12. The Power of One (1992)
Zimmer’s score for this little-known Africa-set drama could almost be considered a dry run for the later, Oscar-winning The Lion King. Regardless of the film’s status, the score is widely regarded as one of the composer’s finest, a sign of his underrated quality to evoke specific locales and textures through carefully researched orchestration. Zimmer is clearly inspired by the story’s Zimbabwe locations (the movie made headlines for being shot on location in the country), juxtaposing area-specific drumming with the gorgeous sound of the Bulawayo Church Choir to conjure one of his richest soundscapes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2zvd7OsGVk
11. Thelma and Louise (1991)
Zimmer’s working relationship with director Ridley Scott was in its infancy when he scored Thelma and Louise (their only prior collaboration was the rock-infused Black Rain from 1989). It would go on to be one of the most fruitful collaborations in Zimmer’s career, and despite its relative brevity, the Thelma and Louise score remains a highlight. Conjuring both the intimacy of Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis’s journey, as well as the vast interiors of the American west, it’s a score whose melancholy tones anticipate the film’s famous conclusion long before we reach it. Combining Pete Haycock’s yearning slide guitar with banjo and assorted Americana instruments, it’s a sublime listening experience.
10. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
It’s easy to forget how innovative Zimmer was when he emerged onto the soundtrack scene in the 1980s. Having worked his way up via BBC theme music (‘Going for Gold’ is his, remarkably) and The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’, he was able to bring a unique pop sensibility to the realm of film music. Case in point: this Oscar-winning adaptation of the hit play in which Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy bicker up a storm as a black chaffeur and the elderly Jewish lady he’s driving. Zimmer’s score may appear to be using organic instruments – but each and every one is sampled, the score applying a contemporary approach to the film’s period setting to suggest emotional truths that exist outside of time.
9. Crimson Tide (1995)
In recent years Zimmer has generated his fair share of derision for his overblown and repetitive scores for DC superhero movies. Truthfully, most of his action material finds its roots in Crimson Tide, which deserves more recognition as one of the defining works in Zimmer’s career. This was the thriller score that defined the characteristics of his blockbuster scores, from the chanting choir to the overall tone that takes an orchestral base and heavily processes it, creating a strange soundscape that is at once organic and artificial. The effect has grown stale in recent years but Crimson Tide remains startlingly fresh, not least because it was the one that got there first.
8. Hannibal (2001)
The seeds of The Da Vinci Code can be heard in this lusciously Gothic score for Ridley Scott’s movie. The film itself is a contentious and grisly adaptation of Thomas Harris’s somewhat ridiculous novel, pairing a returning Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter with Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling. But Zimmer’s score (typically showcasing the input of various ghost writers) never puts a foot wrong, deploying tubular bells, bass-heavy orchestrations and soprano vocals to reflect both the archaic Florence locations and the twisted sense of romance that develops between the central characters. Indeed, the final stages of the score build into, perversely, some of the most romantic and heart-wrenching music of Zimmer’s career.
7. Gladiator (2000)
Ridley Scott triumphantly resurrected the swords and sandals genre with this story of a vengeful Roman gladiator, making a megastar out of Russell Crowe in the process. Hans Zimmer’s accompanying, Oscar-nominated score draws controversy with its liberal borrowing of Holst’s ‘Mars’ during the many battle scenes (appropriate though that may be), but truthfully there is a lot more to this score than that. It is in the quieter, more characterful moments that the composer’s music shines, double bass, cello and choir reflecting the might of Rome and the tormented individuals who occupy it. And the piercingly beautiful vocals of Lisa Gerrard representing the afterlife world of Elysium are the cherry on the cake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE4V6g897Ug
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Originally published July 18, 2019. Updated July 21, 2019.
