blatantly stolen the theme, but after some quick research learned that Young had contributed to the film due to a stretched Mr. Eflman. That track does not appear on this version of the score, although I think it makes more sense that Pinhead and Doc Ock really don't belong together. I did think it was humorous that Young did use that song since Dr. Chanard also had tentacle arms. Perhaps on the DVD release they will fine tune that section of the film. As the score continues, we are again shown the softer sides of the film for A Phone Call / The Wrong Kiss / Peter's Birthday, where Elfman really slows the tempo of the original love theme and adds in additional strings at crescendos of the song. Individual piano strokes also add to the despair experienced by Peter. For the remainder of the score, Elfman solidly uses his sections of violins, horns, and trumpets and continues the escalating battles between Spidey and Doc Ock throughout New York city. The problem is that this is exactly what we get: more of the same. It is not that the music is bad, but it just feels like Spidey gets tired after a while. The original Spider Man starts strong, and continues to invigorate us throughout the remainder of the film. Perhaps it is the use of recurring themes that we already know so well. The Doc Ock theme while new, is not all that exciting. The creativity seems to just die off. The example I use is the Parade Attack from the first film. Smack dab in the middle of the film, in the middle of the score, we are exposed to a fresh ominous take on the theme that was already exposed. The track works PERFECTLY and even stand alone on the score it re-engergizes us for the remaining action. Maybe with the first film Elfman experimented with so many different twists on the theme (costume montage for example) that he wanted to grab a focus and stick with it for Spider Man 2. The first score also seemed to hearken back to the original spider man television series with a sort of comic book pulp feel to it where we hear lone french horns and echoes of the Batman days. While Elfman expounds upons the emotional layers of Spider Man 2, I think the variations of the first film do it more justice. I definitely recommend this score for your collection, the new take on the Main Titles is fantastic, but don't expect the same spine tingling charge that the first score gave you. More Movie Soundtracks
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