In Defense of Hans: A Breakdown of Hans Zimmer's 2013

Love him or hate him, Hans Zimmer is having a hell of a year.  

He started off this year by scoring “The Bible” along with Lorne Balfe, and some help from his friend Lisa Gerrard (yea, the one from Hans’ Golden Globe award winning score for “Gladiator," among other projects).  I’ll admit, I didn’t watch this History Channel miniseries, but I have heard the soundtrack.  Yea - it’s very Zimmer-esque, which for me isn’t a bad thing at all.  Call me inexperienced, call me an amateur, call me what you want, but I wouldn’t mind a steady dose of Zimmer’s sound on the reg much as I wouldn’t mind a 2 hour supercut of Schmidt’s greatest hits from “New Girl.”  Plus let’s face it, he had a much bigger project on his mind: Man of Steel.

As he has done in almost every score recently, Hans looked to put something out with a bit of a different spin, some flare.  This time it was percussion.  I won’t go into a whole review of the score, but no one can deny the impact of the drum sequences.  For me, the trailer music had me hooked (no surprise there).  The theme taken from the last track on the album, "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?" (making a case for longest track title in history?) perfectly encapsulates all that Zimmer was trying to do with that score, and I think it was glorious.  Nice move to gather all those world-famous drummers together in the same room to record.  Maybe an in depth review of the Man of Steel score to come?

Then Hans moved over to score for the infamous flop “The Lone Ranger.”  It’s not that the score was bad, it just didn’t do it for me.  If he was going for the playful sound, a la Sherlock Holmes, I definitely heard it.  Maybe a bit too much.  And the whole western Ennio Morricone tribute was cute, but not Zimmer’s style.  Look, it’s still a score I would listen to, but it wasn’t memorable for me as his scores usually are.  "The Finale" track helps his cause with some William Tell Overture action.  I don’t know, maybe I haven’t given this one enough of a chance.

Then came “Rush.”  And WOW is all I can say.  What a job by Zimmer.  See, what I love about this (and about Zimmer for that matter) is how well he matches instrument sounds to genre of movie.  I will forever associate Formula 1 racing with those distorted guitar riffs.  And who knew throwing in a bass/cello combo (reminding me of Steve Jablonsky’s “Transformers” theme, I don't mind a little RCP influence) with the electric guitar in the opening track, "1976"would complement so well?  I guess my only knock on the album version is the addition of those classic rock songs from the movie in the middle of the score.  I want a steady dose of Hans and only Hans!

So where do we go from here?  As you can see, I’m a bit of a Hans Zimmer groupie.  I confess: I like almost anything the guy puts out.  And I’m not afraid to say it.  He’s my idol.

Let’s just say his epic year is bound to end with a bang in “12 Years a Slave.”  I simply cannot wait to see (hear) this one.