Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,205
Written 9/27/21
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Buy it... if you have bought into Hans Zimmer's notion that
consciously underplaying the impact of his music somehow enhances the
narrative weight of the films he scores.
Avoid it... if basic emotional depth is a requirement in your film
music, Zimmer failing to generate more than the most minimal level of
ambient drama and obnoxious rhythmic action.
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| Zimmer |
Widows: (Hans Zimmer/Steve Mazzaro) The relatively
young career of writer and director Steve McQueen has proven that he is
not afraid to tackle challenging topics relating to racism, sexism,
interracial marriage, and police brutality, and 2018's Widows
managed to fold all of those explorations into the context of a revenge
heist story. The supposed widows of a gang of thieves killed in a
botched robbery involving politicians and crime bosses in Chicago team
up to finish the job, inevitably encountering crosses and double crosses
as they seek to steal $5 million from the lead politician to pay off the
ruthless crime boss. Marital infidelity is also a key driver of the
story, the women ultimately proving victorious even if only in their
combined resolve. The film's noteworthy ensemble cast is among its
highlights, Robert Duvall in his late 80's given the opportunity to
unleash some expletives prior to being blown away. Critical response to
the film was widely positive, in part because it combined the typical
violence of a heist flick with the deeper cultural influences without
making any attempt to soften either. Audiences largely agreed, but the
film didn't perform particularly well worldwide, perhaps proving
McQueen's handling of the topic required too much thought of viewers.
While the soundtrack for Widows is often absent or reliant upon
songs, the director returned to his 12 Years a Slave
collaborator, Hans Zimmer, to provide the minimal original score
required for the movie. McQueen definitely subscribes to the "less is
more" philosophy when it comes to his film scores, opting to leave the
entire first act of Widows without any music at all. With songs
occupying several scenes and the end credits, Zimmer was tasked with
providing less than half an hour of music for the movie, though when
taking into account alternate versions of the same cues, the score
really only amounts to about 23 minutes in length. The composer sought
to minimize his contribution in guiding the narrative of the movie,
opting instead for a largely subdued and rhythmic accompaniment. "The
picture itself was the melody, and my job was to do a little bit of
orchestration," Zimmer explains. "The moviemaking and the performances
are so strong, you don't want to clutter it up uselessly with music." As
such, his score achieves only the most basic purpose of filling aural
space and underplaying the characters' emotional journey. Not
surprisingly, the work has become the target of considerable and
humorous scorn from the film music community.
For his carefully distant approach to
Widows,
Zimmer enlisted the assistance of regular Remote Control ghostwriter
Steve Mazzaro to flesh out the rhythmic passages of the work. There are
really only two sides to the score: the struggling string ensemble
meanderings for the feeling of loss experienced by the lead widow and
the rather senseless rhythmic devices applied to the story's later heist
preparations and execution. In the category of the former, Zimmer does
supply the movie with a single theme, its main four note phrase
consisting of two rising and two falling notes before depressing,
four-note secondary phrases elongate the identity without resolution.
The idea is presented fully on solemn, brooding strings in "Marcus" and
"My Son," its secondary phrasing receiving its own meager development at
1:26 into "Money" on strings. The two-note phrases are deconstructed on
keyboards in "The Calm Before the Storm." There is no evolution to this
theme, its purpose largely devoid of the warmth and complication shown
in the leads on screen. While any thematic constructs are welcome,
Zimmer, who is alone credited for this theme, does nothing meaningful
with it. By erroneously assuming the actresses' performances can carry
the emotional weight of the story alone, he reduces the impact of their
perseverance by failing to provide them any reinforcing arc in the
music. The other half of the score consists of largely acoustic rhythms
from stringed instruments hit or plucked in unconventional ways. There's
a simple minor-third bass string motif that recurs in "We Have a Job to
Do" and "Perimeter Check," but these rhythms are otherwise lifeless
mechanical sound effects. To Zimmer and Mazzaro's credit, most of this
material is acoustic even if there is a synthetic edge to some of the
cues. The tempo of these rhythms does not build tension or accelerate
until the awful "Race Against Time" slaps you across the face with
obnoxious dissonance. In general, Zimmer enthusiasts enamored with
scores like
Inferno might find some inspiration in this music,
but with so little running time and emotional depth to its conveyance,
it's hard to achieve any mood out of it. On album, the tracks are edited
haphazardly and thus not in film order at all, the score's thematic
passages from the middle of the narrative moved to the start and end of
the listening experience. Three of the film's songs made the album,
including the original "The Big Unknown" performed by Sade for the end
credits. None of these are related in genre to each other, and none is
tied to the score. The album is thus a total dud of an experience,
Zimmer's choice to withhold any meaningful emotional depth yielding a
useless and brief distraction.
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Bias Check:
For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85
(in 128 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96
(in 299,193 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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