The Impact of a Movie's Soundtrack

A movie can only ever be as good as it's soundtrack - we study how some of our favourite movies are greatly aided by a well-composed score in determining their quality

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in 'The Amazing Spider-Man' (CREDIT: Sony/Marvel)

by Jack Linsdell

With the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix over the weekend, and as noted in my review (here) Hans Zimmer's incredible score was one of the movie's strongest points, really amplifying the emotional beats during the Jean Grey's moments of turmoil and progressively building tension to make the action scenes that much more fulfilling and entertaining. So, I decided to study some of my most favourite movie soundtracks (which happen to be for some of my best loved films) and assess how a well-composed and unique score can aid/enhance the quality of any given flick. Okay, it may sound obvious that sound is a big part of movies and thus none would be the same if played silent. However, there are movie scores and there are movie scores. These are (in my opinion) some of the best...

JAMES HORNER - The Amazing Spider-Man and The Karate Kid (2010)

What better place to start than one of the most indisputable masters of movie soundtracks, James Horner (who unfortunately passed away in a plane crash in 2016, and is sorely missed). Horner is known for his iconic and well-loved soundtracks including Titanic, which remains the best-selling orchestral film score of all time. However, Horner's brilliance comes into two of my favourite films; Marc Webb's Andrew Garfield-starring The Amazing Spider-Man and Howard Zwart's 2010-remake The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. As with all the other composers I'll mention, his scores for both these movies are so unique that it distinguishes them from the other superhero and sports-underdog drama flicks around. For me, The Amazing Spider-Man is one of those rare superhero films (like Wonder Woman and Dark Phoenix) whose more realistic, human focus makes the superhero genre feel that much more relatable. Indeed, Horner's score enables the very emotional, character-conflict led drama in the movie to come through, with his emotional cues really bringing out the sense of loss and pain Parker endures throughout the narrative - see the death of Uncle Ben for example. And, his music always makes Peter's reluctant and difficult decision to leave Gwen alone after promising her dying father at the climax a tear-jerker for me, it's exceptional stuff. Likewise, in The Karate Kid (an excellent film in its own right, but as a remake of the original a sublime and imaginative modernisation of the beloved story), Horner's soundtrack is on top form, lending itself to the action and fights well, but also tapping into the emotional distress of both Drey and Mr. Han. It's uplifting nature adds to the 'feel-good' mood created from seeing an underdog/victim overcoming their oppressor, especially during the climatic competition sequence. Horner was one of the best composers in movie history, and a dear loss to the film industry.

HENRY JACKMAN - Captain Phillips, The 5th Wave and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Henry Jackman has been around for many years, contributing on a number of movie scores across genres. However, his work on the above mentioned three flicks helps make Captain Phillips and The 5th Wave some of my most treasured movies, whilst rescuing Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from being written off as (apart from the "open it" crate scene) a very poor movie. So, all these movies are heavily action/tension based, which seems to be a strong point of Jackman's scoring work. In Captain Phillips (regular readers know how big a Paul Greengrass fan I am), Jackman's rough guitar riffs, drum beats and other such instruments I won't pretend to know the name off, create an incredibly raw piece of work, one in which encapsulates the chaotic tension of the two pirate attacks, whilst finding the emotional points of Phillip's desperation/trauma as seen in the incredibly poignant finale track 'Safe Now'. Fun fact: I played the theme track 'Maersk Alabama' over a school project and it got special recognition from the teacher as being the thing that shut up a noisy class and moved them too near tears. In The 5th Wave, Jackman creates a unique soundscape for the movie, which is an eerie, ever-changing and incredibly dramatic, helping create a 'mood' of constant tension and holding us in this dystopian-esque world. Even as the logos role in the opening, the themes from the first track 'The Prologue' with the deep base-like rumble immediately make us sit up and go "well, this is creepy!" before hitting us with emotionally-provoking piano keys, setting the tone for the movie as being full of tension, but also emotional-depth. With a sci-fi, music is important in immersing the audience into the world, and Jackman does it brilliantly here. Finally, in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, a movie of such poor quality and missed opportunity considering how good Christopher McQuarrie made the first Jack Reacher film, Jackman's score is perhaps the best thing about it. The action is relatively weak, the story even weaker and unprogressive to the hilt, however Jackman somehow creates an energetic, high-octane and incredibly tense score that really doesn't deserve to be playing over the visuals it does. Shout-outs include 'Contraband' which plays over the film's best scene (when Reacher and Turner open the crates at the airport) and it's slow, dramatic build up of tension really makes the scene, creating the stakes of why all the crates being opened are empty. It's not a good movie, but Jackman's score actually makes it watchable. 

HANS ZIMMER - Dunkirk, Hidden Figures and X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Hans Zimmer is perhaps the Steven Spielberg of movie composers, in that he's the name everyone knows, even those that aren't interested in films. However, like Spielberg, he's earnt that reputation by being one of the best composers, and his trademark for 8 minute-plus tracks that build and build to a crescendo truly becomes a rare talent in film scoring. When taking his work on Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (which in my view is Nolan's best movie), his use of long tracks to build up tension really aids Nolan's progressive filmmaking in which tension is built up and drawn out to the furthest point when the audience can't bear it anymore. See the track 'The Oil' when Zimmer truly allows me to imagine the planes bombing the sailors jumping off the capsizing ships ever time I listen to it, and at it's crescendo when Tom Hardy's pilot comes round to save the day, the hairs on my neck go up every time. Truly, with a film with hardly any dialogue, Zimmer's score is crucial and it definitely delivers. Zimmer also used this trademark approach in the aforementioned X-Men: Dark Phoenix, in which whatever you think of the film itself (I think it's solid, unlike most) then you have to agree his score is one of the best things about it. Indeed, Kinberg uses Zimmer's soundtrack to build up more drawn-out action sequences in which the constant progression of tension to the next level hooks and holds the audience and truly immerses us into the story. This subverts general action movie tropes of quick-cut, action layered with fast-paced music, and joining the likes of Nolan and Christopher McQuarrie, Kinberg uses Zimmer's score-style to help him achieve a rare feet in action movie making. Lastly, Zimmer along with Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallsfisch composed the score for another one of my favourites, Hidden Figures. This is another case we're this one has unique theme that distinguishes it from any other movie, giving it a unique identity. However, this score also encapsulates the three protagonists oppression, emotion and determination through a beautifully poignant piano-based soundtrack, with a large gospel element to it, which really amplifies the compelling and immersive screenplays and sublime performances to create a beautiful movie. For Zimmer, it shows how he can help create an truly brilliant score that isn't for an action movie.

DUSTIN O'HALLORAN - The Hate U Give

Dustin O'Halloran is perhaps the least known on this list I'm compiling, at least by name anyway, due to his upcoming nature as a composer, but also by the fact that he often scores the low-budget, lesser-seen movies like Lion starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman and the upcoming The Current War with Benedict Cumberbatch. However, he came to my attention with his score for The Hate U Give which is perhaps the biggest Oscar snub in movie history and as a film is one the "best" movies I've ever seen, with such an emotional depth and powerful performances that it moves me to tears and anger in ways other films have never. And, O'Halloran's score is a big part of this, so much so that I used some of the tracks on a short film I created and I got so many notes of how emotional those scenes became mostly because of the score. Indeed, it's one of the things that triggers my immense emotional response to the film, capturing the grief, despair and desperation of Starr during the story and compliments Amandla Stenberg's incredible performance and Audrey Thomas's amazing screenplay so well. This is one of the best scores for 2018, and the fact (like the film) it gets ignored in terms of awards recognition is the biggest injustice in the movie industry. I look forward to seeing what he produces next, truly. 

ALAN MENKEN - Aladdin 

Another recent movie score here, courtesy of Alan Menken. Indeed, his background in musicals is something that makes his movie scores unique because his background is musical theatre which gives a soundtrack a different feel/rhythm/structure. I'm a massive musical fan and I believe that a catchy and empowering song played over a well-staged and performed number can give just as much of a buzz as an entertaining action sequence. And, Aladdin is one the best musicals I've seen and Menken's score and new renditions of the songs from the original (which he worked on too) are truly a massive part of this. He's brought new life into such classic hits like 'A Whole New World' and 'Arabian Nights', whilst lending a brilliant composition to new hits like 'Speechless'. And, the actual score is so amazing, shifting from the dramatic, to the emotional, to the frenetic and not only does he so brilliantly incorporate the orchestral themes of the tracks into the score to highlight character progressions, but he proves that he can handle a fantasy epic movie soundtrack with epic themes and action-like scenes. It's a big part of what makes Aladdin so empowering, moving, exciting and entertaining as a film, and Menken should be so proud of his work on this one. It's one that can be played on repeat whilst cooking dinner for example.

THOMAS NEWMAN - Bridge of Spies and Skyfall

Thomas Newman has scored my favourite film Bridge of Spies amongst an impressive and long career in moving soundtracks, cementing himself as one of the great composers. His work on Spielberg's Bridge of Spies truly brings the movie to life, incorporating the military drum beat into the score to give a sense of patriotism due to Donavan's massive accomplishment for his country and creating another unique theme that becomes instantly recognisable as belonging to this film. The score is a massive flawless component to the movie (along with the screenplay, the direction and the performances) and it really does become another character so to speak. Tracks like 'Standing Man' are truly loveable and really bring out the emotion and heart in the story and characters and become some of the best movie score tracks of all time in my opinion. Spielberg normally works with John Williams and so Bridge of Spies was the first time in over 20 years (or something like that) that he hadn't scored one of his movies, however I can't imagine Bridge of Spies would have been that good without Thomas Newman on board. And, Newman is perhaps most known for his long-term relationship with Sam Mendes, which continued with the two James Bond flicks he helmed, namely Skyfall and Spectre. The Bond series has had some of my favourite scores courtesy of John Barry (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights to name a few), Bill Conti (For Your Eyes Only) and David Arnold (Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace). However, Newman, especially on Skyfall brought a new and fresh take on the traditional Bond theme and action score conventions, to create a truly loveable score. Capturing the high-octane excitement during the film's action sequences, the modern-tense feel to night-time Shanghai and the more emotional moments between Bond and 'M', Newman's score is a big part of the movie and when it starts to lose it in the second/third act, gets us through until the end. 

LORNE BALFE - Mission: Impossible - Fallout 

And, finally (although there we some honourable mentions like The Water Diviner that have been missed of this list) we come to Lorne Balfe, whose only came to my attention with his fantastic work on Christopher McQuarrie's superior action movie Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Like Zimmer, Balfe's score progressively builds tension and excitement over a long track length, and has been meticulously and carefully composed to match every single action beat to degrees I can't possibly understand but truly admire and love. The film subsequently does action the right way, and Balfe's score creates a sinister and exciting mood to the movie which immerses us in right from the start and never lets go. The 'Mission Impossible' theme is nicely and subtly incorporated into the score, as seen by the absolutely caulking 'The Exchange', which just builds and builds in such a way that it is just one you need to have playing nice and loud through your speaker - my Dad jokes that one helps him get to work faster! But, words cannot express how incredible this score is, and Lorne Balfe is one to watch folks.

So, there we have it. That's covered most of our favourite composers and movie soundtracks. We'd love to hear what yours are in the comments below! Stay tuned, folks (pun very much intended!)