In 1989, Danny Elfman, from the band Oingo Boingo, scored the soundtrack to Batman starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, and directed by Tim Burton. From that moment on, whether Elfman was working with Burton or without, he had solidified himself in my mind as a composer with a unique edge and flair.
Over time I found myself consciously comparing each of the soundtracks after Batman to that first great exposure to his work. By doing this comparison, I found signature elements in each soundtrack that uniquely identified Elfman's work.
With Terminator Salvation - Original Soundtrack I really had to hunt to find that signature sound. In my opinion, this is one of Elfman's best because it strives to be unique for the continuation of the Terminator franchise, yet holds true to the sounds of the original movies. The thudding metal sound of the original Terminator score by Brad Fiedel was inspired, but Elfman has taken the melding of man and machine to another level.
When I saw Terminator Salvation on opening day, the soundtrack did what all great soundtracks do. It blended into the background when the action of the characters on screen was important, and accented some of those important moments to make them stand out that much more. With a mix of powerful action-oriented tracks and softer ones, I think he struck a balance that is difficult to do in any action or science fiction movie, let alone a reboot of the Terminator franchise.
I was unable to tell which orchestra was used for the non-electronic or synth portions of the soundtrack, but the blend between machines and men with the music was just as profound as the battle raging in the movie itself. The use of strings, powerful drums, horns, and soft guitar meshed with the metallic clanks, machine noises, and battle sounds beautifully.
Article comments
1 - pq
Are you kidding me?
The only recall to the old soundtrack was a few seconds in the intro track, and when the T-800 appeared, and in the freakin end titles.
Rest was Totally absent of termonator feeling, No metal sounds, no dark (simple tonal) melodies with metal beats acordning it, and no machine feeling at all...
Just some freaking fast paced violin asemble that has no place in terminator universe what so ever... its not phantom of the opera, ITS JUDGEMENT DAY!
Let alone the machines were acting like Noobs compaterd to the old films.
And the feeling of being helpless as a human was totally gone.