In my admittedly giddy anticipation of Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel, among the most exciting elements of suspense has been waiting to hear what composer Hans Zimmer has concocted for the movie’s orchestral score.
It can’t be an easy task to follow in the footsteps of maestro John Williams, whose main title march for the first Superman movie became an instant classic in 1978 and is still considered the gold standard of superhero themes.
Zimmer’s work will inevitably be compared to Williams’ soaring and indelible symphony, but judging only by the trailers for Man of Steel and a few short preview snippets of Zimmer’s score available to listen online, he may have indeed succeeded in stepping out of Williams’ daunting shadow.
The few samples of Zimmer’s score I’ve heard so far match enticingly well with the images I’ve seen in the previews, but I’ll reserve judgment for a future Geek Spasm, after I’ve seen the movie and hear how the score plays in it.
The Man of Steel original soundtrack will be released on June 11, three days before the film launches.
Until then, here is a sampling of some of my favorite Zimmer movie music:
Take any of Zimmer’s three scores for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy and it would represent the composer at his most ambitious, but his score (along with James Newton Howard) for the second installment is the pinnacle. The brooding main themes blend menacing atmospherics with thematic orchestral bombast, resulting in a dark symphony that’s as unsettling as the film’s unhinged antagonist, and as bold and badass as its hero. Not for the faint of heart.
Now hear this: “A Dark Knight.”
Inception (2010)
In its quieter moments, Zimmer’s score conjures a melancholy soundscape that befits the hero’s debilitating and achingly sad backstory. In its more suspenseful beats, the full orchestra kicks in, creating a gigantic symphonic backdrop to the multi-layered action. Each level of the movie’s dream maze has its own distinct tempo, a subliminal play on the variable ticking-clock timing of the plot’s myriad dream hopping. The moment Zimmer’s thunderous crescendo weaves in a sonic tease of the recurring Edith Piaf song is as mind-blowing as any of the film’s awesome visuals.
Now hear this: “Waiting For A Train.”
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Zimmer’s zippy score for Guy Ritchie’s revisionist update is, like its two main characters, both playful and mischievous. The music perfectly captures the flavor of turn-of-the-century London and complements the (b)romantic tension and camaraderie between Holmes and Watson.
Now hear this: “Discombobulate.”
Gladiator (2000)
Zimmer’s sweeping score for Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning tale of palace intrigue and revenge in ancient Rome is bolstered by the haunting and ethereal voice of Lisa Gerrard.
Now hear this: “Now We Are Free.”
Crimson Tide (1995)
Like a different but equally superlative submarine movie from 1990, the score for this new-cold-war suspense thriller blends orchestra with a male chorus. The dour, Soviet-flavored tone perfectly sets the mood of imminent danger, and during one crucial life-or-death moment, the score interpolates a classic naval hymn for fallen sailors to surprisingly poignant effect. The soundtrack album contains a mere five tracks, and the two that clock in at nearly twenty minutes in length hint at the real-time pacing of the film’s key events.
Now hear this: “Roll Tide/Hymn.”
The Lion King (1994)
Zimmer’s magnificent scoring of Shakespearean animal shenanigans on the African plain is undercut by a selection of mostly insipid songs by Elton John and Tim Rice. Nonetheless, this is the movie that snagged Zimmer his first and (so far) only Academy Award.
Now hear this: “This Land.”
True Romance (1993)
Tony Scott’s pop classic, written by Quentin Tarantino, owes a great debt to Terrence Malick’s 1973 young-lovers-on-the-run film Badlands, and Zimmer pays specific musical tribute to it with a similarly bouncy main theme.
Now hear this: “You’re So Cool.”
Backdraft (1991)
Granted, some of Zimmer’s Wagnerian scores for big event movies (The Rock; M:I-2; Pirates of the Caribbean) tend to blend into each other, but his work for Ron Howard’s Backdraft was the first one that truly hooked me. Until then, I’d known his movie music to be typically soft and wistful (Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Thelma & Louise), but his full-blown orchestral score here really took things up a few notches, suitably accenting the bravery and sacrifice of the film’s stalwart firemen heroes. Zimmer’s brassy score for Backdraft would go on to receive a lot more play during the few years following the film’s release, when his most triumphant cue would make its way into several coming attractions trailers for other random movies.
Now hear this: “You Go, We Go.”
