Steve Jablonsky -Transformers

Jablonsky's Transformers is quite different from Avatar: It's not as clever and complex, not as sophisticated. Perhaps that is why it's much more commanding, a much more powerful experience. I remember when I went to see the movie -I didn't even notice the music until the very end. Not because it wasn't there, but because Jablonsky's score did what a great score does -it merges with the pictures, creating a complete experience. When it comes to Transformers I don't remember pictures or individual score pieces -I remember the scene as a whole. This differs from Avatar where I can clearly remember the music on its own, but not as a part of the film.

The score of Transformers is nothing new or unheard of. It's actually pretty much the generic super-powerful action -stuff you hear in Hollywood blockbusters, and the Zimmer -influence is clear enough even for me. But what Jablonsky has done, he has done well -Transformers is a perfect example what a score of this type should be like. Power, danger, desperation, growing suspension, and that theme that binds it all together into a strong and heroic roar. Transformers is a commanding score, demanding attention with every track, forcing you to stop what you were doing and to listen what it has to say. I haven't felt power like this in a long time.

James Horner -Avatar

I noticed that the music for Avatar isn't as good as it could be even when I went to see the film (that would be Saturday). That always brings me down a little -for me, movies need to be a full experience, and when the music doesn't live up to the film a part of it dies. But that's life, I suppose, we can't always have the best.

It's not a horrible soundtrack, don't get me wrong. It's good enough, does it's job of sort of filling the blanks, but that's all. The score lacks the final punch, that tiny bit of extra love that would turn it into a masterpiece. I keep getting the feeling I'm listening to the soundtrack through a wall, that I only hear the damped out, incomplete version of it. It really ticks me off. There's so much potential in it, so much unpolished greatness, and all I want to do is turn it into the brilliant soundtrack it (and the movie) deserves.

There are some nice moments of course, like when Jake runs with his avatar for the first time, but there aren't any great moments. Which leaves me very disappointed yet again, as it did after the movie. Such a shame really, it could have been so much better.