MovieChat Forums > Mission to Mars (2000) Discussion > Soundtrack: Worst Ever In A SciFi Movie?

Soundtrack: Worst Ever In A SciFi Movie?

posted 15 years ago by trimtab
35 replies | jump to latest

I've been watching SciFi movies for about 45 years and grew up the son of a professional pianist. So, I've been listening to music for even longer than that. And this movie's soundtrack has to be the worst I've ever heard for a movie of this type.

When people die, the music should fit the moment. This music has no emotional connection to the listener... for a reason I cannot put my finger on.

I have found a professional analysis of this movie's soundtrack here...

http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/mission_mars.html

It explains what bothers me so much this way...

"The score, in its sum, sounds very much like something you heard in a space exhibit at a theme park in the 1960's (or perhaps early 70's). Its genuine, but restrained sense of wonder is conveyed by extremely smooth lines of melody that are intentionally jarred by awkward, dissonant counterpoint and instrumentation that reminds of cheap, 60's fantasy scores. Unfortunately, space travel has rarely been so dull...

...it's difficult not to become irritated with Morricone's extremely dated sound for the movie. The light touch to his suite-like cues of thematic development for the beginning and end of the film is aided by instrumental accents that work in some cases (such as the electric guitar in "A Heart Beats in Space" to revive a slight Western frontier feeling) and fail badly in others (including most of the synthetic elements, led by obnoxious electronic oboe and harpsichord). The pacing of these cues conveys no sense of weight or importance; Morricone's extremely frail thematic development in the first three cues on album gives you the sense that space travel and the discovery of alien life is a breezy trifle that should lightly occupy the fancy of people without any hysteria or wonder. The lack of awe is the single killing element in this score. Morricone tries so hard to provide a hazy, other-worldly set of sounds in his pleasant themes and restrained performances that he completely sucks all life out of the event."

There's more analysis at the link I've provided, but this gets to the core of the problem. This score "sucks all life out of the event".

[–] yertletheturtle 15 years ago

HA! That's so *beep* funny! I was just about to say the same thing!

This movie could have been WAY better if the score was good! At the very end they play fast and cheesy music! They should have played some emotional and EPIC sounding stuff! Would have made for a MUCH better experience!

mhmmm

[–] riwach 12 years ago

I concur this is a horrible soundtrack. The music does not fit the movie at all. Many scenes are ruined by the music because the music is very distracting.

Of course the apperance of the alien is so laughable who cares. Yes I have the DVD and watch this movie every couple of years and each time its funnier than the last time.

[–] roofall 11 years ago

Red Planet came out in 2000 and it also had Mars and horrible music, coincidence? :)

99% of new films are garbage.

[–] tukai 11 years ago

Add me to the group of people who liked the soundtrack a lot

[–] JoeCool4432 8 years ago

yea same...i think it is probably the best element of the movie.

[–] Fitvideo 15 years ago

I would agree with you. Although Morricone's music is very good , it is emotive and sounds incredibly dated given the subect material. You could swap this soundtrack with the one For The Untouchables and get away with it...

I bought this on DVD when it came out and was incredibly disappointed.

I may, as an intellectual exercise, turn the sounsd off and watch it with subtitles. However, the visuals aren't up to much either...and the story is very weak...I found myself thinking "do I care" about any of the characters, and found that I did not really...

regards

Fit Video

[–] greenmnm6 15 years ago

I just watched Mission to Mars and this quote sums it up very nicely for how I felt watching the movie and listening to the soundtrack:

"The score, in its sum, sounds very much like something you heard in a space exhibit at a theme park in the 1960's (or perhaps early 70's)."

On the mark completely. I came here to find out more about the soundtrack and was stunned and disappointed when I found out who it came from. I expected far better. When I read further that this movie was based off the ride in Disneyland, the music actually fit perfectly. I still don't like it but it makes me feel like I'm at the Disneyland of my childhood (Captain Eo!). In light that this ride was created around the time this soundtrack would've fit, it makes sense. :P

[–] suzycreamcheese1 15 years ago

I thought it was me! The music was very irritating, distracting, and corny!

RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

[–] FCMan 15 years ago

The music actually sounds very nice, very classical. It may be the best part of this physics-bending space movie.

[–] iBug 14 years ago

The music is quite nice, it just doesn't fit the movie in some parts. The last 15 minutes though are one of my favorite music-film endings.

[–] crgaitan 12 years ago

I absolutely agree with you iBug, specially for the last 15 minutes!

[–] Flags_of_Discontent 12 years ago

I concur. Awful. Morricone dropped the ball on this one.

[–] chad_farr_21 14 years ago

With all due respect to everyone here, I actually really enjoyed the score to this film. I don't consider this film to be the pinacle of cinematic experiences, but it is something that I'll watch on a Sunday afternoon if I happen to catch it airing on television. It's sort of one of those guilty pleasures(kind of like Armegeddon, or any other Michael Bay film for that matter). It's just fun to watch. I actually feel that the conclusions reached in the aforementioned analysis of the soundtrack are pertinent, and they are make sense. However, it doesn't change the fact that I enjoy the music as it is used in Mission to Mars. I can certainly see how one could draw similarities between "something you heard in a space exhibit at a theme park in the 1960's" and this film's score, but I believe that this is exactly what the composer was going for; sort of like art immitating life or vice versa. And personally, the music is emotionally evocative for me.

[–] jaddjamar 14 years ago

I agree with you chad_farr_21 !

Plotholes are like Bigfoot, people who claim to see them are just trying to stir things up.

[–] sarchiorama 14 years ago

the track that caught my attention was 'martian'
[sound clip on amazon available].. but as the used cd's
are over $20 I'm holding my clicks up now

where the binary indicator starts turning..
and they exit the image of the 'martian face'

[–] bernardo_ve 13 years ago

I agree.
Anything original and catchy makes a film score good, and Morricone is great at this. He's one of the few composers that has a style of his own.

[–] toarward 14 years ago

I couldn't agree less. I think it's the most wonderful, uplifting soundtrack of ANY film I've ever seen, let alone a sci fi one. I don't pretend to know a lot about music, I can play the trumpet and I sing a bit and I'm only 39 afterall...but it's the sort of music that lifts my heart everytime I listen to the CD or watch the film. I can feel tears prickling in my eyes when I listen to certain bits of it. I'm sure you folks know far more about music than I ever will but I have to stand up for this soundtrack. I'm sorry everyone hates it so much. I wish you could enjoy it as much as I do.

[–] nebula-1 14 years ago

I totally agree with you toarward. I really like this soundtrack. The reason is probably exactly why others don't like it. It's unobtrusive. It doesn't color the movie, it flows with it. I don't need music to tell me what to feel when I watch a movie. I'm intelligent enough to feel a movie all by myself without being cued by music as to what I should feel or what is coming next. Crashing crescendos and emotional build-ups annoy the heck out of me. I'd rather not have any music than obtrusive music.

I never had to adjust the sound once watching this movie. That alone is worth 5 stars before I even get to anything else. And despite some bad science, I think this is a top notch movie.

[–] LeeSir 12 years ago

No one could say it better! I also think MTM has great soundtrack.

[–] 13 years ago

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