Overview of 2013 Scores Part 1 of 3

I’m probably listening to the wrong scores, but in 2013, I can’t claim to have heard any scores that I classify as desert-island scores. If you look at my ranking of my top scores of 2012, you’ll notice that I listed five scores with asterisks (almost the best) and one score with two asterisks (the cream of the crop). This year, sadly, only one score I listened to merited one asterisk and none deserved two asterisks, though there were plenty (14 to be exact) that almost made it there. (Though looking back at the 2012 list, I would probably take away the asterisk from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and move Wreck-It Ralph ahead of Rise of the Guardians and maybe even Frankenweenie). Come to think of it, this year’s crop of films wasn’t so hot either, though again, I’m probably seeing the wrong films.

There were some scores this year with spectacular, moving cues, but only one of them as a whole reached the apex of sublimity. After having a stellar 2012, Michael Giacchino and Danny Elfman decreased their output, and James Newton Howard wrote his first score for M. Night Shyamalan that was not absolutely magnificent. More positively, Mark Mancina made a glorious return to film scoring, Abel Korzeniowski penned two exquisitely wondrous scores, and Brian Tyler is starting to score films that actually don’t suck.

A few brief notes on scores I heard in the film only: Oblivion (Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese) was mostly nondescript, sounding like an inferior cousin to Daft Punk and Trapanese’s Tron Legacy. The Wolverine (Marco Beltrami) was one of the lesser scores for the X-Men franchise, consisting of haphazard action music and dull, meandering underscore. Beltrami’s Carrie was better, with a surprisingly touching theme for the title character and some unsettling electronic effects. Elysium (Ryan Amon) was indistinguishable from lesser Remote Control scores, apart from a neat, ascending string effect.  The World’s End (Steven Price) was mostly overwhelmed by the song selections; the most memorable music moments are the uses of the choir passage from the Sisters of Mercy song “The Corrosion.” David Arnold’s score to Hot Fuzz remains the best score for a Cornetto Trilogy film by far. Pacific Rim (Ramin Djawadi) was barely passable, with an earworm of a main theme. But the action music is loud without being interesting, and the theme for Mako sounds almost exactly like the theme for the kaiju. It’s better than Djawadi’s abominable scores for Iron Man and the Clash of the Titans, but that doesn’t make it good, or even average.

This year may have been a mixed bag, but there are still some good moments to be found. Here are some thoughts on the 27 scores I listened to this year (Part 1 will cover 27-21, Part 2 will have 20-11, and Part 3 will comprise 10-1):

27. Man of Steel (Hans Zimmer)

Even without making any comparisons to John Williams’s score to the 1978 film, this score lacks depth, appeal, and dramatic complexity. While the score in the film is not quite as obtrusive as Inception’s score, it still does not do the loud, simplistic film it serves any favors. The action music is deplorably cacophonous; the quieter, piano-based music fares better, but is still extremely repetitive with little variation.

26. Captain Phillips (Henry Jackman)

Director Paul Greengrass apparently created a nightmare for the whole scoring team for this film. He rejected cues left and right, tracked in music from other films, and had a serious case of temp track love. Hans Zimmer was brought in to write a few cues, and it’s difficult to say how much of Jackman’s score remains in the film or album. The final score sadly doesn’t rise above average, though the pulsating action music is not actively obnoxious. It is definitely a lesser entry in Jackman’s otherwise impressive career, but that may not be his fault.

25. GI Joe: Retaliation (Henry Jackman)

Jackman didn’t use any material from Alan Silvestri’s guilty-pleasure score for the original, choosing instead to go heavily electronic. The sounds he uses do create a sense of macho-ness, and the simple main theme is admittedly quite catchy. His music for the ninja sequence in the mountains is more orchestral and fluid, and is my personal favorite part of the soundtrack. Jackman’s experience in the underground electronica world serves him well here, even if the final product is not as good as Silvestri’s score for The Rise of Cobra.

24. Gravity (Steven Price)

Most of this score is necessarily unpleasant and grating—someone on the Internet (I forgot who) characterized it as the THX logo music blaring for an hour. While it is admirable how Price was able to create and manipulate the acoustic and synthetic sounds, it’s still far from an easy listen. The final three cues, however, use an “epic” yet simplistic power anthem to close out director Alfonso Curaon’s remarkable cinematic journey.

23. Toy Story of Terror (Michael Giacchino)

For this half-hour special, GIacchino took over scoring duties from Randy Newman, who scored the three Toy Story features (Mark Mothersbaugh and Henry Jackman scored the shorts). Giacchino’s score matches the pleasant yet anonymous music Newman wrote for the features, but without using any of the themes. It is not until the track “Iguana Be Kidding Me” that Giacchino introduces a stirring, martial theme of his own. Overall, though, it is not one of the talented composer’s better works.

22. Red 2 (Alan Silvestri)

Perhaps to reflect the geriatric nature of the film’s heroes, Silvestri uses dated-sounding synthesizers alongside the orchestra (though it’s certainly not as dated-sounding as his score for Flight of the Navigator). There aren’t any strong or memorable themes, but Silvestri keeps the energy and momentum up for the most part. The best track is probably “Paris Chase,” where one can hear unmistakable Silvestri-isms that make his action writing so relentlessly exhilarating.

21. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (James Newton Howard)

JNH improves a bit upon his score for The Hunger Games, this time creating a melancholy vocal melody for Katniss and some truly propulsive action cues with “The Fog” and “Monkey Mutts.” There’s nothing that matches the outright pathos of “Rue’s Farewell” from the first score, though “The Tour” and “The Arena Crumbles” come close. Although I have come to appreciate the scores for these films, I still think Howard could take them even further; his exemplary track record proves that he can.