Hans Zimmer - The Last Samurai (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

The Last Samurai VS. The Return of the King

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 04/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Last year was the year of big budget epics for Hollywood. No expense was spared for lavish spectacle, elaborate costuming, awe-inspiring battle scenes, and more. And Hollywood knows that in spite of tremendous attention to visuals, it can all fall flat without the right soundtrack. George Lucas even admitted that Star Wars would have been nothing without John Williams' music. Hans Zimmer, in his score to The Last Samurai proves once again he's one of the best film composers working today. He complements the visual and dramatic aspects of the film superbly, as in the track Spectres in the Fog. Listen, and you can practically picture the action, even if you've never seen the film. After an introduction featuring Japanese plucked strings, the opening is haunting and mysterious, from which emerges a heroic theme played in the horns. I was interested to compare this soundtrack to that for another, contemporaneous "Big Spectacle" film-Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King, with music by Howard Shore. If you compare Spectres in the Fog to Shore's Minas Tirith, you'll hear that the gesture is identical--the emergence from a mysterious, static texture of a noble theme in the horns, accompanied by the drums of war. Both soundtracks owe much to the heritage of Richard Wagner and are practically textbooks in composing for film. Anyone interested in learning that art would do well to study them in detail. One significant difference between the two scores is the basic orchestration-naturally enough The Last Samurai includes Japanese instruments, and blends them beautifully with a Western orchestra. Since Middle Earth doesn't actually exist, Shore had no authentic instruments to draw from, and relies instead on a large Western orchestra, but occasionally has the instrumentalists perform in unusual ways, creating unique tone colors, as in Minas Morgul. But perhaps the biggest difference between the two soundtrack CDs, other than Shore's Oscar, is the overall tone. The Return of the King soundtrack is action-filled, exciting and even, for some, nerve-wracking. The Steward of Gondor is a telling example-while it's a beautiful ballad, Shore adds growing string clusters behind the voice to create a sense of impending doom. Zimmer's score is more consistently introspective. For the most part it concentrates on wistful melancholy and loss rather than the fury of battle-this is especially true of the soundtrack CD. A Small Measure of Peace epitomises this tone beautifully, while The Way of the Sword is its most dramatic contrast. Those who prefer their music peaceful and meditative will love The Last Samurai and perhaps be driven mad by Return of the King. Personally I prefer Shore's work somewhat, although still admiring Zimmer's greatly. Perhaps Howard Shore was the Oscar winner because he works with a much broader palate-more themes and a wider range of techniques including some very contemporary ones that would surely alienate many audience members if heard in concert with no visual context. By contrast, The Last Samurai relies too much on a single theme. It's lovely beyond question, and noble when played by horns, and courageous when played by trumpets, but after a point, many of the tracks on the CD start to seem indistinguishable. Nonetheless, why Zimmer didn't even get an Oscar nomination escapes me."

Excellent Soundtrack

K. Yagi | Cupertino, CA USA | 10/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just by listening to the music makes me emotional. The movie wouldn't have been the same without this music collection. It's been over half a year of owning this sound track, I'm still not bored of it."

Last Samurai

reel07 | Sad Hill Cemetery | 12/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Zimmer's new score for the epic canvas of a film is truly a revelation. This is among Zimmer's finest music, though that is becoming a cliche these days with him. He just keeps getting better and better, borrowing from his old works, inverting them and turning them into something new and refreshing, but just new enough to know that what you're listening to is the great Hans Zimmer. This soundtrack brings to mind the vivid imagery of the film (the battlefields, colorful villages perched upon serene mountain tops, many other images reminiscent of Kurosawa's films), but even better, just like of Zimmer's other great works, the music has a life of its own. You can take this music and apply it to your own life.Every track is fantastic. Each manages to have the reflective, weepy, and somber strings of "Thin Red Line" mixed in with the dramatic punches of "Pearl Harbor, Crimson Tide, Gladiator" and many of his other works. But those who loved the profound depth of "Thin Red Line" FANS WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED. The non-action music has the same beautiful melodies of his work from that soundtrack, except that it has its own distinct own voice. Zimmer sprinkles the entire soundtrack with wonderful flavors from Japan, but not too much. He applies just the right amount, without turning the music into stereotypical international fluff. He goes beyond the borders of cultures, just as he did in Thin Red Line, and finds that place that is within every person's soul and expresses it with his masterful command of strings.The action cues are amazing. They are memorable and impossible to forget; very heroic and powerful without being too contrived. the bridge between track 10 and 11 sounds JUST like the bridge in THIN RED LINE tracks 8 and 9. Track 1: "A way of life" has great cues that sound like ponderous Thin Red line and then heroic cues sounding like Gladiator and even a little black hawk down. "Spectres in the fog" starts off with a nice meoldy that is one of the main themes in the soundtrack the turns into a grat action piece"Taken" has an adventure feel reprising the action main theme"a hard teacher" is a lot like "light" from thin red line; thinking melodic music"to know my enemy" is a good dramatic piece and gets very good and dramatic near the end"Idyll's end" is another great one; starts off very subtle and beautifully melodic then turns into a great heroic theme with shades of gladiator"safe passage" is a weepy melancholy tune that has shades of the "attack" from pearl harbor"ronin" is a great short track that starts out sof then jumps to some of the loudest finest percussion beats youll ever hear, slightly echoing the heroism of black hawk down and gladiator."red warrior" is a great action track that sets the scene for the big battle"the way of the sword" is a great action adrenaline-pumping track with equally great melodies. the part from 2:45 to 4:50 is truly powerful and when you match it with the specific scene from the film, you'll know what I mean. a great "dying on the battlefield song" What follows is similar to the high blissful strings that wrap up "journey to the line" soaring to the highest peaks."a small measure of peace" is the last track and brings great closure to the CD with beautiful and haunting melodies, a la thin red line once again. reprises the quiet subtle theme that is present in track 1 and track 6.well thats the lowdown. obviously I can't recommend it enough, fans of Hans Zimmer/ film scores or not. This is good music for anything; workout, doing work, thinking and reflecting on life. I've already listened to it about 8 times and it truly gets better every tinme I hear it. Very haunting melodic and beautiful zimmer has outdone himself once again. I didnt think he could do it after black hawk down, gladiator, and thin red line. as I said, all of these songs sound like his previous works, except they all have a new refreshing sound and a slight Japanese flavor thrown in there. A great CD not just for the sake of the film, but for anythin outside of it."

Pleasantly surprising Zimmer score

Bram Janssen | The Netherlands | 01/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I find this to be a surprising Zimmer soundtrack. For a movie called "The Last Samurai" - and judging by the previews and posters that had been circulating - I had been expecting a cross of "Crimson Tide" and "Gladiator". Thoughtful, synthesizer-enforced music with occasional bouts of fanfare and bravado.
What I got instead was a beautiful, sensitive cross-section of "Braveheart" and "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon".This is a new direction for Zimmer. Oh sure, he has done more than swirling action and mellow synthesizers in his career, but his music always had a heavy presence. A certain reverberation. This sound is also present here - it is his hallmark after all - but has a Zimmer score ever been quite this melodious and acoustic? This sensitive and elaborate? Zimmer's most heard critique must be that, even though he writes top-notch themes, he does not elaborate on them. That he fills his soundtracks with sounds instead of compositions. Now buy this record and be convinced of the contrary.The emotional and atmospheric quality of "The Last Samurai" aside, this record proves Hans Zimmer is capable of improving his composing-style.That is why this one gets four stars.Bram Janssen
The Netherlands"

Hans Zimmer Delivers Again

Samir Dave | Rego Park | 12/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this soundtrack on the same day that I bought the Return of the King soundtrack and have been listening to both. Call me a bit biased, but Hans Zimmer's music has been something that I have grown up with and the Last Samurai Album packs an emotional wallop. The soundtrack is emotional and moody with tons of atmosphere. True, there are shades of Black Rain, which was also by Hans, but this album stands on its own, with just enough familiarity combined with the new. From Black Rain to A World Apart, to Rain Man, to the Lion King, to Gladiator, to The Last Samurai...Hans Zimmer packs an emotional punch with another soundtrack for our lives. After all...a sign of a good soundtrack is one that can be listened to without referencing the movie. Some soundtracks work that way....and some fall apart without the movie visuals....The Last Samurai has music that can stand apart from the movie....and touch your soul."

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