This is part of a series.
- Here’s the prior post on various 2024 scores - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139106
- If you want the full set of links, click on my profile.

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With the next season of The Gilded Age set for 2025, the brothers Gregson-Williams spent the year working on separate projects, with Rupert’s three scores for streaming services all rather diverse. Netflix’s Mark Wahlberg & Halle Berry action movie The Union received a surprisingly orchestral regurgitation of many Media Ventures and Remote Control action tropes - nothing terribly new or distinctive, but also nothing terribly obnoxious. The Paramount+ Christmas comedy Dear Santa was supported by adequate doses of holiday charm. And the hit Netflix show The Perfect Couple got the most interesting of Rupert’s three scores, with its layered electronic soundscape lending a sense of class and intrigue to the high society murder mystery miniseries.

Harry on the other hand had only one 2024 score, but it was the kind that demands singular dedication: Ridley Scott’s long-awaited follow-up to his 2000 hit Gladiator. That movie got one of the most iconic scores of the Media Ventures era, but while you’d think it would be a slam dunk for Hans to return to the franchise for Gladiator II he instead was apparently a pretty quick no, telling reporters that he felt he already did a good job and that he feared he wouldn’t be able to match himself. This may indeed have been the whole of it; Hans had scored plenty of sequels over the last 20 years but no legacy sequel (legacyquel) to a film he’d done the original score for, and while he had plenty of nice things to say publicly about working on Disney’s 2019 CGI remake of The Lion King it’s rumored that his time on that wasn’t wholly satisfying. Perhaps even the troubled experience of having another go at the Caped Crusader on Batman v Superman was still on his mind. Left unsaid was that Hans and Ridley hadn’t completed a score together in over 20 years, as well as that Hans - often juggling many projects and frequently on the road for concerts - probably didn’t have the capacity to spend months focused on only one movie (which was why he’d backed out of Gore Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness).

But Harry - having contributed additional music for the director’s Prometheus and Exodus: Gods and Kings plus full scores for Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, The Last Duel, and House of Gucci - was all for having another job with Ridley, even with some admitted anxiety about following in his former boss’ footsteps. He summoned an impressively diverse and evocative array of instrumental, vocal, and electric sounds (“my colors for the palette that I was going to use”) for his score, experimenting with ancient instruments including an ancient carnyx war horn and pulling in collaborators both new and old, the latter including electric instrumentalists Hugh Marsh and Martin Tillman, vocalist Grace Davidson, and his former boss and frequent woodwind contributor Richard Harvey (all were kept save for the falsetto tones of Israeli singer Lior Attar which Ridley found “beautiful, but too much,” though Harry still managed to feature him in the end credits). There was unsurprisingly some carry-over from The Last Duel, both with Davidson’s voice and the ancient-sounding viol ensemble and also with a slurring sound for Denzel Washington’s “slippery” character that evoked the howl that Harry used for Adam Driver’s character in the earlier film.

Harry implied that in the early stages they tried to get closer to the anthemic sound Hans had provided for the earlier film, but “it really bogged things down. It would’ve been in advance of what the story actually was. [The main character] Lucius becomes the person we need him to be [only] near the end of the film.” Whereas the early scenes of Gladiator feature muscular battle music for Russell Crowe’s general that shifted to dreamier new age material by the film’s end, the story of Gladiator II required Harry to invert that progression and only elevate his new protagonist Lucius’ theme (often only performed in fragments throughout the movie) to rousing heights in the final scenes. That made for an appropriately subtle style that rewards repeat listening on its album, though for those who liked the obviousness and occasional bigness of Hans’ Gladiator music that was bound to be a disappointment.

That didn’t mean Harry completely abandoned everything about the prior score though. Sure, Heitor Pereira’s guitar wasn’t around (no protagonist nicknamed Spaniard this time), but Lisa Gerrard’s voice was newly recorded, and a new theme often performed on a ney flute - sounding like a cousin of the ethnic flute theme that opens the Gladiator score album - functioned as a “DNA theme” that provided a sense of the original film without explicitly restating prior tunes. The most intelligent aspect was how Harry picked up on the descending seventh interval between the third and fourth notes of Hans’ Maximus theme (atypically for a heroic theme “it had a bit of tragedy to it, which really appealed to me”). Harry used it as an occasional element of his own Lucius theme and also deployed the two-note progression as its own motif for another way to signify both past and present events. For fans of musical cleverness and evocative instrumental textures, Harry’s score should be rather satisfying - perhaps not quite the instant classic that Hans’ Gladiator was for many, but likely one that time will still be kind to. That it came for a flawed film nowhere near as good as its predecessor was a minor miracle.


Gladiator II - **** - Harry Gregson-Williams; arrangements by
Ryder McNair & Ho Ling Tang; orchestrated by Stephen Barton; conducted by
Harry Gregson-Williams; ancient instruments Abraham Cupeiro;
ethnic woodwinds Richard Harvey; electric violin Hugh Marsh;
electric cello Martin Tillman; vocalists Ayo Adeymi, Lior Attar,
Antonio Lizana, Grace Davison, Lisa Gerrard & Susan Legg

The Perfect Couple - *** - Rupert Gregson-Williams; add’l music
by Tony Clarke, Chris Forsgren & Joshua Pacey; orchestrated by
Simeon Edward & Alexander Kostov; technical assistant Shane Starr

The Union - *** - Rupert Gregson-Williams; add’l music by Chris Forsgren &
Joshua Pacey; add’l music & arrangements by Ole Wiedekamm; orchestrated & conducted
by Alastair King; also orchestrated by Thomas Bryla, Paul Campbell, Alec Roberts &
Evan Rogers; add’l conducting & orchestration by Terry Davies; score technician Shane Starr

Dear Santa - *** - Rupert Gregson-Williams; add’l music by Tony Clarke &
Joshua Pacey; orchestrated by Alastair King; soprano soloist Grace Davidson

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Next time:
- “A lot of voices.”
- “It’s animalistic.”
- “It doesn't work if you're trying to be perfect and contemporary.”

> Harry on the other hand had only one 2024 score, but it was the kind that
> demands singular dedication: Ridley Scott’s long-awaited follow-up to his
> 2000 hit Gladiator. That movie got one of the most iconic scores of
> the Media Ventures era, but while you’d think it would be a slam dunk for
> Hans to return to the franchise for Gladiator II he instead was
> apparently a pretty quick no, telling reporters that he felt he already
> did a good job and that he feared he wouldn’t be able to match himself.
> This may indeed have been the whole of it; Hans had scored plenty of
> sequels over the last 20 years but no legacy sequel (legacyquel) to a film
> he’d done the original score for, and while he had plenty of nice things
> to say publicly about working on Disney’s 2019 CGI remake of The Lion
> King it’s rumored that his time on that wasn’t wholly satisfying.
> Perhaps even the troubled experience of having another go at the Caped
> Crusader on Batman v Superman was still on his mind. Left unsaid
> was that Hans and Ridley hadn’t completed a score together in over 20
> years, as well as that Hans - often juggling many projects and frequently
> on the road for concerts - probably didn’t have the capacity to spend
> months focused on only one movie (which was why he’d backed out of Gore
> Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness).

> But Harry - having contributed additional music for the director’s
> Prometheus and Exodus: Gods and Kings plus full scores for
> Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, The Last Duel, and
> House of Gucci - was all for having another job with Ridley, even
> with some admitted anxiety about following in his former boss’ footsteps.
> He summoned an impressively diverse and evocative array of instrumental,
> vocal, and electric sounds (“my colors for the palette that I was going to
> use”) for his score, experimenting with ancient instruments including an
> ancient carnyx war horn and pulling in collaborators both new and old, the
> latter including electric instrumentalists Hugh Marsh and Martin Tillman,
> vocalist Grace Davidson, and his former boss and frequent woodwind
> contributor Richard Harvey (all were kept save for the falsetto tones of
> Israeli singer Lior Attar which Ridley found “beautiful, but too much,”
> though Harry still managed to feature him in the end credits). There was
> unsurprisingly some carry-over from The Last Duel, both with
> Davidson’s voice and the ancient-sounding viol ensemble and also with a
> slurring sound for Denzel Washington’s “slippery” character that evoked
> the howl that Harry used for Adam Driver’s character in the earlier film.

> Harry implied that in the early stages they tried to get closer to the
> anthemic sound Hans had provided for the earlier film, but “it really
> bogged things down. It would’ve been in advance of what the story actually
> was. [The main character] Lucius becomes the person we need him to be
> [only] near the end of the film.” Whereas the early scenes of
> Gladiator feature muscular battle music for Russell Crowe’s general
> that shifted to dreamier new age material by the film’s end, the story of
> Gladiator II required Harry to invert that progression and only
> elevate his new protagonist Lucius’ theme (often only performed in
> fragments throughout the movie) to rousing heights in the final scenes.
> That made for an appropriately subtle style that rewards repeat listening
> on its album, though for those who liked the obviousness and occasional
> bigness of Hans’ Gladiator music that was bound to be a
> disappointment.

> That didn’t mean Harry completely abandoned everything about the prior
> score though. Sure, Heitor Pereira’s guitar wasn’t around (no protagonist
> nicknamed Spaniard this time), but Lisa Gerrard’s voice was newly
> recorded, and a new theme often performed on a ney flute - sounding like a
> cousin of the ethnic flute theme that opens the Gladiator score
> album - functioned as a “DNA theme” that provided a sense of the original
> film without explicitly restating prior tunes. The most intelligent aspect
> was how Harry picked up on the descending seventh interval between the
> third and fourth notes of Hans’ Maximus theme (atypically for a heroic
> theme “it had a bit of tragedy to it, which really appealed to me”). Harry
> used it as an occasional element of his own Lucius theme and also deployed
> the two-note progression as its own motif for another way to signify both
> past and present events. For fans of musical cleverness and evocative
> instrumental textures, Harry’s score should be rather satisfying - perhaps
> not quite the instant classic that Hans’ Gladiator was for many,
> but likely one that time will still be kind to. That it came for a flawed
> film nowhere near as good as its predecessor was a minor miracle.
>
>
> Gladiator II - **** - Harry Gregson-Williams; arrangements by
> Ryder McNair & Ho Ling Tang; orchestrated by Stephen Barton; conducted
> by
> Harry Gregson-Williams; ancient instruments Abraham Cupeiro;
> ethnic woodwinds Richard Harvey; electric violin Hugh Marsh;
> electric cello Martin Tillman; vocalists Ayo Adeymi, Lior Attar,
> Antonio Lizana, Grace Davison, Lisa Gerrard & Susan Legg

Great review of the score that probably left me the most conflicted in 2024. I can't tell if I'm being too harsh on the score and film because both do not match the excellence of their predecessors, but I also can't deny that there is still some very good and very interesting material in them.

On a side note, I decided to revisit Scott's Robin Hood film a few nights ago and found myself enjoying it much more than I remembered. I was also surprised how much Streitenfeld's score had me thinking of HGW's Gladiator II score, more for their similarities in approach and style than anything else. As much as I like HGW's style for these types of film, I can't help but wish it was just a bit more like the first Gladiator score, especially with the action music.

Just popping in to say that I'm enjoying these as much as ever, although I'm not responding as much. It's a little different reflecting on scores from the past year: I've already written more than anyone wants to read about some of these, the one below in particular!

> Harry on the other hand had only one 2024 score, but it was the kind that
> demands singular dedication: Ridley Scott’s long-awaited follow-up to his
> 2000 hit Gladiator. That movie got one of the most iconic scores of
> the Media Ventures era, but while you’d think it would be a slam dunk for
> Hans to return to the franchise for Gladiator II he instead was
> apparently a pretty quick no, telling reporters that he felt he already
> did a good job and that he feared he wouldn’t be able to match himself.
> This may indeed have been the whole of it; Hans had scored plenty of
> sequels over the last 20 years but no legacy sequel (legacyquel) to a film
> he’d done the original score for, and while he had plenty of nice things
> to say publicly about working on Disney’s 2019 CGI remake of The Lion
> King it’s rumored that his time on that wasn’t wholly satisfying.
> Perhaps even the troubled experience of having another go at the Caped
> Crusader on Batman v Superman was still on his mind. Left unsaid
> was that Hans and Ridley hadn’t completed a score together in over 20
> years, as well as that Hans - often juggling many projects and frequently
> on the road for concerts - probably didn’t have the capacity to spend
> months focused on only one movie (which was why he’d backed out of Gore
> Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness).

Without speculating too much, I think it seems pretty clear that there was a meaningful falling out way back, even if over time it's softened to using polite professional excuses. I imagine HGW taking this on was a best case scenario from Hans' perspective, given everything you mentioned.

> and also with a slurring sound for Denzel Washington’s “slippery” character that evoked
> the howl that Harry used for Adam Driver’s character in the earlier film.

I haven't mentioned it, but this comparison immediately jumped out at me too.

Also, I think the character's motives have been poorly analyzed in reviews. Everyone talks about him like a straightforward villain who wants power for himself, but what he wants is to see Rome burn, and with good reason. I don't think he ultimately cares about his personal power, or even life - he just wants to destroy the people who destroyed him. Lucius agrees with him to an extent, until he comes to terms with his family's history and sees the greater potential of Rome. But honestly, I didn't find Lucius' revelation or final speech that inspiring. It felt like "we can do better...as a conquering empire," which hardly made me stand up and cheer. I preferred the first film's resolution centering on the Maximus' personal trials, with his impact and legacy emphasized at the individual rather than the abstract societal level.

> Harry implied that in the early stages they tried to get closer to the
> anthemic sound Hans had provided for the earlier film, but “it really
> bogged things down. It would’ve been in advance of what the story actually
> was. [The main character] Lucius becomes the person we need him to be
> [only] near the end of the film.” Whereas the early scenes of
> Gladiator feature muscular battle music for Russell Crowe’s general
> that shifted to dreamier new age material by the film’s end, the story of
> Gladiator II required Harry to invert that progression and only
> elevate his new protagonist Lucius’ theme (often only performed in
> fragments throughout the movie) to rousing heights in the final scenes.
> That made for an appropriately subtle style that rewards repeat listening
> on its album, though for those who liked the obviousness and occasional
> bigness of Hans’ Gladiator music that was bound to be a
> disappointment.

Agree with all of this, and especially with the point that a musical emphasis on the Lucius' military background would've made little sense. There are practically no army/battle scenes, and Lucius spends the whole film effectively disowning his past (except for his wife) and cynically critiquing everything to do with empire and military might. The film didn't all work for me, and I think it's a bit convoluted at times, but it's strange how off some of the critiques of the film and score have been.