Ranking: Hans Zimmer

Hon. Mention: Black Hawk Down

This Ridley Scott war film is one of the most director/technical-heavy films in recent memory. So much of the films viscreal effectiveness relies on immersing the uadience into the battlefield atmosphere, and Zimmer's score does an excellent job of bringing out both the onslaught of violence, and the relative quietude brought upon by contemplation of loss.

10. True Romance

I have to put this down the list a bit because, although I love the score, it is very derivative of the score to Badlands, and clearly intentional in that regard since True Romance could be argued to be the 1990's version of that Terrence Malick getaway lovers flick. It's still a wonderful sweet little tune that brings out the film's playful nature perfectly.

9. Rain Man

Like True Romance, some very simple, unbombastic and somewhat atypical stuff from Mr Zimmer. The synthesizer/flute combination gives off a perfectly fitting vibe of adventure and joy to a film that has these in abundance. Also, unrelated, but in about 13 years later Zimmer would go on to score I Am Sam, a film that does everything wrong with a similar sort of story to Rain Man. What I'm saying is, check this film out instead.

8. The Dark Knight Rises

As I've mentioned time and time again, The Dark Knight Rises is far from a flawless film. The same goes for its score which while solid on the whole, doesn't feel quite as fresh and exciting as that of The Dark Knight. Having said that, there are moments where both Christopher Nolan and Zimmer go hand in hand to create some absolutely brilliant moments, like the two scores above.

7. The Lion King

Oh, controversial, not putting this first!! I can hear you saying.Well, I personally think that while The Lion King is indeed a masterclass in animated musical cinema, a lot of the credit must go to Elton John and Tim Rice for their work on the most memorable songs. Hans Zimmer's work on the score is certainly very solid and in just about any other year I'd say I'd be fully behind his win for Best Original Score...if he didn't happen to be going against Alan Silvestri for Forrest Gump and Thomas Newman for The Shawshank Redemption, two of my all-time favourite scores. Still, it's an excellent collection of music to accompany the epic scope of the film.

6. The Dark Knight

The soundtrack to what some consider to be Nolan's masterpiece is divisive. Some find it too loud, unsubtle, overbearing; I personally think it works very well for the film, and is one of the highlights in a brilliant motion picture, and probably my favourite superhero film of all-time. He did collaborate with James Newton Howard on this, but I see nothing wrong with that. Two great minds working together, what's not to like?

5. Inception

Containing some of the more overused pieces of music on the internet nowadays (seemingly a simple stepping stone to grandeur), Zimmer's work on Inception nevertheless remains an exceptionally impressive achievement. It truly lives up to the high concept of Nolan's premise and, though some may consider it overbearing and overused throughout the film to generate tension/emotion, I think it never distracts, but instead fits perfectly with each beat of an excellent motion picture.

4. Gladiator

Another film on this list whose quality is greatly bolstered by the epic soundtrack, Gladiator is an excellently directed film with solid performances across the board, but really lends it its epic feel is the soundtrack, which makes every battle in the colosseum, and every loss of Maximus', resonate with all the more fury, passion and fire.

 3. Man of Steel

Oh Zack Snyder, what have ye done...despite still feeling the sour taste of Batman v.s. Superman on the tip of my tongue, I must admit one thing I did like about it was Zimmer's collaboration with Junkie XXL on it. Zimmer also did the soundtrack for Man of Steel, the far superior predecessor to BvS, though I think my liking for it centres a great deal on the use of Zimmer's score to make each scene, no matter how much Synder's direction may be flawed, feel pretty rousing.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean

The films, and Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow, may have gradually declined in quality across the trilogy and that awful On Stranger Tides, but one constant throughout them that made each action scene at the very least watchable, and every emotional moment feel earnt if you didn't think too hard about how poorly written some of those sequels were, is Zimmer's score which feels pitch-perfect for the seafaring life. With films set at sea one can tend more towards the classical side that Master and Commander: Far Side of the World opts for, or one can completely go off the rails with bombastic daring like Zimmer does here. Both approaches yielded great fruits of labour. The Pirates score makes all the films worthwhile to some extent (well, maybe not On Stranger Tides) and acts as a testament to Zimmer's abilities as a film composer. 

1. The Thin Red Line

A beautiful, epic war film that I'm going to be writing more about soon, the best film of 1998 (which is saying something considering how much I love The Truman Show and Shakespeare in Love), and easily the best war movie of 1998. Hans Zimmer's work here manages to be mellifluous (I'm not sure if that term can be used for music so forgive my amateur vernacular), haunting, disturbing, and uplifting all at the same time. His tunes align with Terrence Malick's vision perfectly and along with the Melissian choirs that cojoin with his score in perfect harmony, craft one of the greatest war movies of all-time.