The bad rep isn't entirely deserved, though. Zimmer usually credits who did what on his collaborations, and can also really shine on his own when he wants to, and I'm glad to say that this is one of those moments. True, the synthesizer bits here and there are a tad jarring, but when he goes fully orchestral he gets both playful and inventive, following Badelt's amusingly period-tributal score.
The first theme on the disc is "Jack Sparrow", a playful and very fun remake and remodelling (hee) of all the themes used in Cap'n Jack Sparrows scenes in the first movie, complete with jigs and shanties underneath the score (just like Badelt snuck in period harpsichord music and jigs in his themes). It starts slow, with a bit of synthesizer for no apparent reason (this leads into actual instruments fairly quickly though), but picks up both pace and manic energy as it moves, and by the time it ended I had a huge, goofy smile on my face and was sorely tempted to say "Arrr!"...
Yeah.
The second track is "The Kraken", a theme that has promise, but gets overbogged in electric guitars (!) and tinny synth instrumentation, causing me to wonder how it had sounded with cellos replacing the guitars and actual orchestra replacing the synths. I have nothing against synths or electric guitars, but when a movie is set 200 or 300 years ago, I expect them to be moderate at the most, not dominate an entire theme as if it was for The Rock 2. It's a bit of a low point, to be honest.
Third track is "Davy Jones", a very thematic combination of (moderate) synths, orchestra, the big male chorus of the original, but also some brilliant organ themes that I assume are played by Davy himself judging by the movie trailers. Yeah. Our dear squidhead apparently plays the organ like James Mason in a certain Disney-made submarine movie, in what I hope is a wink and a nod to the Verne-created underwater pirate eco-terrorist. It nicely washes the taste of "The Kraken" out of my moth, and we move onto...
..."I Got My Eye On You", the fourth track, that starts out with a haunting, eerie vibe, and then transitions into the bad-guy pirate chanting theme of the first movie, along with a new theme that is a bit too close to Badelt's Barbossa-crew themes to be completely perfect. It dies out and then segues into the slow, bombastic PotC theme we heard when Jack Sparrow first entered the harbor in the first movie, which in turn turns very playful at the very end.
Fifth track is "Dinner is served", opening with a heavy drums-and-tribalesque theme that must have something to do with the cannibals, but then...turns into a slightly nutty waltz. No, really. I'm giggling as I type this, because it doesn't feel even the slightest out of place. Definitely a high point of the score.
Sixth comes "Tia Dalma", a re-rendition of the bad guy theme used heavily in both movies, segueing into a slow, subtle theme with a hint of Middle Eastern singing in the background (boy, Hans really likes Lisa Gerrard). About half-way through the theme it turns melancholy and even softer, with a definite dark undertone, with some Chinese harp and more Gerrard-esque (is it her? Going to have to look at the sleeve) at the very end.
Seventh is..."Two Hornpipes", which is basically a classic sea shanty played with violins, banjo and a little bit of orchestration. A really cheery and fun theme that would fit any pirate campaign you might play.
It seamlessly transitions into the dark, heavy opening of "A Family Affair", again using the bad-guy themes, but even bleaker than before, then moving into the more general pirate themes from the first movie, still slow and bleak, though.
"Wheel of Fortune" comes ninth, and is, judging by the trailers, connected to the huge wheel Jack and (probably Will) fights on top of for no apparent reason (gotta love that), but only a minute into it, we get the "He's a Pirate"-theme, and boy am I aching to play a pirates game right now. Zimmer has added a few touches of his own, but manages to add to it instead of simply sounding like he's ripping off his fellow German composer. After this comes a slow, dreamy part with music box-style twinkling, that then swiftly leads into heavy orchestra and drums, violins, and...Cap'n Jack Sparrow's themes. I feel like taking a hankie and tying it around me head, ta plunder an' pillage and sail da seas. Arrr! "Wheel of Fortune" is the second longest track on the disc, but it feels far too short, being playful and segmented as it is. His themes lead into a couple of Zimmer's own themes for the movie, very playful and suitable ones that definitely makes me think picking him for the score instead of Badelt wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Tenth is "You look good Jack", opening slow and somewhat ominously, with a nice transition using a heartbeat (literally) into the heavy drums and horns of the main combat themes and then, sadly, a bunch of heavy electric guitars for a brief while. It is very jarring, for me, and it's basically just a re-make of one of the main themes from the original, a bit pointless to be honest. I feel like seeking out Hans, hiding all his electric guitars and synths and telling him "No! No more electric instrumentation until you learn to score entirely without them! Bad composer! Bad!" Hitting him with a rolled up newspaper might be a bit too much, though. The track closes with the heartbeat again, and transitions into...
...the longest track on the disc, "Hello Beastie". A slow, melancholy opening with lots of violins, choral vocals and dark, ominous horns that are a tad too reminiscent of similar themes used in "Gladiator" and "King Arthur" (as said in the beginning of this review, Zimmer recycles a bit too often). It's not too bad, though, considering it's not used as the main themes in this movie, just as transition and overture. When only the violins and choruses are heard, it feels the most like PotC, which is a good thing. At about five minutes, thirty seconds into the track, we have a sudden rise, a brief harpsichord theme, and then a slow, melancholy version of He's a Pirate plays, slowly and re-edited to not sound exactly the same. It feels a lot like the opposite of how John Williams took the Imperial March theme and reversed it, turning it into Anakin's theme for the prequels. Here they take the happy, bombastic, amusing "He's a Pirate" and turn it into a bleak dirge, combined with the dark themes from the original movie. At nine minutes it starts to pick up both mood and speed, though, slowly and majestically building into a very nice, brief rendition of the jig-like theme of the original, ending the track.
Eleventh is...a goofy bonustrack late 90's style techno remix of "He's a Pirate", complete with samples from the movies. Well. Oh-kaaaayyy... Thankfully, it's just a bonus track. Not too shabby, either. Might work well with a futuristic space pirate campaign, to be honest, for battle music. Not very fitting with the rest of the score, though.
In summation, the score is one of Zimmer's better recent ones. Not as good as "Gladiator" or "Black Hawk Down" (it seems his best stuff is always done with other artists), but definitely better than most might be expecting from Zimmer. The various synth/electric guitar-parts detract from what could be a truly great score, but the playfulness of the orchestral bits more than make up for it, and in the end, it's a very good choice for pirate-gaming music. Not quite as good as Badelt's score (who in a twist of irony worth mentioning deliberately made his score sound a bit like Hans Zimmer's style, as an in-joke).
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go plunder me next-door neighbour. Yarrrr!
