This is part of a series.
- Here’s the last post ranking Lorne Balfe’s scores - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=123080
- If you want the full set of links covering the Too Big To Fail era or earlier, click on my profile.

-----------------------

The HGW rankings cover all scores that I’ve heard where he’s credited as the primary composer or co-composer. I also included a few works where he provided some notable last-minute contributions. These are all placed based on my impression of the score as a whole unless otherwise noted.

*½
47. Phone Booth
46. Domino


**
45. The Taking of Pelham 123
44. The Equalizer 2


**½
43. Smilla's Sense of Snow
42. The Equalizer
41. Infinite

40. Total Recall
39. Flushed Away
38. The Town
37. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (HGW portion)


***
36. Passionada
35. Gone Baby Gone
34. Cowboys & Aliens
33. Man on Fire
32. Déjà Vu
31. The Number 23

30. The Zookeeper's Wife
29. Unstoppable
28. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
27. The Rundown


***½ (round down to 3)
26. Prometheus
25. Mulan
24. Shrek
23. The Rock


***½ (round up to 4)
22. Early Man
21. Catch-22
20. The Meg
19. Spy Game
18. Shrek the Third


****
17. Arthur Christmas
16. The Gilded Age Season 1
15. Penguins
14. Polar Bear
13. Shrek 2
12. Shrek Forever After
11. Monkey Kingdom

10. The Martian
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings
8. Antz
7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time


****½ (round down to 4)
6. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
5. The Last Duel


****½ (round up to 5)
4. Chicken Run
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe


*****
2. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
1. Kingdom of Heaven

-----------------------

Next time: The John Powell rankings across all eras.

Great list.
I would rate Shrek 4 higher. For me (and I am the only person in the world that thinks this), it is an underrated masterpiece. It has the best arrangements of the franchise themes, an awesome villain theme, and very tight narrative. A 5 star score in my book.

> I would rate Shrek 4 higher. For me (and I am the only person in the world that thinks this), it is an underrated masterpiece. It has the best arrangements of the franchise themes, an awesome villain theme, and very tight narrative. A 5 star score in my book.

The rundown led me to watch maybe 10-20 films as I was writing about their scores. One of them was Shrek Forever After. I went in thinking, 'It can't be as bad as Shrek 3, right?'

Oh dear...

> Great list.
> I would rate Shrek 4 higher. For me (and I am the only person in the world
> that thinks this), it is an underrated masterpiece. It has the best
> arrangements of the franchise themes, an awesome villain theme, and very
> tight narrative. A 5 star score in my book.

Pretty sure I've gone back to this all excited I missed an HGW masterpiece every time you've mentioned it, but I've never come away as high on it. Can't hurt to try again! (I probably should just watch the film, but to Jon's point, that's not the most enticing prospect...)

> *½
> 47. Phone Booth
> 46. Domino
>
>
> **
> 45. The Taking of Pelham 123
> 44. The Equalizer 2
>
>
> **½
> 43. Smilla's Sense of Snow
> 42. The Equalizer
> 41. Infinite

> 40. Total Recall
> 39. Flushed Away
> 38. The Town
> 37. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (HGW portion)
>
>
> ***
> 36. Passionada
> 35. Gone Baby Gone
> 34. Cowboys & Aliens
> 33. Man on Fire
> 32. Déjà Vu
> 31. The Number 23

> 30. The Zookeeper's Wife
> 29. Unstoppable
> 28. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
> 27. The Rundown
>
>
> ***½ (round down to 3)
> 26. Prometheus
> 25. Mulan
> 24. Shrek
> 23. The Rock
>
>
> ***½ (round up to 4)
> 22. Early Man
> 21. Catch-22
> 20. The Meg
> 19. Spy Game
> 18. Shrek the Third
>
>
> ****
> 17. Arthur Christmas
> 16. The Gilded Age Season 1
> 15. Penguins
> 14. Polar Bear
> 13. Shrek 2
> 12. Shrek Forever After
> 11. Monkey Kingdom

> 10. The Martian
> 9. Exodus: Gods and Kings
> 8. Antz
> 7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
>
>
> ****½ (round down to 4)
> 6. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
> 5. The Last Duel
>
>
> ****½ (round up to 5)
> 4. Chicken Run
> 3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
>
>
> *****
> 2. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
> 1. Kingdom of Heaven

Generally aligned with how these are tiered out. There's no question he's one of my favorite composers of the past 30 years, but it's not quantity driving that. Almost half of these are action/thriller scores that do very little for me. Perpetually bummed thinking about an alternative timeline where his opportunities over the last 15 years came from genres that played more to his strengths, as I see them. Feels like 2008 to 2011 was the turning point:

- Through 2008, he's getting diverse assignments and putting out incredible work, with at least a few very compelling moments even in the weaker scores.
- In 2009, Wolverine is ok but kind of an ominous sign in retrospect, and Pelham is a dud.
- In 2010, he finishes the Shrek series on a high note and Prince of Persia becomes his last big adventure/fantasy score until Mulan a decade later, but it's starting to show signs of blending with the dour electronic vibes of his action/thriller scores.
- Then in 2011, Arthur Christmas ends his animation run and Cowboys and Aliens feels like the depressing logical end point of the evolution that Wolverine/Prince of Persia signaled.

There are huge gaps between his outstanding scores from Prince Caspian to The Martian (7 years) to The Last Duel (6 years), but there aren't a ton of films in that stretch that, based on genre and tone, feel like missed opportunities for something on that level (Mulan being the biggest disappointment, as much as I enjoyed it). Anyway, without analyzing too much, here's how I think I'd tier it out:

Tier 1: (all-timers)
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Sinbad
Prince Caspian
Kingdom of Heaven

Tier 2: (excellent)
The Martian
The Last Duel
Chicken Run

Tier 3: (great)
Mulan
Polar Bear
Penguins
Spy Game
The Gilded Age
Shrek 2/4
Arthur Christmas
The Meg
Exodus
Prince of Persia
Shrek 1/3
Early Man
Monkey Kingdom

I can take or leave what's left, though those scores include many of my favorite HGW cues (Gone Baby Gone, Miss You Already, Prometheus, Infinite, etc.).

> Feels like 2008 to 2011 was the turning point

It's also the stretch of time where he started to get burned out, which is why he took that time off a year later.

> Then in 2011, Arthur Christmas ends his animation run and Cowboys and Aliens feels like the depressing logical end point of the evolution that Wolverine/Prince of Persia signaled.

It's hard to blame Harry for Cowboys & Aliens, an impossible assignment with two studios involved and giving copious amounts of notes. He acted like things were fine at the time, but that winter he'd be more frank.

'I’m still not quite sure how I feel about that score; I know how I feel about the film now. I left myself a lot of time. Perhaps too much time. By the time I’d actually written the score, huge chunks of the film were coming out, and it was becoming streamlined and fine-cut. And I thought I’d already lived it, in terms of a score’s life, and I had to energize myself to do it once again. That was very tricky.'

> There are huge gaps between his outstanding scores from Prince Caspian to The Martian (7 years) to The Last Duel (6 years), but there aren't a ton of films in that stretch that, based on genre and tone, feel like missed opportunities for something on that level

Also worth noting is that Harry likes alternating between the two sides of his hybrid style (the more symphonic vs. more contemporary), and would probably get sick of only writing the types of scores this community tends to like more. He seemed to really enjoy his time on Unstoppable as that's been featured in at least one of his master class-type presentations.

> It's also the stretch of time where he started to get burned out, which is
> why he took that time off a year later.

> It's hard to blame Harry for Cowboys & Aliens, an impossible
> assignment with two studios involved and giving copious amounts of notes.
> He acted like things were fine at the time, but that winter he'd be more
> frank.

> 'I’m still not quite sure how I feel about that score; I know how I
> feel about the film now. I left myself a lot of time. Perhaps too much
> time. By the time I’d actually written the score, huge chunks of the film
> were coming out, and it was becoming streamlined and fine-cut. And I
> thought I’d already lived it, in terms of a score’s life, and I had to
> energize myself to do it once again. That was very tricky.'

For sure, I'm (almost always) speaking purely to the end product, but, perhaps because I'm a biased big fan, I feel a nagging sense that HGW's ups and downs are largely attributable to opportunities and relationships.

> Also worth noting is that Harry likes alternating between the two sides of
> his hybrid style (the more symphonic vs. more contemporary), and would
> probably get sick of only writing the types of scores this community tends
> to like more. He seemed to really enjoy his time on Unstoppable as
> that's been featured in at least one of his master class-type
> presentations.

True. But those types of scores pre-2008 had some distinct appeal or at least a knockout track or two (Spy Game, Veronica Guerin (realize this wasn't on your list), Gone Baby Gone, etc.). There's not a single cue from The Equalizer(s), Total Recall, Live by Night, or Confirmation that I ever return to, which is why Infinite was such a pleasant surprise - I have a 20-minute playlist from that that I think is genuinely great (should've put it somewhere in that third tier).

Sinbad, Kingdom of Heaven, and The Martian are my favorite scores. But really, I love his MGS scores. Some of the best game music of my generation.

> This is part of a series.
> - Here’s the last post ranking Lorne Balfe’s scores -
> https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=123080
> - If you want the full set of links covering the Too Big To Fail era or
> earlier, click on my profile.

> -----------------------

> The HGW rankings cover all scores that I’ve heard where he’s credited as
> the primary composer or co-composer. I also included a few works where he
> provided some notable last-minute contributions. These are all placed
> based on my impression of the score as a whole unless otherwise noted.

> *½
> 47. Phone Booth
> 46. Domino
>
>
> **
> 45. The Taking of Pelham 123
> 44. The Equalizer 2
>
>
> **½
> 43. Smilla's Sense of Snow
> 42. The Equalizer
> 41. Infinite

> 40. Total Recall
> 39. Flushed Away
> 38. The Town
> 37. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (HGW portion)
>
>
> ***
> 36. Passionada
> 35. Gone Baby Gone
> 34. Cowboys & Aliens
> 33. Man on Fire
> 32. Déjà Vu
> 31. The Number 23

> 30. The Zookeeper's Wife
> 29. Unstoppable
> 28. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
> 27. The Rundown
>
>
> ***½ (round down to 3)
> 26. Prometheus
> 25. Mulan
> 24. Shrek
> 23. The Rock
>
>
> ***½ (round up to 4)
> 22. Early Man
> 21. Catch-22
> 20. The Meg
> 19. Spy Game
> 18. Shrek the Third
>
>
> ****
> 17. Arthur Christmas
> 16. The Gilded Age Season 1
> 15. Penguins
> 14. Polar Bear
> 13. Shrek 2
> 12. Shrek Forever After
> 11. Monkey Kingdom

> 10. The Martian
> 9. Exodus: Gods and Kings
> 8. Antz
> 7. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
>
>
> ****½ (round down to 4)
> 6. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
> 5. The Last Duel
>
>
> ****½ (round up to 5)
> 4. Chicken Run
> 3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
>
>
> *****
> 2. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
> 1. Kingdom of Heaven

> -----------------------

> Next time: The John Powell rankings across all eras.

HGW is an extremely perplexing composer to me. Lol. He has simultaneously some of my highest rated, most played scores and some absolute bummers I wish I never listened to. When he hits, he REALLY hits and when he misses, he REALLY misses. Prince of Persia, The Last Duel, Prince Caspian, Sinbad and Kingdom of Heaven are in my top 20 of all time. Crazy.