Buy it... if you want to hear a new-age style of Gladiator and the masculinity of Crimson Tide elevated to their most bloated, dramatic heights.

Avoid it... if you are instead waiting for Hans Zimmer to write a complex and original orchestral score that transcends his basic action styles.

Zimmer
Glennie-Smith

King Arthur: (Hans Zimmer) In the post-Gladiator age of history dissertations made into huge, blockbuster films, King Arthur seems to fit the mold quite appropriately. Written by Gladiator's David Franzoni, directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua, and produced by the outrageously well-funded Jerry Bruckheimer, King Arthur is an attempt to take the legend of Camelot and provide the true story behind it... the historical drama at the core of the commonly embraced modern myth. Unfortunately, it's difficult to really do that when even expert historians argue about whether or not Arthur even existed. That's irrelevant to Bruckheimer, however, and in his effort to reproduce the mass appeal of Gladiator in 2004, he has served us a King Arthur tale soiled with mud, short on wizardry, and injected with modern standards of feminism. Soured critical response and a surprisingly drab audience response has greeted King Arthur with much of the same ambivalence shown Troy earlier in the year. Unlike Troy, however, King Arthur does have a more interesting and convincing ensemble performance. The contribution of composer Hans Zimmer to King Arthur is one that could have been predicted four years ahead of time, with regurgitation of style that matches Fuqua's stereotypical shaky-camera/quick-cuts methodology shot for shot. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Fuqua and Bruckheimer sought Zimmer's services not only to perpetuate a successful past collaboration, but to reprise the ideas of Gladiator in an even more dramatically powerful sound. One could picture Bruckheimer saying "I want Gladiator with even more testosterone."

To his credit, Zimmer has done just that, and he's even applied that request to the wildly popular "Now We Are Free" new-age song by Lisa Gerrard in Gladiator. Having now officially graduated from the Enya Institute of Uniform and Borderline-Boring New Age Mysticism (having been introduced to his course of study way back in 1992's Toys), Zimmer transforms the "Now We Are Free" song into King Arthur's absolutely Enya-saturated title song, "Tell Me Now (What You See)." Moya Brennan's vocals would be beautiful if not for their mere replication of at least a dozen Enya songs, and part of that responsibility lands on the shoulders of Zimmer. The song features, as usual, the title theme of the score itself, with Zimmer remaining very faithful to that theme for the duration of the film. But that theme is inherently simplistic in the same mono-stylistic, soothing, and easy series of chord progressions in Enya's limited range of capabilities. Beautiful? Yes. Dynamic and refreshing? Hardly. A slight exaggeration of contemporary influence rears its spiked head in the form of the snare drum, which pops off a ballad-like accompaniment for the song. The score experiences a little of this new-age effect, although Zimmer seems content letting rip with his usual standard of explosive, pulse-pounding orchestra, synth, and choral action. His music for King Arthur is growling and menacing, glorious and majestic, and invigorated by an energy not heard from Zimmer for several years. This score is Crimson Tide on steroids, if such a thing could have been thought to exist. Zimmer's same neo-classical sense of elegant drama is put from pen to paper (or rather, keys to hard drive), with the simple theme bolstered by its own broad scope, large swooshes of bass-heavy electronics, masculine choral interludes, and percussion activity bordering on insane.

If you've never been accustomed to Zimmer's evolution from Crimson Tide to The Rock, from The Peacemaker to Gladiator, then the music for King Arthur could very well strike you as being sociopathic. For fans who grew up in the Media Ventures era of grand synthetic noise, King Arthur will be a cornerstone of your collection. Even beyond the other scores above, Zimmer has made a concerted effort to out-perform even his most masculine style. A barrage of drums at about (8:30) into "Woad to Ruin" will rock your system, and the ultra-dramatic procession of harmony for all ensembles together at about (4:45) in "Do You Think I'm a Saxon?" presents Zimmer's style at a heightened level of fantasy as close to Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings music as he will likely ever be. The music for the icy lake battle is among Zimmer's most engaging in years, with a Brennan's vocals signifying a nearly tragic action cue that culminates in one massive and unparalleled performance of the title theme. From start to finish, the score never loses the weight of its own importance, making for a listening experience that, at the very least, keeps you glued to the speakers. There are, however, problems inherent in Zimmer's loyalty to that Bruckheimer level of intensity that may cause some listeners to balk at King Arthur. The score is short on unique elements to distinguish itself. Everything in its contents is Crimson Tide and Gladiator all over again, but simply exaggerated and bloated to even more awesome levels. There is no particularly interesting instrumentation worth noting in this score... no spectacular solo performances that could put it over the top. An all-too-short horn solo at (4:00) in "Hold the Ice," a fleeting string solo at (4:00) in "All of Them!" (followed by a little Horneresque flute work), as well as the occasional solo vocals are all highlights, but Zimmer has gotten so wrapped up in the magnitude of the sound that he able to create that he loses sight of the subteties that can often make a score like this great.

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There are moments when, as expected, the co-written material by Nick Glennie-Smith and Rupert Gregson-Williams, along with Zimmer's own action, bring up memories of the harsher moments from The Rock. There were a few passages that can stir up images of Bruce Willis, space shuttles, and killer asteroids. But whereas this music could very well dismay listeners distraught with Zimmer's electronics, it should be noted that King Arthur is one very large orchestral piece. Some fans have argued that Zimmer's scores for these types of films are entirely synthetic, and others have argued that they are entirely orchestral. In fact, both are wrong, and King Arthur offers a better than usual combination of the two. The orchestra is always present, but Zimmer utilizes keyboarded synthetics, electronic swooshes, and those broad, low "buoaah" sounds that he often inserts in place of (for lack of a better analogy) a gong for accents on key notes. At some point, Zimmer has to finally abandon these electronic "enhancements" to his orchestral recordings and instead layer (overdub) the orchestra instead of relying on the electronics for that little extra power. It may be more expensive, but it's worth a try. We are blessed in the case of King Arthur, however, by a very wet mix for the album. Zimmer's electronics can be irritating when mixed at the forefront of the orchestra, but for King Arthur they are thoroughly washed into the orchestral recordings so that the electronics sound much more like a supporting element than vice versa. Some of that echoing tendency of reproducing live performances comes as a necessary good or evil (take your choice) of the Enya influences. The wet mix also increases the scope of the score's sound as well, which is probably a natural progression if Zimmer is continuing to seek the ever-more-powerful score. Overall, the composition, its performances, and the mixing for album offer plenty of downright beautiful moments for King Arthur. The suites pieced together for album occasionally exhibit obvious transitions, a problem with Zimmer's insistence on that format of presentation. Musically, Zimmer provides his trademark action at a magnitude we have not heard before. But he has yet to take his music to the next level of complexity and orchestral authenticity that could cause an impressive score such as King Arthur to transcend the ranks of four-star scores to become something even better. ****

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.96 (in 50 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23 (in 217,535 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.