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| Zimmer |
No Time to Die: (Hans Zimmer) For decades, the
James Bond franchise was effortless escapism filled with explosions,
slick technology, and funny one-liners of irreverent and politically
incorrect leanings. With the Daniel Craig era of the concept, the movies
adopted a more cohesively connected story and infinitely more dramatic
appeal, leading Bond to emotional depths mostly unexplored and largely
unwanted in prior entries. Through 2021's belated
No Time to Die,
the overarching Craig narrative reaches its inevitable and depressing
conclusion, killing main protagonists without remorse and yielding very
little of that escapism that once made Bond films so much fun. While
many viewers and critics viewed
No Time to Die as a poignantly
dramatic thriller necessary for the impending reboot of the franchise,
never has a Bond film been as unsatisfying or untrue to the original
novels. The formula doesn't require the character to have a backstory, a
family, or any other tether of mundane life, so forcing him to deal with
these situations makes for stressful watching when the whole point of
Bond is indeed how effortless he makes everything seem. In short, the
franchise assumes we want to see 007 suffer and lose, and in an era of
coronavirus when real life challenges are already mounting, the
succumbing of the Bond concept to such darkness is unacceptable. To some
extent, audiences agreed,
No Time to Die faring poorly at the box
office compared to its predecessors and dashing early studio hopes that
the movie could break even with total costs in its theatrical release
alone. The soundtrack for the film wasn't a smooth production experience
either, the franchise hunting for a new composer with Thomas Newman out
of the equation. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga originally hired his
regular collaborator, Dan Romer, who had not yet really emerged into the
mainstream at the time. Surprisingly late in the process, Romer and
Fukunaga suffered fatal disagreements over the music for the picture,
and Romer departed. The logical replacement would have been David
Arnold, whose popular and effective music for the Pierce Brosnan and
early Craig films was extended gloriously in a short, Bond-affiliated
2019 film advertising apparel, "From N.Peal With Love." But, alas,
Arnold was never called.
Instead, the production turned to fixer extraordinaire
Hans Zimmer, who tackled the assignment largely himself but also relied
heavily on regular Remote Control Productions ghostwriter supreme, Steve
Mazzaro, who not only provided additional music but also received music
production credit in the opening song sequence of the film. One has to
wonder if Zimmer could not contractually allow Mazzaro to receive
co-compositional credit. Regardless, their work together for
No Time
to Die is absolutely rich with discussion points after a pair of
comparatively less interesting scores by Newman. No matter your opinion
of Zimmer's controversial production methodologies (
Pirates of the
Caribbean) and sometimes senseless strategic decisions
(
Widows), you have to admire the painstaking care he takes in his
handling of this assignment. These Bond scores, as the films have become
more narratively interconnected, have become a spotting minefield, and
Zimmer and Mazzaro acquit themselves quite well despite some
occasionally questionable choices. The interpolation of the song melody
into the score, reprises of story-related themes from prior films, and
the handling of Monty Norman's classic franchise identities are all
addressed smartly in
No Time to Die, even if there was some room
for improvement. It's become rare in the franchise to hear total
symbiosis between the score and song, and in this entry, such
connections thrive. This alone is a huge victory for Zimmer, who did not
have a hand in writing the Billie Eilish song, "No Time to Die," but
whose orchestrator and conductor, Matt Dunkley, did. (Dunkley has long
meandered through the industry since his fruitful collaboration with
Craig Armstrong, aiding in some of A.R. Rahman's best works and Zimmer's
successful
Wonder Woman 1984.) As such, there's just enough
presence of proper orchestration in the recording of the song for it to
retain a Bond-like feel. That can't save the song from Eilish's
horrendous performance, however. There was skepticism upon the hiring of
the very young American artist, including from Craig himself, because
her method of mumbling through her lyrics didn't match the typical tone
of a Bond song. Her slurred, understated, and at times incoherent
performance here managed to somehow snag a Grammy Award, a considerable
surprise given how poorly her voice matches the needs of a Bond
song.
Successful Bond title song performances require stylish
enunciation and confidence, and Eilish provides nothing of the sort for
No Time to Die. Her performance has no impact, no style, and no
truly discerning melodic presence in its softly grungy atmosphere,
building volume throughout but not achieving clarity. That said, some
may argue that her obscure tone is perfect for the depressing nature of
this particular film. The irony of the song is that its primary melody
and interlude sequences are borderline excellent, but listeners may not
have a chance to realize that if not for the fact that Zimmer was
allowed to convey those ideas throughout the score, where they flourish
in ways the song can't even approach because of Eilish's muddy
enunciation. The translation of two portions of the song into Zimmer's
main themes for the score is a fantastic highlight of the soundtrack
generally, as such cohesion is sadly rare in the modern Bond films.
Zimmer took his care a step further, invoking explicit references to the
music of both John Barry and David Arnold in his score. The film
specifically calls out several references to
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service in its screenplay and props, so Zimmer and Mazzaro obliged
with multiple reprises of the two themes from that score; the filmmakers
also apply Louis Armstrong's performance of that film's song, "We Have
All the Time in the World," to the end credits of
No Time to Die.
On some levels, the reprise of the Barry material makes much more sense
than others, but it's a very nice touch in general. Zimmer also returns
to the Vesper Lynd theme from
Casino Royale by David Arnold,
though its application in an early scene never escapes repetition of the
melody's first phrase, a disappointment given Arnold's own superior
adaptation of the theme to melancholy ends in
Quantum of Solace.
One of the more interesting carry-overs is the underlying chord
modernization to the main Monty Norman rhythm that the
Skyfall
song so wonderfully explored so that each of the rising and falling
notes in that motif contains its own dramatic chord shift underneath
instead of sticking to key in the bass. Zimmer continues this chord
usage in the opening "Gun Barrel" and at 1:06 into "Shouldn't We Get to
Know Each Other First." Overall, the Norman theme returns in much of its
usual glory, though not with as much swagger throughout the film as one
might hope for. Zimmer does allow its pieces several prominent
placements over travelling sequences, and that usage has to be
appreciated.
Like the rest of the score for
No Time to Die, the
Norman material is adapted to fit the Zimmer "sound" in some scenes, and
this means that some of the panache and other elements of high style are
replaced by brutal, bass-heavy blasting that defies the franchise's past
at times. Very generally, Zimmer carries over his heavy-handed tones to
lend the score a more brooding and militaristic sensibility. Whereas
Zimmer's infusion of manly despair to the Bond franchise may be
preferable to Newman's largely neutral personality for the concept,
neither can compete with the swagger of Arnold's action material. The
score for
No Time to Die sometimes resorts to simplistic
pounding, dissonance, and choral chanting, aspects of Zimmer's past that
serve this film decently but without much satisfaction. There are
passages such as the pounded, slapping action of "Norway Chase" that are
totally foreign to the Bond sound. Some of the action sequences in the
latter half of the score are frightfully inept, including "Opening the
Doors," and the presence of the choral chanting from
The
Peacemaker to punctuate the horrors of the villain's hidden island
lair in this story (some things actually do stay the same) had to be
dialed down in the film in a few places. In a few cues, the mix can be
blamed for making the cue sound like a jumbled, lifeless mess, the
terrible mixing of layers in "Cuba Chase" especially annoying. Most
obvious to casual viewers will be tired Zimmer application of string
drama to
No Time to Die, his chopping, unsophisticated string
figures begging for eyerolls in "I'll Be Right Back" and his extremely
derivative, overwrought melodramatic crescendos for the scenes of loss
to end "Square Escape" and "Final Ascent" reminding of everything from
The Da Vinci Code to
Inception at the most inconvenient of
times. Also a point of contention is Zimmer's decision to supply
overbearing dissonance during both scenes involving a sound concussion
Bond experiences courtesy explosions in his face ("Message From an Old
Friend" and "Opening the Doors") and the mass death early in "Cuba
Chase," though the former were clearly an attempt to emulate the
disorienting buzzing one experiences after such an event. Emerging only
occasionally in the Bond franchise and struggling to assert itself here
is the use of choir. Zimmer uses it in predictable fashion given his
past, using the group's menacing tones to represent the villain of this
story and, more specifically, the nanobot technology he plans to unleash
upon the world.
With the choral element debuting in the middle of "What
Have You Done?," one must assume it stereotypically represents the
doomsday possibilities in
No Time to Die, its dissonant
atmosphere returning to start "Cuba Chase" as SPECTRE is wiped out with
the technology. The pulsating choral notes of the score's later action
first appear early in "Norway Chase," open "Poison Garden," and dwell
early in "The Factory," though the most obvious choral shades in the
final cue are not clearly heard in the film. Instrumentally, there are
positives worth mentioning. The score offers refreshingly nice bass
flute performances in a nod to vintage Barry mannerisms. Solo piano
recalls the softer moments of Arnold's scores well. Both electric and
acoustic guitars are tastefully applied, though the latter, also for the
new, female 007, is surprisingly diminished given the Latin locations
and the character's presence. Zimmer collectors will suck up the cello
solos for dramatic passages, though the far better emotional appeals are
made through sparingly applied wordless female vocals. The score is
mostly organic, ironically less harsh in its looped mixes than some of
Arnold's later Brosnan-era techniques. Where
No Time to Die will
really ensnare your attention is in its thematic development. As
mentioned before, both of Zimmer and Mazzaro's main themes for the score
are based on sequences in the Eilish song. On top of these two themes
are a dedicated villain theme, an agonizing loss motif, a recurring
two-note action motif, and the various Barry, Arnold, and Norman ideas.
Eilish's poor performance forces the score to work overtime to clarify
the song's primary melody, and it does so with repeated development.
(Note that the album's credits claim to identify all the score tracks
using the song's theme, but the list is awkwardly incomplete.) Zimmer
applies this idea as the overarching love theme for Bond and Madeleine
Swann but also for the romance of the franchise in earlier sequences.
While full and obvious performances of the theme are not particularly
frequent, the spotting of its usage was handled well in the film, the
most powerful interpersonal moments applying the idea on piano. It's
absent from the film's pre-credits scenes with the main characters and
debuts in ominous, dramatic layers at 0:30 into "Someone Was Here."
Fragmented on flute in "Not What I Expected," it serves as counterpoint
to the Norman theme to close "Shouldn't We Get to Know Each Other
First." Its impactful representation of Bond and Swann really begins as
the characters reunite at 0:38 into "Lovely to See You Again" on solo
piano over somber ambience.
The primary song theme of
No Time to Die achieves
its most robust development throughout "Home," the typical Zimmer solo
cello treatment leading to a haunted wordless female vocal version over
piano that was minimized in the picture but did receive a placement in
the end credits assembly. A string rendition late in the cue raises the
emotional stakes. Slight background plucking of the idea late in
"Gearing Up" keeps the theme in mind, as does its faint informing of the
drama late in "Poison Garden." It opens "I'll Be Right Back" softly
before shifting to full melodramatic mode at 2:35, including a return of
the female vocals. Piano continues at 3:47 into "Final Ascent,"
fragments of the theme overlapping the descending loss motif at the
climax of the scene. Interestingly, though, Zimmer opted to take a
secondary portion of the Eilish song and adapt that as the more
frequent, main identity of the score. Inspired by the song's interlude
sequence at 1:20, this theme serves as a representation of adversity
that absolutely pervades throughout the work. Its meandering around key
is useful in that it can match well with the Norman rhythm, a trait
proven immediately at 1:35 into "Matera," where a romantic, major string
mode with the Norman material in counterpoint matches Bond's constant
worries that someone is after him. This theme returns under the Norman
theme once again at 1:15 into "Message From an Old Friend" but really
explodes later in the cue. More pronounced at 2:58 and 4:39 in that cue,
Zimmer presents it in highly staccato stuttering, though it does become
more fluid later. It rambles as an electric guitar motif overlay to a
unique thematic idea at 5:54 and blossoms into massive wailing brass on
its own at 6:10. Bond is extraordinarily angry in this scene, so the
adversity theme is most intense in the score during this cue. As Bond
enters his suspicion mode, the adversity theme returns at 1:11 into
"Someone Was Here" on solo electric guitar over fragments of the song
melody, accelerating on guitar in rhythmic form at 2:17. Under the
Norman theme again at 1:40 into "What Have You Done?," the theme once
more dissolves to solo guitar. It meanders under the Norman theme in
action at 2:16 into "Cuba Chase," stews in quiet panic to open "Norway
Chase," and is skittish on violins at 1:58 into "Gearing Up." Against
ominous choir, the theme builds throughout the first half of "The
Factory" (starting at 0:28), turns fast and frantic underneath the
action at 1:06 into "Opening the Doors," and shifts to solo cello at
1:39 into "Final Ascent," where it turns compelling in a slow
crescendo.
The villain's theme in
No Time to Die takes a while
to emerge, as those attempting to kill Bond at the start of the film are
not associated with the main antagonist of the story. The theme debuts
as a new, almost hypnotic rhythmic formation in its slight choral
conveyance at 0:54 into "Norway Chase," transitioning into a striking
but obnoxious action motif at 2:18; fortunately, it stabilizes later on
brass. It toys with a variant of the adversity theme at 2:01 into
"Poison Garden," closes out "The Factory" with slight violins, and opens
"I'll Be Right Back" under the song melody. Like the villain himself,
this theme is soft spoken and understated, and given its
hyper-aggressive stance in "Norway Chase," it's intriguing that the
Zimmer and Mazzaro chose not to feature the idea in fuller form during
the final confrontation. Zimmer's separate loss motif will be a greater
point of contention with the score, representing Bond's agony with
descending figures of typical overblown Zimmer drama. Solo cello offers
the idea at 1:22 into "Square Escape" for the parting of the leads, it
faintly recurs at 4:56 into "The Factory," and it opens "Final Ascent"
on solo cello before turning to its
The Da Vinci Code and
Inception incarnation at 6:06 for the closing death scene. This
cue's climax is extremely distracting in the film, a detriment to a
moment that needed more tact and, likely, an overt connection to the
song instead. While tying the two loss scenes together musically is
smart, the execution is unnecessarily bloated. The final new motif in
No Time to Die is a generic action identity consisting of
two-note bursts that may be fragments of the Norman theme. Heard in the
first half of "Cuba Chase," these figures develop fully on brass at
2:37. They return in the second half of "Norway Chase," the second
minute of "I'll Be Right Back," and from the middle to end of "Opening
the Doors." The Norman theme itself, in all its various pieces, is
incorporated more directly to every corner of the score, an improvement
over the Newman entries. The "Gun Barrel" sequence presents the standard
opening, and Zimmer applies it at 0:54 into "Message From an Old Friend"
as Bond is forced unwillingly back into action, building quickly to
suspense and then full killing mode; fragments persist throughout the
cue until a quick burst of the fanfare at 6:07. The immediately
subsequent "Square Escape" introduces a new take on the idea at its
opening that is absolutely brutal on low brass. This is Zimmer taking
everything as low as it can go, and it's a brutish and unstylish
technique that is reprised almost identically at least twice more in the
score.
The Norman theme is arguably most impactful in
No
Time to Die during the scenes from Bond's retirement in Jamaica
through his return to service in London, supplying the character with
his necessary identity even if he doesn't know the future path. A softly
cool moment awaits for the theme at 0:55 into "Someone Was Here," the
idea shifting later to suspense and retribution modes that carry over to
the latter half of "What Have You Done?" It toys in romance during the
humorous "Shouldn't We Get to Know Each Other First?" and contributes
with Latin flair in the middle of "Cuba Chase" before returning to the
low brass brutality of "Square Escape" in that cue. The Norman material
assumes its original guitar form in "Back to MI6," though a bit on the
aggressive side. The slight Latin hints persists with the Bond rhythm in
"Gearing Up" (by this point, the Latin element clearly represents Nomi,
the new 007) before shifting to concerned determination; there's not
enough overt coolness in the theme's performances late in this cue. The
rhythm comes in and out during "I'll Be Right Back" and again reprises
the brutish brass of "Square Escape" at 0:32 into "Opening the Doors."
That overbearingly forceful adaptation is so unsophisticated that it's
disappointing to hear it so many times in the work. More fascinating is
the resurrection of the Barry and Arnold themes in
No Time to
Die. The script and props of this film almost required Zimmer to
reference music from
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is
otherwise an odd choice with which to wrap up the Craig era of the
franchise. The "Matera" cue opening the film with glorious shots of
Southern Italy is a reprise of Barry's instrumental version of "We Have
All the Time in the World" from the 1969 movie, and while the statement
here is a faithful rendition, Zimmer and Mazzaro do an absolutely
fantastic job shifting the melody to their original adversity theme by
its end to denote Bond's lingering suspicions, a clever and very well
executed move. The final scene of
No Time to Die returns to the
same location and offers a different version of essentially the same
material from "We Have All the Time in the World," though that cue was
left off the album. That second cue transitions directly into the
original Louis Armstrong performance of the song to open the end
credits. The composers take the references to
On Her Majesty's Secret
Service even further, referencing Barry's other, catchy main theme
for the 1969 score during all of "Good to Have You Back" as Bond and M
converse in London about the former's return to service. It's a gloomy
performance that doesn't make much impact under the dialogue,
however.
On one hand, the outward presence of the Barry material
from
On Her Majesty's Secret Service in
No Time to Die is
a fantastic plus for enthusiasts of the franchise's music. On the other
hand, though, the 1969 film wasn't the Craig era, and if this score was
meant to be sensitive to the concept's prior music, then some tip of the
hat to
Casino Royale was merited to provide closure to Craig's
Bond specifically. Yes, the Vesper theme is included in her tomb scene
(albeit not on album), but its statements aren't resolved even though
Bond himself finds such purpose in being there. The early portion of
that scene would have been perfect for a subtle, if not melancholy
rendition of Arnold's "City of Lovers" romance identity, apart from the
actual Vesper theme. Likewise, the "Good to Have You Back" cue could
have applied an equally grim instrumental reprise of the "You Know My
Name" theme from
Casino Royale instead, with just as much
relevance. As they are, the throwback themes in
No Time to Die
are tied to an era long gone rather than neatly closing out the current
era. The applications of the Norman theme and its underlying rhythm are
always welcome, though there is that lack of panache in the performances
to reconcile. While Bond is a somewhat broken and retired man in this
film, he still requires stylish swagger, and that's an intangible sense
of performance inflection that this score cannot match from the Arnold
entries. Some will argue that
No Time to Die is a sufficiently
dark film to justify the use of Zimmer's usual brooding techniques,
though some of the dissonant or suspense sequences, especially "Lovely
to See You Again" and "Poison Garden," failed to evoke much emotional
response. Blofeld's entrance during the former cue could have used a
tortured version of the song's love theme to a better impact, for
instance. Scenic transition cues are hit and miss, the Norway opening of
"Home" among the better. Some action sequences devolve into generic
Remote Control pounding unbefitting of this franchise. Still, on the
whole, Zimmer and Mazzaro need commended for their otherwise thoughtful
strategic decisions and salvaging of the melody from the dismal,
incoherent song. On album, some major sequence cues are missing,
including the entire sinking boat scene with Felix Leiter, and the
tracks are cross-mixed, but it's a decent, chronological presentation.
The end credits music (after the song) was pieced together from the
score. A longer LP album offers four Q-related bonus cues, but these are
all rather pointless atmosphere with occasional Norman theme allusions,
and none makes an impact in the film anyway. This score is a massively
mixed bag, with so much to like and yet passages in which Zimmer's
methods simply don't work. Arnold remains as the franchise's modern
benchmark.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| 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.
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The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about
the score or film. Theme interpolation information in the CD notes gives the LP
track numbers instead of the CD track numbers.
