: (Hans Zimmer/Various) Fans of John
Woo have long speculated about what the distinctive director's take
would be on a James Bond film, and 2000's
largely answered those questions. Certainly stylish in all of the
trademark Woo choreography and photography, the sequel to the 1996 Brian
DePalma hit would dumb down its script into a Bond clone, leaving no
doubt about its characters and their purpose. Actor Tom Cruise proved
once and for all that he qualifies as a Bond-like action star,
performing most of his own stunts in the production. While most of the
film is set in Australia, a segment is rooted in Spain, and it is this
part of the film that provided composer Hans Zimmer with the best
inspiration in his score. The first
film
featured an edgy Danny Elfman effort that largely mirrored the movie's
haphazard and fragmented storyline. Zimmer, like the script of the
sequel, dumbs down the music for the franchise with a predictably
synthetic and metallic style of sound to be expected in any Woo film. He
drops the orchestral and synthetic blend favored by Elfman (and Michael
Giacchino, who would handle scoring duties for the third entry) and
substitutes only his array of electronic devises, ranging from his
typical library of faux-orchestral samples to rock band elements and
soloists. While Zimmer largely took solo credit for this score, his
methodology included handling each scene with impromptu contributions by
a handful of regular collaborators that he refers to as his "band." This
group contained the usual Media Ventures names, including Nick
Glennie-Smith, Jeff Rona, Klaus Badelt, and Heitor Pereira, as well as
vocalist Lisa Gerrard, with whom Zimmer and Badelt had just recently
struck the jackpot with
. The sequences featuring the
work of Pereira and Gerrard would specifically become the highlights of
, with most of the remaining score resorting
to senseless action techniques that are so simplistic that even
dedicated Zimmer collectors acknowledged their relatively immature
nature.
Like Elfman, Zimmer would only employ Lalo Schirin's
famous theme sparingly, though his rock concert performances of that
theme, so heavy on the electric guitars that it's hardly recognizable,
are easily an insult to the style of Schifrin's intent. The most
devastating aspect of the
Mission: Impossible 2 is its wild
inconsistency within the boundaries of its instrumentation, likely
caused by the varying ideas of each contributor. Trademark Zimmer action
from
The Peacemaker, down to the identical, deep male chorus, is
provided in "Ambrose." From there, attempts to liven the atmosphere with
wicked rhythmic devices only serve to irritate you with their
incessantly clicking and slashing effects. Outwardly brutish guitars
offer the worst of
The Rock in predictable bursts of action, not
unlike some of the more obnoxious sequences in the score for Woo's
Face/Off. A laughable variant of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana"
leads to a disgraceful guitar performance of Schifrin's theme in "Bare
Island," though the "inspiration" for this cue isn't quite as glaring as
Zimmer's lawsuit-inducing resurrection of Holst and Wagner in
Gladiator. This wasteland of action material in
Mission:
Impossible 2 never establishes its own viable action motifs, leaving
the Pereira and Gerrard portions of the score to compensate. And
thankfully, they really do compensate for the mass of unintelligible
suspense and action music. A seemingly disembodied theme occupying the
ridiculous scene in the cue "Injection" is performed with beautiful
elegance by Gerrard, proving, like much of her music, that her voice can
really save pretty much any cue. This lengthy, melodramatic performance
in the minor key over a
Tears of the Sun-style of rhythm uses
some vocalizations in a non-language that fans of
Gladiator will
particularly appreciate. This theme, along with Gerrard, would return in
"Mano a Mano," a cue dominated by solo percussion work but also
featuring hints of the same theme before fading into pure "Elysium"
territory at the end. Given the concurrent work done on the two scores
early in 2000, it's no surprise that Gerrard's identical vocals would
carry over
Mission: Impossible 2, and listeners are rewarded by
her presence.
Also carrying over from
Gladiator is Pereira,
the acoustic guitar performer throughout Zimmer's modern career and
whose role in
Mission: Impossible 2 is as influential on the
score as it would be in
Spanglish. He performs two themes in this
score, both rooted in the Spanish location and love interest portions of
the plot. The first, lesser heard of the themes is an interesting major
key variant on the "Injection" theme, introduced fleetingly in "Nyah."
Its full performance comes in the redemptive "Mission: Accomplished"
finale cue, giving the theme an unbashfully positive spin not much
unlike the upbeat conclusion to
The Rock (even the synthetic
finger snapping effect works in this cue). The more rewarding idea for
Pereira's guitar is the actual love theme from
Mission: Impossible
2, doubling as a representation for the Seville locations. Zimmer
whips up hand and foot percussion for "Seville" that had been used quite
well recently in James Horner's
The Mask of Zorro and Bill
Conti's
The Thomas Crown Affair. The usage here is frightfully
out of place, but given that everything in this Zimmer score is provided
in excess, it should be no surprise that the cue is eventually
accompanied by a wailing electric guitar. Even the subdued variants of
the theme are provided in an excess of length. The soft performances of
this theme by Pereira in "Nyah" and "Nyah and Ethan" are outstanding;
his touch is as superior as any solo guitarist performing for film
scores today. The latter cue, with overlayed performances and soothing
backing by bass elements, is so contrary to the in-your-face attitude of
the remainder of the score that it's a godsend at the end of the album.
Between "Nyah" and "Nyah and Ethan," as well as the absolutely necessary
"Injection" cue, the
Mission: Impossible 2 score contains twelve
minutes of extremely enjoyable material that should belong in any
marginal Zimmer fan's collection. But most of the remainder of the score
is both insulting and revolting, occasionally bordering on painful. Some
of this material could make your lymph nodes swell up and lead to a
nasty skin rash. On the score album, the placement of the heavy dance
beat remix of "Iko-Iko" by Zap Mama makes little sense in the middle of
the score, and further enflames your irritation. Buy only with the
intent to separate the highlights onto a compilation.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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