Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,549
Written 4/7/10
Invert Colors
Buy it... if you long for the days when Hans Zimmer could conjure a
compelling mix of symphonic grandeur, contemporary rock tones, and
stylish electric guitar solos without compromising on attention to
details or depth of empathy.
Avoid it... if you have no interest in hearing the guitar
performances of Thelma & Louise accompanied by thematic
structures of Backdraft and instrumental brooding similar to
The House of the Spirits.
 |
| Zimmer |
K2: (Hans Zimmer/Chaz Jankel) The fact that the
1991 film K2 is an adaptation of a stage play should tell you
that it is primarily a character story and not a cheap adventure flick.
Unfortunately, people expecting to see raw mountain climbing without all
the character fluff were left with film that filled most of its 104
minutes with forced, shallow dialogue. Only $3 million in grosses
awaited K2 at the box office, its release in America delayed
until 1992. The plot tells of two friends with opposite lifestyles
sharing a passion for mountain climbing. They become part of an
expedition to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world, and
not only succeed but also are the only two to survive the ordeal. Along
their journey, however, the script slows to a crawl as the two leads
(Michael Biehn and Matt Craven) endlessly contemplate life and death
issues in extended scenes. Still, K2 contains a worthy collection
of outstanding helicopter shots of the expedition and landscape, a
redeeming element for some viewers. To accompany these glorious shots of
the snowy, wind-blown mountains in brilliant sunlight, director Franc
Roddam obviously sought a contemporary musical sound defined by ballsy
electric guitar wailing and drum pad pounding. The original composer for
the project was Chaz Jankel, a British keyboard and guitar player who
contributed songs and performances for the funk and new wave band Ian
Dury and the Blockheads in the late 1970's. At some point in the film's
troubled post-production process, and likely in part due to Paramount,
Roddam approached Hans Zimmer to write a replacement score. Despite the
fact that the European version of the film came out six months prior to
the American cut, Zimmer's work (augmented by a few minutes of material
from Nick-Glennie Smith not available on commercial album) was only
heard in the first release. Thus, in the messy period of rearrangement
in between, Jankel's score must have been re-inserted into the film.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the amount of Jankel music in that American
version is very limited; extended sequences of both dialogue and
transitional climbing contain no score whatsoever, yielding to the sound
effects of blowing wind in many cases. His music badly underachieves
anyway, failing to generate much excitement with its sparse, simplistic
constructs. It seemingly consists of only keyboarding, guitar, and
percussion loops, repeating the same general ideas over and over again
with little effective variance for the emotional swings on screen. The
long scenes of dialogue are typically absent his music altogether.
The replacement score by Hans Zimmer has often been
criticized for repeating many of the techniques and thematic
progressions common to he career by that point, and, to an extent, his
work for
K2 is a bit derivative. What's more important to note
about this score is how well packaged these ideas are when considering
the lack of depth from which some of Zimmer's later symphonic and
synthetic combination scores would suffer. The idea of using prominent
electric guitar solos for the vast landscapes carried over, and Zimmer
teams once again with Pete Haycock for several very accomplished
performances of genuine style similar to the slightly bluesy tone of his
contributions to
Thelma & Louise just prior. The balance between
synthetic backing, including rock-like percussion, and the organic
sounds from the orchestra and occasional choir is particularly well
handled when Haycock is unleashed solo on top of the combined ensemble.
His role was to provide kick-ass harmony to Zimmer's evocative character
theme, one of the composer's most alluring and as bittersweet as the
mellow tune for the upcoming
Point of No Return. The themes
conveyed by the orchestral players are obviously reminiscent of
Backdraft, one tragic, solo cello idea reflecting the brothers
theme from that score clearly. Moments of adversity feature the same
muscular, pad-slapping, choral-aided propulsion from
Backdraft's
action scenes. The constructs in between these themes manage to be
heroic without sounding cheesy. What will surprise most Zimmer veterans
upon revisiting
K2 is just how well the orchestral aspect is
integrated. There are portions of this score that sound far better
developed than
Backdraft and foreshadow the grim but convincing
symphonic tone of
The House of the Spirits. Some of the bold,
almost jazzy horn expressions in Zimmer's favorite minor-key
progressions are not to be missed. Most interesting is the composer's
insertion of a couple of regional inferences, something Jankel ignored.
As the expedition reaches the region and prepares to climb, Zimmer uses
a shehnai, a stereotypical North Indian oboe, and slurred string effects
over vibrant percussion and exotic rhythms with a very satisfying result
(never mind that K2 is between Pakistan and China... the Indian sound
works well enough). Overall, Zimmer's score, released commercially, is
infinitely superior to Jankel's, which has always been extremely
difficult to find in bootleg form. The presentation of Zimmer's music is
condensed to two long tracks, which is very unfortunate. Break it up
into your own album and appreciate the days when Zimmer's scores were so
refreshing that they actually used cymbals, gongs, and swooshing sounds
to subtly reflect the wind blowing on screen.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- The Chaz Jankel Score as Written for the Film: **
- The Hans Zimmer Score as Written for the Film: ****
- The Hans Zimmer Score as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ****
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.
|
