Monday, January 22, 2007

Vanishing Knights - an adrenaline-filled orgy of muscle car and guitar rock

I've been listening to British rock band Muse's Black Holes and Revelations (2006) on my commute, and it's gotten stuck in my head. The final song, Knights of Cydonia is a grandiose, bombastic and triumphant progressive-rock cacophony. Bellamy croons, “No one's gonna take me alive... the time has come to make things right... you and I must fight for our rights... you and I must fight to survive.”

I really enjoyed the official video, which was done in the style of a post-apocalyptic old spaghetti western film. The over-the-top, bigger than life stylish combination of that song and visuals reminded me of Vanishing Point (1971); a film whose success derived mostly from its visceral feel and powerful sounds.

Vanishing Point is the ultimate car chase movie, starring Barry Newman and a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. Kowalski, a car delivery driver at the end of his rope, decides to drive at high speed from Denver to San Fransisco. Filmed in the desert, mountains and small towns throughout Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, the film features beautiful landscapes and powerful imagery. Kowalski continually evades the law to the delight of the public in the form of the last American hero.

I've been working on editing together a mashup over the last two weeks, maintaining the story line and themes of the film and closely following the song. I'm very pleased with the result; it's an exciting, six-and-a-half minute adrenaline-filled orgy of muscle car and guitar rock. I make no claims to the content; I merely edited things together.

EDIT: The audio was disabled by YouTube / lawyers, so despite my opinion that it was fair use, I have removed the video entirely.

2 comments:

LKRaider said...

The video is no longer available ! :(

I had it on my Youtube favourites but now it was taken down. Any chance of releasing it again? Please? :)

LKRaider said...

Hm, found a version online here:
http://g9b8.redo.com/videos/Vanishing_Knights_-_Vanishing_Point___Muse_Mashup


now to find out how to download it so I never loose it again :)