Baseball Scene, Twilight

Angsty baseball needs its angsty rock music.

Image source: https://ew.com/movies/2018/11/21/twilight-baseball-untold-story/

Super Massive Blackhole by Muse

Rating: 6.5/10

I really haven’t written about a song choice in a movie that I didn’t really enjoy, so I’m going to take a stab at it. Although I’m a fan of Muse and love to listen to their synth filled rock, the use of the song Super Massive Blackhole in the background of the baseball scene in Twilight was not my favorite.

Though my mother loves Twilight, I personally could take it or leave. As a whole, the soundtrack is a lot of bands that received incredible exposure by being a part of the Twilight universe. And alone these songs are fine, but they are not all cohesive when it comes to the actual film. Now I’m of course going to focus on the infamous baseball scene.

This scene is essentially just filler in the film. I could rant about the cheap slow and fast motion effects or the terrible cgi, but I’m mostly here to talk about the music choice. Alone, Muse’s song is wonderful. The pounding bass and grinding guitar with frontman Matt Bellamy’s ghostly vocals make for an incredibly mysterious and unique sound. On paper the song is perfect for an angsty vampire flick. Had the song played behind a scene where our protagonists were getting ready for battle for instance, I might say the song choice was better. Unfortunately, the music feels lost on the baseball scene.

In an overly dramatic scene where the characters take baseball way too seriously, one would think a simple rock instrumental piece would sound far better in the background (especially in a scene where characters have dialogue. And have to talk over the singer). Yet just as the directors chose...interesting camera angles, they also chose one of the only rock songs on the soundtrack to play during a two minute scene about baseball. I have to wonder what went through their heads that made them choose a Muse song. About black holes. For a scene about baseball.

You’ll notice I didn’t give the song the worst rating in the world. That’s again because I do enjoy listening to Muse and I do enjoy Super Massive Blackhole. I just feel like it deserved to be in a better scene if it was going to be in the movie at all. This scene and this song both stick out like sore thumbs to the rest of the film (kind of like some of the acting) and I think it was poorly executed. If you haven’t listened to Muse, I very much suggest you give them a listen. If you haven’t watched Twilight, well, that might be for the best.