Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,652
Written 4/5/10
Invert Colors
Buy it... if you're in search of the most infectiously likable Hans
Zimmer score from a fruitful early period in his career that brought
many of the composer's outwardly personable and stylish cross-cultural
music.
Avoid it... if reggae tones make you cringe, because Zimmer and his
associates thoroughly infuse Caribbean stereotypes into this otherwise
formulaic sports score of symphonic construct.
 |
| Zimmer |
 |
| Glennie-Smith |
Cool Runnings: (Hans Zimmer/Nick Glennie-Smith)
Arguably the most heart-warming sensation of the 1988 Winter Olympics in
Calgary was the Jamaican bobsledding team, representing a tropical
country for the first time in that sport. The team received significant
support from other nations' competitors, who offered spare sleds and
best wishes to the obviously out of place Jamaicans. The team didn't
compete particularly well that year, crashing and famously walking their
sled to the finish line during a qualifying run. But it did experience
more success four years later in the Olympics in France, where the group
finished ahead of several established nations in the sport. The initial
publicity earned by the 1988 team led to a Disney adaptation of their
tale called Cool Runnings in 1993. Very little of the actual
circumstances of the team and their performance at the games is
reflected accurately; instead, the studio opted to transform their story
into a typical underdog format complete with villains and a melodramatic
ending. Despite the disdainful critical response that resulted from the
plethora of liberties taken in the mutilation of the real life events,
Cool Runnings was a significant box office success, generating
more than ten times its budget in grosses. The scoring duties fell upon
the ascending Hans Zimmer, who was familiar with assignments that
applied soul and gospel tones to African settings but for whom rocking
reggae was still relatively fresh. Although the composer had succeeded
with flying colors in his entertaining and heartfelt comedy/drama score
for A League of Their Own the previous year, Cool Runnings
needed an even more flamboyant and genre-bending sound. With the
assistance of trusted composing partner Nick Glennie-Smith, Zimmer
offered the ultimate in hybrid sports drama scores for this film,
addressing not only the cultural aspect, but also adhering to the
general formula of sports scores that open modestly and build to a
victorious series of crescendos late in the soundtrack. Zimmer and
Glennie-Smith were able to emulate the reggae sound comfortably with
their keyboards and percussion, though they transcend the enjoyable but
predictable boundaries of that approach by also employing an orchestra
to emphasize the film's tender, character-building scenes, wild comedy
moments, and triumphant conclusion. Occasional contributions by jazzy
piano, cool electric guitar and Hammond organ, and vocals of soul will
recall previous Zimmer works. Together, these elements, along with a
cohesive set of themes, yielded a score for Cool Runnings with
more unique style than most of what Zimmer would produce a decade
later.
Inherent in the odd mixture of genuine Caribbean reggae
tones, Western hoedown comedy, and orchestral drama is the potential for
a slew of annoyed listeners. Indeed,
Cool Runnings isn't going to
appeal to Golden Age film score listeners. But it will be infectious for
those who loved the personality usually inherent in Zimmer's early
works. The film's sense of humor spills over directly into the score
without, with the exception of its two hoedown cues, ever becoming
obnoxious. The score's melodic material is divided equally between the
themes for the characters (and their early adversity) and the cultural
identity associated with the reggae. Several solemn, sweet piano
performances of the character theme (which perhaps not surprisingly
resembles James Horner's
The Rocketeer) eventually build into
resounding, fully orchestral statements in the final cues. By then, they
are joined by the reggae instrumentation that until that point had
performed its own theme of purely entertaining spirit. The highlights of
Cool Runnings are indeed the three or four cues in the final reel
that combine both instrumental halves and their themes into a redemptive
statement of quirky defiance. Some of the progressions will remind
listeners of a theme that would develop the next year in
Renaissance
Man, thought the strikingly different instrumentation in the two
scores helps mask those similarities. A thematic burst at about 1:45
into the eleventh track is a clear precursor to
Chicken Run.
Interestingly, some of the pulsating electronic rhythms heard in the
final race cue will actually raise memories of Basil Poledouris'
Wind, especially in the tone of the thumping keyboarding and some
of its shifts. A singular cue that combines purely organic vintage jazz
with Carl Stallings mannerisms and Jerry Goldsmith-like sound effects is
the third track on the score's bootleg, truly a unique minute in these
composers' collaborations. Disney's commercial album only provided seven
minutes of score material amongst its songs, though those two tracks do
summarize some of the best moments from later in the score. Still, there
is too much impressive music not available on that product, and as with
many of Zimmer's scores, a bootleg with over half an hour of the score
began trading on the secondary market. Unfortunately, both the latter
cue on the commercial album and its equivalent on the bootleg feature
some audio distortion and clicking sounds. The meat of the score on the
bootlegs exists in thirteen cues, though some append two cues of source
material (including a humorous solo take on a famous classical tune on a
reggae-programmed keyboard). For those who revel in the smile-inducing
creativity that resulted from Zimmer's early collaborations, you'll have
a hard time contenting yourself with only the commercial release of
Cool Runnings.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85
(in 128 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96
(in 299,193 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
