Bad Boys II - Mark Mancina Remix

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Reposting this in the new forum cause I still think it's cool! :D

Ok, this is something I've wanted to do since I first saw the film. Don't get me wrong, I thought Bad Boys II was awesome, and while the score from Trevor Rabin was pretty good, it just didn't compare to that of the first.

I remember watching the trailer for the film with what I believe is part of Mark Mancina's score for the film. His name is still in the credits at the end of this one.

Trailer clip
http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/bb2trailer.mp3

I'm not really sure what happened, but something went down and Mancina left the project like 3 months before the release and they got Trevor Rabin and Steve Jablonsky to rescore the film. They also had Dr. Dre do some of the horrible sounding parts of it.

In the end I feel the score sounded very rushed and underproduced. Had this film had Mancina's original score I feel the film would have been totally different. There wasn't even a "theme" in this score, well not unless you count Nelly's "Shake Ya Tail feather." Puke. The Soundtrack was in my opinion the weakest part of the film. And it's not really something that Bay could control, given the situation and time constraint.

Since first seeing the film I always wondered what Bad Boys II would have been like if they used Mancina's score. So I've finally taken it upon myself to take a shot at getting it done.

I've demuxed the DVD and was able to separate all the separate audio channels and edit all of them as seen fit. Most of the vocals and sound effects are on separate channels from each other, so eliminating the music wasn't too difficult. You can hear it bleed through at times but it's still a work in progress. I'll have to do some more filtering. I then took bits and pieces from the score to the first film and put them into the second. I'm not removing all of the music completely, but more like giving the key scenes of the film that classic Bad Boys sound that many of us have grown to love. Some of the music really blends well. It really gives you a glimpse of what the film might have been like. After working on this I've had trouble remembering what this film used to sound like. I'll be making a DVD of this for myself when I finish. Since I'm not messing around with the video, the quality will remain the same, only now I'll have my own custom audio track, in 5.1 Dolby Digital as well.

Here are a couple clips I've thrown together from parts that I'm almost done with. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy these, in any case I know I do.


Intro - 11.4MB (http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/intro01.mov)

Opening Scene - 21.9MB (http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/openingscene01.mov)

Calling Icepick - 5.1MB (http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/icepick01.mov)

Car Carrier Chase - 41.6MB (http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/carcarrier01.mov)

Final scene - 39MB (http://www.jesterpictures.com/video/badboys2/ending01.mov)


-Jarek

[LadiesMan217]

It really works very well.

Know what you should do Jester, you should take the 1986 Transformers-movie and take away all that god-awful music and replace it with Steve Jablonsky's score. It would definitely improve the film IMO.

[Mobe1969]

Can't say I ever really noticed anything bad about it. BB2 is an awesome film.

I'm interested hearing what the story was. Wonder if it was anything like Howard Shore and Peter Jackson with King Kong.

[CJP]

From what little I've read, they just didn't see eye to eye on the music. Mark Mancina, in past interviews, has stated how much he hates temp scores and being told to sound like other composers. When I watch Bad Boys II, there is heavy Black Hawk Down influence, along with Media Ventures sounds. Not that I mind, but if you listen to Mark Mancina's latest work, you can hear how he has moved away from that stuff. I'm not sure what was said, but maybe he didn't want to go in that directing with the sound, and quit. Or was fired. In any case, you should give him a listen, really great work.

[ClaytonMG]

You guys should check out Mancina's August Rush score. Completely different from Bad Boys as it's not even close to being an action score, but it is awesome. One of the things I've read about the score to Bad Boys II is that Mancina didn't like when they brought in Dr. Dre to 'write' additional music. I believe Dre got the more comedic scenes. I don't know why though, Mancina's comedic parts from the first film are awesome. I also get the feeling that Bay didn't want any real themes for the score. Like he actually wanted just action music, nothing thematic or anything. So they took elements of Black Hawk Down and loops and stuff and created the score. Jablonsky's stuff is my favorite though. I believe he wrote the music for the huge shootout/car chase (which you can hear in his other scores for Michael Bay movies).

[Jarek Zabczynski]

The BBII score was shoddy, rushed, and flat out bad. Easily the weakest part of the film.

[LadiesMan217]

From what little I've read, they just didn't see eye to eye on the music. Mark Mancina, in past interviews, has stated how much he hates temp scores and being told to sound like other composers. When I watch Bad Boys II, there is heavy Black Hawk Down influence, along with Media Ventures sounds. Not that I mind, but if you listen to Mark Mancina's latest work, you can hear how he has moved away from that stuff. I'm not sure what was said, but maybe he didn't want to go in that directing with the sound, and quit. Or was fired. In any case, you should give him a listen, really great work.

Bruckheimer did fire Alan Silvestri from Pirates I do believe. He didn't like the sound of it, so he went back to his beloved Media Ventures/now Remote Control Productions and got what he wanted. Maybe Mark Mancina composed something that Bruckheimer/Bay didn't like and they decided to hire another composer. Who knows.

I can understand that Mark Mancina wants to move away from MV/RC because those composers basically gets called Hans Zimmer-clones.

[Mobe1969]

Well, as far as I'm aware Bad Boys 2 was a Michael Bay film, not a Mark Mancina film. If Michael Bay wanted the score to sound a particular way, and Mark Mancina wanted it to sound another way, I'd have to say Michael Bay was well within his rights to make the call.

[ClaytonMG]

Well, as far as I'm aware Bad Boys 2 was a Michael Bay film, not a Mark Mancina film. If Michael Bay wanted the score to sound a particular way, and Mark Mancina wanted it to sound another way, I'd have to say Michael Bay was well within his rights to make the call.

I didn't see Music By Michael Bay though... So really, if Michael Bay knew how Mancina would write, why hire him in the first place? What I said before is what actually was reported happening. Mancina didn't like the fact (And I don't blame him) that Dr. Dre was hired to "score" part of the film. Trevor Rabin and Mark Mancina were both writing the score at that point, and then Mancina quit.

[halofan1]

Kind of off topic, but if I had some involvement with a third Bad Boys (which I kinda hope I would some day), I'd lobby to bring back Mancina. His score in Bad Boys is pretty damn great and trumps everything in Bad Boys II musically.

I do agree, the weakest thing about Bad Boys II is it's score. Everything else is just awesomely.

[ClaytonMG]

You know really, in Bad Boys II, had they just added Mancina's theme over the music that's already there, it'd be some pretty awesome actiong music (save for the tracks directly from The One). It's kind of like the music that's in the movie, seems to be meant as background music for music... Does that make sense?

[nelson]

If you ask me, I personally think BB2 was one of those movies that didn't need a score, just cues.

I would've been nice if it had one, but it's just one of those movies that I felt could do without a proper score.

I was a much different movie than the first Bad Boys.

[halofan1]

If you ask me, I personally think BB2 was one of those movies that didn't need a score, just cues.


I can see where you could say that. I just really loved the score to the first Bad Boys.

[ClaytonMG]

If you ask me, I personally think BB2 was one of those movies that didn't need a score, just cues.

I would've been nice if it had one, but it's just one of those movies that I felt could do without a proper score.

I was a much different movie than the first Bad Boys.

Thank you! That's exactly the way to word it. While I would've liked a score by Mancina, I think this one served up the excitement just fine. It was overly powerful, it took a backseat to the action, it added to the intesity when it needed it, I think the under score that was in the movie worked fine as exactly that, the under score.

[Jarek Zabczynski]

It was a much different movie than the first Bad Boys.

And that was my biggest complaint about it. It didn't feel like a true sequel. It didn't have the same "feel" that I was hoping for. The trailers did, but I think the music in those had a lot to do with it.

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Thank you! That's exactly the way to word it. While I would've liked a score by Mancina, I think this one served up the excitement just fine. It was overly powerful, it took a backseat to the action, it added to the intesity when it needed it, I think the under score that was in the movie worked fine as exactly that, the under score.

I like movies with big scores. It almost adds a theatrical quality to them. One of my favorite parts in the first one is the overture at the beginning during the opening credits. Yeah it's just text over shots of Miami, but it just sets the tone so well. Speed does the same thing. Speed and Mark Mancina were the reason I went to see Bad Boys in the first place. The two films have much in common. Mancina's score is what really sold me and lead me to Bay. It was disappointing to have BBII without him.

[ClaytonMG]

I like movies with big scores. It almost adds a theatrical quality to them. One of my favorite parts in the first one is the overture at the beginning during the opening credits. Yeah it's just text over shots of Miami, but it just sets the tone so well. Speed does the same thing. Speed and Mark Mancina were the reason I went to see Bad Boys in the first place. The two films have much in common. Mancina's score is what really sold me and lead me to Bay. It was disappointing to have BBII without him.

Oh don't get me wrong, I was hoping for the same kind of main title sequence. And the opening music wasn't as good... Actually, had they even just had the opening with Mancina's score and lay it out like the first one it would've been awesome. And then maybe have the big theme play again in the end of the movie.

[kevski]

Hey dood, what program did you use to separate the tracks and rip the dvd?

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Hey dood, what program did you use to separate the tracks and rip the dvd?

mac the ripper and mAC3

[elemental fantasy]

You did a great job with the rip Jester. But the music editing imho fell short and became repetitive. I also think that the Bad Boys 2 music worked perfect for the film, though it would have been nice to hear a reprisal of the mancina score splashed around here and there.

[kevski]

mac the ripper and mAC3

Doh! Do you know any decent PC programs that would do the trick?

[Mobe1969]

If you ask me, I personally think BB2 was one of those movies that didn't need a score, just cues.

I would've been nice if it had one, but it's just one of those movies that I felt could do without a proper score.

I was a much different movie than the first Bad Boys.

I'd have to agree with Nelson.

Although next time I watch BB1 I'll now make the effort to notice the score. I honestly can't remember a single thing about the score. I do on other films (that I've seen less).