Sean Wilson examines the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice score – and why its relentlessly noisy nature is bad news for everyone…
Now, I want to preface this piece by saying that I am a massive fan of Hans Zimmer, truly one of the most innovative and compelling forces in film music (when he chooses to be). From his revolutionary synth breakout with the likes of Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy in the 1980s to the thunderous action of Backdraft and his multi-faceted collaborations with Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Hannibal et al), Zimmer is a superb storyteller who doesn’t deserve the mud that is often slung at him. On tour in the UK at the moment, Zimmer has recently courted a lot of press attention with his high-profile announcement that he is to ‘retire’ from scoring superhero movies.
And this brings me to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Like most people, comic book fans and non-fans alike, I emerged from Zack Snyder’s wearying superhero opus thoroughly bewildered at what I had just seen. But more than that, I realised to my dismay that this $250m colossus had left me utterly bored throughout, a bombardment of visually incoherent spectacle that vaporized my eyes and pulverized my brain but which never raised my heart-rate above normal levels.
There are plenty of reasons for this, none of which fall at the feet of the actors who manfully struggle with what they can salvage. Ben Affleck makes a decent fist as a far more savage Batman but is saddled with a lack of plausible character motivations, Henry Cavill is utterly lost in his monolithic role as Superman and Jeremy Irons is foolishly neglected as Bruce Wayne’s manservant Alfred. Jesse Eisenberg is very irritating as Lex Luthor (a drinking game could be formed off the basis of his verbal tics) – but the lack of discipline in an actor’s performance of course must be ascribed to the director, the person responsible for keeping stars in line.
But given Zack Snyder is barely in control of his own visual aesthetic, it’s hardly surprising that he seems to have told Eisenberg to essentially channel Mark Zuckerberg without the charm. Make no mistake: Batman v Superman is an ugly film, over-produced, over-saturated and labouring under the absurd belief that it’s about something when all the ham-handed sermonising about the nature of good vs evil and man vs god has as much depth as a puddle. And that brings us onto the score, another casualty in this misfiring superhero war.
Reuniting with Snyder after 2013’s Man of Steel, Zimmer this time decided to leave the Batman material to co-composer Junkie XL aka Tom Holkenborg, a rising star of the film score scene having composed Mad Max: Fury Road and, more recently, Deadpool. Zimmer attributed this decision to having already scored Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and he explained that at the risk of suffering Batman burnout, he would instead focus exclusively on Superman’s material. Composer partnerships are nothing new – Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann worked together on The Egyptian back in the 1950s – and despite my considerable reservations about Zimmer’s previous work in this genre, I was willing to let things lie in the belief that Holkenborg’s contribution would liven things up a bit.
To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. Instead, Zimmer and Holkenborg’s work re-affirms the malaise that has been allowed to overtake too many contemporary blockbuster scores, yet another soundtrack that makes the mistake of adding head-banging volume and ear-splitting noise to an already cacophonous movie. It’s a tone popularised (although not initiated by) Zimmer’s work on the Dark Knight trilogy, scores that emphasise murky tonality above all else, and which movie executives now see as de rigeur in many superhero movies. In short, Batman v Superman never does what film music is meant to do, which is enhance the emotional impact of what we’re seeing. Sure, we notice the score simply because of how frenzied and loud it is – but does it actually add up to anything? Absolutely not.
At the risk of turning this into a diatribe against two professional musicians, I will instead play devil’s advocate (briefly) by saying there are occasional moments of striking composition in the Batman v Superman soundtrack. Zimmer resurrects some of the more emotional material from his otherwise forgettable Man of Steel score for key climactic moments between Supes and Lois Lane (Amy Adams), moment that become all the more noticeable when pitted against the ear-bleeding remainder of the score. And Holkenborg does provide occasional strained moments for Affleck’s tortured Bruce Wayne that call to mind the more lyrical material from Fury Road. The opening track on the album, ‘Beautiful Lie’ does actually feature a haunting piano/choir combination that is very attractive and spiritual.
But these moments are frustratingly few and far between. Instead, the majority of the score bogs down in a miasma of processed sound design, incessant timpani, choral outbursts and orchestral performances so distorted by electronics (a Zimmer trademark), one wonders why actual musicians were even contracted to work on the score. As troubling is the tone and emotional trajectory of the score: put simply, there isn’t one; as James Southall of the excellent soundtrack review website Movie-Wave observed of the Dark Knight Rises score, it’s all composed in shades of black. There’s no nuance, just a general sense of everything being cranked up to 11. No doubt a great deal of thought went into the construction of the music, but it simply doesn’t translate either when heard in the movie or appreciated as a stand-alone album.
These problems are nothing new, seeing as they’ve also dogged the aforementioned Dark Knight trilogy and Deadpool, but that only serves to make things more frustrating. This is a score that operates exactly as expected, never throwing any curveballs or truly innovative touches out there. It’s a murky, deadening experience that encapsulates a great many modern superhero scoring trends, a far cry from the vibrancy of genre touchstones like John Williams’ Superman or Danny Elfman’s Batman, both seminal works that established profound identities for their respective comic book icons. Even a lesser 1990s superhero movie like The Shadow featured a terrifically bold and fun score from Jerry Goldsmith – is it too much to ask for the same such thing here?
The really frustrating thing is it doesn’t have to be this way: the scores for rival comic book stable Marvel have generally been of a high standard, although their ‘revolving door’ approach to composers has led to a baffling lack of musical continuity across their various franchises. Nevertheless, with rousingly bombastic works from Alan Silvestri (Captain America: The First Avenger; The Avengers) and Brian Tyler (Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark World), it shows all is not lost in 21st century blockbuster film music.
Of course, not all superhero scores have to be thematically driven or transparent in their melodic ideas; the role of film music is beholden to the approach of the director, and just because one approach worked for Superman doesn’t mean the same thing will work for Batman v Superman. But this is a score that commits a cardinal sin: it’s boring and never develops any sort of identity of its own, despite the promise offered by two esteemed composers. Then again if the primary role of a score is to serve its movie (and it is), surely this is the music that Batman v Superman deserves: vapid, flashy, simplistic and more than a little tiresome. After all, what more could Zimmer and Holkenborg possibly do in the face of Snyder’s relentlessly aggressive visuals and wall-shattering sound effects, apart from simply turn up the volume?
So where does this leave the future of superhero film music, at least in the expanding DC universe? Well, if Snyder continues to exert a grip then the scores will likely follow suit. Frankly, the last thing I want is a Snyder-directed, Junkie XL-scored Justice League movie; in reality, they should go to someone more creative and far less heralded like Bear McCreary, whose excellent work on TV’s The Walking Dead and movies like 10 Cloverfield Lane demonstrate a sophisticated orchestral touch that is crying out for a blockbuster context to show it off.
But how likely is this? Well given the negative reactions to Batman v Superman‘s endlessly doomy outlook, something that is rumoured to have sparked Suicide Squad‘s reshoots, the formula may not be as set in stone as we think, possibly allowing for more vibrant and creative soundtracks in the eventual likes of Aquaman (already mooted to have a ‘lighter’ tone). And with Zimmer retiring, one can possibly hope for a new dawn in superhero scores, the very dawn denied us in Snyder’s movie. This ought to be the time where Zimmer’s stranglehold ends and where a degree of freshness is allowed to creep back into superhero music. Were Zimmer to be free of this genre for good, it would also allow one of our most controversial and divisive musicians to re-establish the bold and distinctive voice that first got everyone’s attention three decades ago.
Sean Wilson is a film reviewer, soundtrack enthusiast and avid tea drinker. If all three can be combined at the same time, all is good with the world.
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