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Review of King Arthur (Hans Zimmer)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if your elevated testosterone levels demand hearing the new age vocal elements of Gladiator and the masculine force of Crimson Tide elevated to their most bloated, melodramatic heights.

Avoid it... if you are instead waiting for Hans Zimmer to write a complex and original large-scale action score to transcend his familiar chord progressions and extremely basic structures that blow you over with symphonic and synthetic force.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

King Arthur: (Hans Zimmer/Various) In the post-Gladiator age of history dissertations adapted into hugely muscular blockbuster films, King Arthur seems to fit the mould quite appropriately. Written by Gladiator's David Franzoni, directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua, and produced by the outrageously well-funded Jerry Bruckheimer, King Arthur is an attempt to take the legend of Camelot and provide the "true story" behind it, the historical drama at the core of the commonly embraced modern myth. Unfortunately, it's difficult to really accomplish that purpose when expert historians argue about whether or not Arthur even existed. That's irrelevant to Bruckheimer, however, and in his effort to reproduce the mass appeal of Gladiator four years later, he served eager viewers a King Arthur tale soiled with mud, short on wizardry, and injected with modern standards of feminism. Soured critical response and a surprisingly drab audience appreciation greeted King Arthur with much of the same ambivalence shown Troy earlier in the same year, the 2004 movie failing to recoup its budget domestically. Unlike Troy, however, King Arthur does have a more interesting and convincing ensemble performance. The contribution of composer Hans Zimmer to the latter project is one that could have been predicted four years ahead of time, with a regurgitation of style that matches Fuqua's stereotypical shaky-camera/quick-cuts methodology shot for shot. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Fuqua and Bruckheimer sought Zimmer's services not only to perpetuate a successful past collaboration, but to reprise the ideas of Gladiator in an even more dramatically powerful sound. One could imagine Bruckheimer saying during a spotting session, "I want Gladiator with even more testosterone." The composer accomplished that task, in part with the assistance of co-composers and conductors Nick Glennie-Smith and Rupert Gregson-Williams, two Media Ventures regulars. That production house was, incidentally, undergoing a change of name to "Remote Control" at about this time, an event resulting from a lawsuit between Zimmer and Media Ventures co-founder Jay Rifkin. Regardless of this turmoil behind the scenes, the music to emanate from Zimmer and his crew for King Arthur is as consistent and predictable as ever.

To his credit, Zimmer nails the intended target in King Arthur without fail, and he even applied Bruckheimer's likely request to the wildly popular "Now We Are Free" new age song contributed by Lisa Gerrard in Gladiator. Having now officially graduated from the "Enya Institute of Uniform and Borderline-Boring New Age Mysticism" (having been introduced to his course of study way back in 1992's Toys), Zimmer transforms the famous "Now We Are Free" song into King Arthur's absolutely Enya-saturated equivalent, "Tell Me Now (What You See)." Moya Brennan's vocals would be beautiful if not for their mere replication of at least a dozen Enya songs (overdubbing in a wishy-washy ambience is the most pertinent similarity), and part of that responsibility lands on the shoulders of Zimmer. The song features, as usual, the main theme of the score itself, with Zimmer remaining very faithful to that melody for the duration of the film. But that theme is inherently simplistic, and perhaps obnoxiously so, in the same mono-stylistic, soothing, and easy series of chord progressions as Enya's limited range of capabilities. Beautiful? Yes. Dynamic and refreshing? Hardly. A slight exaggeration of contemporary rock influence rears its ugly head in the form of the pronounced snare drum, which pops off a ballad-like accompaniment for the song. The score experiences a little of this new-age effect as well, though Zimmer seems content letting rip with his usual standard of explosive, pulse-pounding orchestral melodrama aided by synthetic enhancements and choral gloom. His music for King Arthur is growling and menacing, glorious and majestic, invigorated by a deeper force of energy not heard from Zimmer for several years (and certainly absent in his initial Pirates of the Caribbean effort). This score truly is Crimson Tide on steroids, if such a thing could have been thought to exist. Zimmer's familiar chord progressions from the days of Backdraft and his overblown sense of elegant drama is put from pen to paper (or rather, keys to hard drive), with the simple theme bolstered by its own broad scope, large swooshes of bass-heavy electronic accompaniment, masculine choral interludes, and percussion activity bordering on insanity. How much of the ensemble is organic and how much is electronically manipulated doesn't really matter when the result is this blatantly formulaic, a lack of counterpoint or nuance in brass performances making them sound synthetic.

If you have never able to become accustomed to Zimmer's evolution from Crimson Tide to The Rock or from The Peacemaker to Gladiator, the last vestiges of his refreshing early-1990's styles diminished or destroyed, then the music for King Arthur could very well strike you as being sociopathic. For fans who grew up in the Media Ventures era of grand synthetic noise during the late 1990's, however, King Arthur will be a cornerstone of their collections. Even beyond the scores mentioned above, Zimmer has made a concerted effort to consolidate his action mannerisms and out-perform even his most masculine style here. A barrage of drums at about 8:30 into "Woad to Ruin" (the conveyance of the score's major secondary thematic material) will rock your system, and the ultra-dramatic procession of harmony for all of the ensemble's contributors together at about 4:45 in "Do You Think I'm Saxon?" presents Zimmer's overwrought flair for the dramatic at a heightened level of fantasy as close to Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings music as he will likely ever be. The music for the icy lake battle is among Zimmer's most engaging in years, with Brennan's vocals signifying a nearly tragic action cue that culminates in a massive and unparalleled performance of the primary theme. From start to finish, the score never loses confidence in the weight of its own importance, making for a listening experience that, at the very least, keeps you glued to the speakers if you have ever appreciated the role that the Media Ventures sound has played in Hollywood. There are, however, problems inherent in Zimmer's loyalty to that Bruckheimer level of intensity that may cause some listeners to balk at King Arthur. The score is short on unique elements with which to distinguish itself. Everything in its contents is Crimson Tide and Gladiator all over again, but simply exaggerated and bloated to even more awesome levels of layered power and performance emphasis. There is no particularly interesting instrumentation worth noting, a few ethnic woodwind tones and occasional clicking percussive effects not alone able to increase the intelligence level of the recording. An unfortunately short horn solo at about 4:00 into "Hold the Ice," a fleeting string solo at 4:00 into "All of Them!" (followed by a little James Horner-like flute work), as well as the occasional solo vocals are all highlights, but Zimmer has gotten so wrapped up in the overwhelming magnitude of the sound that he is able to create that he loses sight of the subtleties that can often elevates scores such as this one beyond its peers.

There are passages when King Arthur raises memories of the harsher moments from The Rock, as well as images of Bruce Willis, space shuttles, and killer asteroids. But whereas this music could very well dismay listeners distraught with Zimmer's static style, it should be noted that King Arthur is still a very large orchestral piece. Some have argued that this mode of Zimmer's music is entirely synthetic while others insist that it is entirely orchestral. In fact, both notions are wrong, and King Arthur offers a better than usual balance of the two, in several sequences reminding of the blend of The Lion King. The orchestra is always present, but Zimmer utilizes keyboarded synthetics, electronic swooshes, and those broad, low "buoaah" sounds that he often inserts in place of (for lack of a better analogy) a gong for accents on key notes. Perhaps at some point, Zimmer will finally abandon these synthetic enhancements to his orchestral recordings and instead overdub the orchestra solely instead of relying on the electronics for that little extra power, likely an expensive idea when it comes to royalties, but a worthy one anyway. Ironically, a taste of this more dynamic orchestral alternative was realized when the main theme from King Arthur was distractingly resurrected in Harald Kloser's 10,000 BC in 2008, a score that damn near ripped off the entire Zimmer melody but expresses it in impressively superior symphonic colors. Listeners are blessed in the case of King Arthur, however, with a very wet mix for the album presentation. Zimmer's electronics can be irritating when mixed dryly at the forefront of the orchestra, but for King Arthur they are thoroughly washed into the orchestral recordings so that the electronics sound much more like a supporting element than vice versa. Some of the echoing that results when reproducing live performances comes as a necessary good (or evil) of the Enya influences. The wet mix also increases the scope of the score's sound as well, which is probably a natural progression if Zimmer is continuing to seek the ever-more-powerful evolution of his sound. Overall, the composition for King Arthur, its performances, and the mixing of the recording for the album offer plenty of downright beautiful moments for Zimmer enthusiasts. The suites pieced together for the presentation occasionally exhibit obvious transitions, a problem with the composer's insistence on that format. Musically, Zimmer provides his trademark action at a magnitude not heard before, arguably making it the best "guilty pleasure" manifestation of his sound to exist. But it lacks a level of structural complexity and orchestral authenticity that could help a brainlessly engaging score such as King Arthur transcend the ranks of four-star music and evolve into something even better.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 57:48

• 1. Tell Me Now (What You See) - performed by Moya Brennan (4:34) • 2. Woad to Ruin (11:31) • 3. Do You Think I'm Saxon? (8:42) • 4. Hold the Ice (5:42) • 5. Another Brick in Hadrian's Wall (7:11) • 6. Budget Meeting (9:43) • 7. All of Them! (10:24)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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