Artist: James Horner
Review Type: Film Score
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Released: July 3, 2012
The Good:
Horner does a great job of separating himself from other composers and keeping his material creative and original.
The Bad:
If you like modern action film scores, don’t expect a typical Hans Zimmer style heavy action score here.
Our Rating:
4 / 5 – Very Good
Review of the film The Amazing Spider-Man
James Horner once again expresses his fantasy dreamscapes brilliantly, bringing you into a different world. Don’t expect a typical Hans Zimmer style heavy action score here. The Amazing Spider-Man score overall is very bright, warm, and personal.
Throughout the score Horner uses solo piano and other solo instuments to really give the score it’s personal feel. Some examples of this are in “The Briefcase”, “Rooftop Kiss”, and “I can’t see you anymore”. Horner also uses solo vocalists and choir to add to the fantasy feel in songs like “Secrets”, “The Bridge”, and “Saving New York”.
At certain points in the score I feel as if I am listening to the score for an animated children’s film. This really gives the film its “comic book” or fantasy feel rather than a darker style feel that you see and hear in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. There are of course some heavy pieces for intense action sequences, but even many of these are composed in more of a John Williams fashion.
Overall I would definately say this is an album worth buying. Horner does a great job of separating himself from other composers and keeping his material creative and original. He uses a lot of different instruments and synths, and plays them in many different styles, but never overdoes anything keeping the entire score new, unique, and interesting.
I really enjoyed most of the album, but here are a few of my favorite songs from the album:
- 9. The Ganali Device
- 12. Rooftop Kiss
- 20. Promises – Spider-Man End Titles
