John Powell

If high energy has a name, then it must be John Powell. Powell is a former Zimmer apprentice, and indeed his scores often share the same harmonic language and progressions as the Big Z's at times. But like fellow Media Ventures/Remote Control alumnus Harry Gregson-Williams, Powell has established his own style, one of busy orchestrations, heroic themes, and bursts of snazzy color. Although Powell's approach to electronics is not revolutionary, he combines them with the orchestra better than almost any other living composer. Combine this with the rapid-fire energy that he often infuses into his scores, and one gets a pleasing product.

Powell started out by forming his own company that provided music for commercials, and provided technical assistance to composer Patrick Doyle. Zimmer soon picked Powell up, and his first major solo score was for John Woo's Face/Off. Although he worked with Zimmer on projects like The Road to El Dorado and Chill Factor, his biggest splashes came with his collaborations with Harry Gregson-Williams on Antz, Chicken Run, and the first Shrek. After working on these stylish and highly entertaining scores, Powell became a regular composer for animation, scoring Happy Feet; The Lorax; Blue Sky's Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Horton Hears A Who, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio Ice Age: Continental Divide, and Rio 2 ; and Disney's Bolt and Mars Needs Moms. He worked with Zimmer again on Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, combining catchy riffs with boisterous action music.

In the world of live action, Powell established a highly influential style for action thrillers with Doug Liman's The Bourne Identity. Powell would develop this propulsive, driving style to pleasing effect in the sequels, Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Powell became the composer of choice for both Liman and Greengrass, scoring the former's Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, and Fair Game, and the latter's United 93 and Green Zone. These scores, along with The Italian Job, John Woo's Paycheck, and James Mangold's Knight and Day allowed Powell to develop his highly distinctive and addictive action style. Powell also got to dabble in the superhero genre, giving X-Men: The Last Stand the series' best score, featuring busy orchestral action, bold fanfares, and a raging female choir. His score for Hancock was for the most part more laid back, with the stunning exception of the explosive and triumphant final two cues. 

One of Powell's best scores is for Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois's animated feature How to Train Your Dragon. In this score, Powell combines the energy of his previous animated scores with powerful themes and a thematic and musical cohesiveness not found in many of his other animated projects (except Mars Needs Moms and the fantastic, theme-heavy Bolt). If any score that year deserved an Oscar for Best Original Score, then How to Train Your Dragon was it. His score for the sequel (helmed by DeBlois alone) is equally impressive.
 

Agent Cody Banks
Antz* (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

Bolt*

The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Ultimatum

Chicken Run** (with Harry Gregson-Williams)
Endurance
Ferdinand

Hancock

How to Train Your Dragon**
How to Train Your Dragon 2**

The Italian Job

Knight and Day

Kung Fu Panda (with Hans Zimmer)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (with Hans Zimmer)

Mars Needs Moms

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Pan

Paycheck

Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)

X-Men: The Last Stand*