Five terrible movies with a phenomenal soundtrack
Some of the greatest movies of all time have also given us some of the greatest soundtracks of all time. From the eerie foreboding of Ennio Morricone’s seminal western scores to the stacked compilation accompanying Almost Famous to Kendrick Lemar’s brilliant work on Black Panther, good films and good music go hand-in-hand. Until they don’t.
Sometimes, a movie’s audio is way better than its visuals, either because the soundtrack is just that good or the rest of the project stinks to high heaven. Obviously, every director wants the best of both worlds, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
As a rule of thumb, the best features tend to have the most memorable soundtracks, creating an audiovisual experience that uses music as a means to enhance the action onscreen and immerse the viewer even deeper into the world. It should be the goal with every picture, although one can regularly outstrip the other.
While nobody sets out to make a film that’s solely remembered for its score, it’s happened more than once. The following five flicks are nothing to write home about, but at least they were elevated by a mesmerising soundtrack that ensured they’d be remembered for something, even if it wasn’t their merits as movies.
Five soundtracks better than the movie:
‘Lady in the Water’ (M Night Shyamalan, 2006)
M Night Shyamalan has just as many terrible movies as he does great ones, with 2006’s Lady in the Water falling into the former category.
The film, which stars Bryce Dallas Howard as a magical water nymph being hunted by mysterious forces, drew disdain for its ridiculous plot, questionable CGI, and the fact that Shyamalan cast himself in one of the key roles yet again.
In contrast, the movie’s soundtrack, composed by the legendary James Newton Howard, was really well received, winning several awards. On the other hand, the only awards Lady in the Water won for its artistic merits were a pair of Razzies for ‘Worst Director’ and ‘Worst Supporting Actor’.
Does Howard’s excellent work redeem the rest of this poorly executed vanity project? Well, no, but at least he tried.
‘The Crow: City of Angels’ (Tim Pope, 1996)
1996 saw the release of The Crow: City of Angels, a sequel that had barely anything to do with the stellar original. Vincent Perez simply couldn’t fill the void left by the late, great Brandon Lee, and the whole thing flopped harder than Eric Draven being chucked out of a top-floor window.
Thank whichever deity inhabits the land of the dead for the soundtrack, which brought together some of the biggest names in rock and alternative music of the day. Korn, Deftones, Iggy Pop, PJ Harvey, and more all contributed, while Hole and White Zombie provided excellent covers of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Gold Dust Woman’ and KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘I’m Your Boogie Man’ respectively.
It shifted over a million copies in the US alone, a number that is very hard to argue with.
‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (Marc Webb, 2014)
Keeping with the superhero theme, while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wasn’t nearly as bad as City of Angels, it fell short of what many people wanted from Andrew Garfield’s second outing as the web-slinger.
Fortunately, the soundtrack was in very good hands indeed. It was overseen not only by iconic and awards-laden composer Hans Zimmer but by a musical supergroup called The Magnificent Six, featuring Pharrell Williams, Junkie XL, and Johnny Marr, among others. That might sound like a random combination, but it definitely worked.
Along with some great instrumental pieces, the album is also home to the original song ‘It’s On Again’, which was performed by Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lemar. If you bought the deluxe album, then you’d also be treated to Australian band Tonight Alive and their song ‘The Edge’. A veritable who’s who of talent, all for such a mediocre movie.
‘Maximum Overdrive’ (Stephen King, 1986)
Horror maestro Stephen King has only directed one feature film in his entire career, and when you see it, you’ll understand why.
Maximum Overdrive, the adaptation of his short story about the world’s machines coming to life and seeking revenge on humanity, was released in 1986 to pitiful reviews. Even the writer himself has since disowned the project, calling it a “moron movie.” Thankfully, he had the good graces to ask his favourite band, AC/DC, to supply the music, who answered the call in a big way.
The hard rock icons provided an entire soundtrack album for Maximum Overdrive called Who Made Who, which is a doozy. The title track was one of AC/DC’s best original songs in years, and the rest of the record included fan favourites like ‘Hell’s Bells’, ‘Shake Your Foundations’, and ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. The record went five times platinum in the US and introduced a whole new generation of fans to the antics of the legendary group.
Even when King gets it wrong, he finds a way to pull something great out of the bag.
‘Tron: Legacy’ (Joseph Kosinski, 2010)
Nearly three decades after it dazzled the world with its video game-esque graphics, Tron got a sequel. Unfortunately, those who had spent that time waiting were met with a mediocre family adventure that did little to build on the original.
Daft Punk was the natural choice to soundtrack a film set in cyberspace, and the French electronic legends clearly benefited from this home-field advantage. Their mammoth score of over 30 new creations was consistently praised by critics, even those who weren’t so keen on the film itself.
Though it’s not quite on the same level as Wendy Carlos’ groundbreaking music for the original Tron, Daft Punk’s one and only soundtrack is a perfect example of why it was such a loss when they broke up in 2021.
Considering Nine Inch Nails have signed on to do the music for Tron: Ares, it’s looking fairly certain that this series’ history of stellar soundtracks is set to continue. Now, that’s a legacy.
