Top 10 Favorite Movie Themes
One of the most memorable and exciting pieces of a movie is the music. And after looking and listening to a lot of movie themes. I came up with my list of 10 favorite movie themes. I’ll just say this, but this was a very difficult list to come up with. Because so many movies have fantastic scores. So, if I was to update this list in the future, It could change.
10. Duel of the Fates (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace-John Williams): Like most people, I’m not the biggest fan of this movie or the prequel trilogy. But John Williams continued to create great music for all of these movies. And I think Duel of the Fate is maybe the best part about The Phantom Menace. We only get it in the final battle with Qui-Qon Jinn and Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul. That music itself makes the scene a lot better. I think the fight with those Jedi and Sith is a good little fight, with the choreography. The theme itself is one that is so vibrant and it’s one that can just pump you up and get you excited to do something. So, with all of the problems that The Phantom Menace...and it’s a lot of them. Duel of the Fates is not one of them. So, there is another Star Wars theme on the list. But this one is fantastic, and without this music, I think the sequence could be a little forgettable.
9. Wonder Woman’s Theme (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice-Hans Zimmer): This is actually one that my mom and I have gotten pretty into recently. And she wanted to make it her ringtone, and we haven’t figured out how to do that. Obviously the 1970’s Wonder Woman theme is iconic, and a pretty good piece of music in it of itself. But being the fantastic composer that he is, Hans Zimmer creates a 21st century version of the character. And it’s one that you hear and it just gets you pumped up and feels like you can do anything. If you have seen my blog, recently, you know that Batman v Superman isn’t my favorite superhero movie. But, that scene where Wonder Woman comes in at the third and you have that team-up with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman is maybe the best moment in the DCEU, and a scene that puts a big smile on my face. So, this pick got added on within the last couple of weeks, and if I did this post a few months ago. Looking back, I probably would have considered myself crazy.
8. The Dark Knight Theme (The Dark Knight-Hans Zimmer): This is another fantastic piece of music by Hans Zimmer. Where obviously Danny Elfman’s score from the 80s is a classic and fantastic. So what Zimmer did was not trying to copy what Elfman did but do something different, and I think what Zimmer was able to do is pretty great. He created a piece of music that can fight in with action and chase sequences really nicely. And this is the theme that also plays over the credits, and that makes the credits great because of this music. And all in all, this is a piece of music that fits the tone of the trilogy really nicely, and can be very exciting. And this is my personal favorite piece of music that Hans Zimmer has ever done, and I think that he has done some fantastic pieces of music. If I wanted to, most of this list could have just been Hans Zimmer’s piece of music.
7. Back to the Future Main Theme (Back to the Future Trilogy-Alan Silvestri): This is one of the larger than life pieces of music in a movie out there. It’s one that just makes you feel good and excited. It’s a piece of music, that once you hear it, it just gets stuck inside of your head. And I just watched the trilogy back in December, and did a ranking on my blog a couple weeks ago. And the main theme of this movie, just pulls the movie together. The theme plays through-out all three of the movies, and everytime it does. It makes the scene better. In the opening credits, of Part II this song plays, and it makes that the best opening credit sequence of the trilogy. So, Alan Silvestri is a film composer that I feel like doesn’t get talked about enough. He’s done a good portion of the MCU movies, Back to the Future, and Forrest Gump. And the Back to the Future movie theme is one of his best.
6. “Welcome to Jurassic Park” (Jurassic Park-John Williams): The usage of this piece of music in the original Jurassic Park might be one of the greatest uses of music in movie history. Where you have Alan Grant see the big dinosaur (blanking on it’s name), and then look over and see this herd of dinosaurs in this lake. And John Hammond says “Welcome to Jurassic Park”, that in itself is one of the greatest movie scenes of all time. Maybe it’s just me, but everytime I listen to it, I just feel like I’m in this scene with these characters. Not very main pieces of music have done that the way this one has. But you listen to this and you just get a sense of awe and wonder with it. Wonder Woman makes you feel very powerful, this one makes you feel good inside. Honestly, this entire movie has fantastic music inside of it that just brings out the emotions that you are supposed to feel. So, this is one of John Williams best scored movies and one of his best pieces of music, is this one.
5. Superman’s Theme (Superman the Movie-John Williams): John Williams created the original score and theme for a superhero movie. Superman the Movie was the original superhero blockbuster back in the 1970s. To this day, that is still one of the most iconic pieces of music out there. Whenever I listen to this one, I just feel like an american hero. Hearing this music, I can just put a smile on my face and just feel good inside, and like I said, an american hero. Now, I gotta be honest I actually haven’t seen Superman the Movie in it’s eternity. I know I should because I’m a big fan of comic book movies. So, this one could move up if I see the music in the movie itself. But, I’ve listened to this score about 1 billion times, and everytime I listen to it. I just think it is still exciting and lively. There are two more pieces of music from a comic book movie, but this is my third favorite. And, there is a reason as to why this is one of the most iconic and beloved pieces of music in movie history.
4. The Main Theme (Mission Impossible-Danny Elfman): Now, the one that I’m going with is from the 1996 Mission Impossible, the first one with Tom Cruise. The sequels, I feel like go too complicated, trying to be bigger each time. And still great, I still think those themes are great. But what I love about this one is the fact that it is just simple. In 8th grade, my P.E. the teacher would always play music when we played games. And we used to play dodgeball with these barriers up in the gym, and while we were playing. He would play this music, and it was so fun. So, whenever I hear this one I think of good times, and just sneaking around and being a spy. So, while the other ones made me feel good inside and the feeling that I can do anything, this one makes me feel like a spy. So, this might be a bit of an outside of the box pick. But, I love this piece of music that just helps make these movies so iconic.
3. Batman’s Theme (Batman-Danny Elfman): For me, this is the ultimate and best Batman theme ever in a movie. This is one of the most iconic pieces of music of all time, where this piece of music is used in a lot of the LEGO Batman games as the music that is playing over the game menu. But, the music itself is really fun to listen to. This is the music that I’m in the mood for when it comes to Batman. And when I think about Batman music, this is what comes to mind. Where The Dark Knight theme, fantastic, but that one I don’t think about Batman. When it’s playing over the open credits at the beginning of the movie, that makes for one of the best opening credit sequences of all time. And so this is a piece of music that I don’t feel like gets talked about enough. Because, what Danny Elfman was able to do here, was just great. So this is my favorite Danny Elfman piece of music. So this one had to make the top 3.
2. The Imperial March (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back-John Williams): This is my favorite piece of music from a Star Wars movie, that started in my favorite Star Wars movie. It’s easy to forget, but The Imperial March was introduced in Empire, and not A New Hope. I’m not even sure if it’s Return of the Jedi or not. I feel like most villains don’t have memorable themes along with them. Joker’s theme in The Dark Knight is great, but not as memorable as the rest of the movie is. The Imperial March I think is easily the best villain theme of all time. When you hear this, your mind just goes to Darth Vader and the bad guys. Actually, this used to be my ringtone for the longest time. So, anytime somebody would call me, this would play. But, John Williams being the legend that he is and my favorite film composer of all time. Unpopular opinion, but I think this is his best because it’s memorable, gets stuck in your head, and makes you think of the characters.
1. Portals (Avengers Endgame-Alan Slivestri): I know, I know Avengers Endgame is at the top of another list. But, the scene that this music is involved with, is maybe the greatest movie scene of all time. So, I gotta give a lot of points for that. When the music, when the heroes are coming back, it’s great. But when it gets to the wide shot of everybody in the MCU, and the music gets louder and more fast it’s even better. Whenever I listen to this at home, I just picture this movie scene and it puts a big smile on my face. I don’t think any music has ever done that the way this one has. And, even as I’m typing this, I just have a smile on my face because I’m thinking about this movie scene and about this music. So, it was pretty difficult to come up with 2-10, because there are a lot of fantastic movie themes of all time. But, I knew without question, that Portals was going to be number 1. So, like the movie itself, I have a hard time imagining any piece of music topping this for me. Like I said, this easily without question is my number 1.
That is my 10 favorite movie themes of all time. What are some of your favorites? And, what are some Top 10 lists you want to see from me?
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