Soundtrack Review: Sherlock Holmes (2009)
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Movie Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the motion picture score Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer.
It’s time for Sherlock Holmes by Guy Ritchie and I honestly thought this was a prank when I first read it. I thought “Okay, this should be interesting.” Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, bring it on. Later I found out (yet again to my surprise) that Hans Zimmer was doing the score. Guy Ritchie usually goes low key and uses composers much less known. I personally thought Hans Zimmer was a strange choice to write music for a character like Sherlock Holmes. This has always been more of a Miklós Rózsa or Bruce Broughton territory. Despite all this, I was curious as hell to find out what old Hans came up with.
Track List
01. Discombobulate (****)
02. Is It Poison, Nanny? (***)
03. I Never Woke Up In Handcuffs Before (**)
04. My Mind Rebels At Stagnation (***)
05. Data, Data, Data (***)
06. He’s Killed The Dog Again (****)
07. Marital Sabotage (****)
08. Not In Blood, But In Bond (***)
09. Ah, Putrefaction (****)
10. Panic, Shear Bloody Panic (****)
11. Psychological Recovery … 6 Months (*****)
12. Catatonie (****)
Jack Sparrow
I’m sure you all heard the preview of the first cue that was released not long ago, furthermore they have the whole score streamable from the movie website. That’s service! Now I listened to the first cue like all of you and I thought: “Hmm, okay, a little weird, a little Jack Sparrow”. Sherlock Holmes is a quirky character so I was more curious than let down. A lot of people who were expecting a typical Remote Control Production score were very disappointed, particularly after listening to the whole score. It’s a bit weird isn’t it? Especially for Hans. He is quite versatile I’ll give him that.
The main theme for Sherlock Holmes is one you can pretty much hear in every single cue (is that a first?). I like it actually and it fits the character well. Of course if you are used to the older versions of Sherlock Holmes, then you need your ears cleaned before this experience. ‘Discombobulate’ is the cue released for preview earlier and it has that weirdness, that strangeness I am talking about. It all sounds very off-key and is hard to swallow for die-hard Zimmer fans. I have been noticing that I have hummed the theme while doing some chores around the house which is always a good sign. I think it’s a theme you will not easily forget. Hans got that part just right.
Score of Contrast
It’s a score of contrast ranging from the absolute ludicrous to absolute genius. Let’s start with the ludicrous part. The cue ‘I Never Woke Up In Handcuffs Before’ has you going “What the hell Hans!?” At least that’s what it did for me. It’s extremely funny actually, but I had to laugh at it for the wrong reasons perhaps. It’s like polka on acid… it’s hard to describe it. It starts with a sickly cough and goes into this strange polka inspired music. It’s only track 3 and I wanted to take a break from this score. How could I listen to the rest after that? Out of pure curiosity I continued and I’m glad I did.
The rest of the score is pretty much various versions of the main theme so if you deeply hate it, Sherlock Holmes won’t be your cup of tea I’m afraid. I will tell you the genius part now. There’s an 18 minute monster cue at the end called ‘Psychological Recovery … 6 Months’ which is an absolute delight to listen to. 18 minutes! Wow, Hans, you really pulled it off here with absolutely the best parts of Sherlock Holmes while adding a lot of Remote Control Productions value in here. The beginning is very Hans (of Pirates of the Caribbean infamy, even if he didn’t write much of that himself). It’s always changing, letting you guess what’s coming next and it feels like a score on its own due to the variety of themes and cues mixed in there. A great cue that will be one of the highlights this year for me and so I’m glad I listened to the whole score in it’s entirety (more than once).
Conclusion
Hans, what can I say? I’m smiling, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a fun score and the main theme is strong and memorable even though I can’t help but think Jack Sparrow might feel wronged that you nicked his theme. The 18 minute track is a wonderful beast of a cue and literally saves this score by itself. It will definitely go into history as one of Hans more humorous projects, but it will not please most of Hans’ loyal fans. I say listen to it yourself and make your decision, because this is a score that could easily be hated and loved in equal measure and I’m very curious to what the rest of the world thinks.
What did you think of Sherlock Holmes? Comment below!
Listen to Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer below:
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(24 votes, average: 8.58 out of 10)
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Comments
Good (but not superb) score. But I like the fact that Hans likes to experments lately which most RC composers don’t do.
My hightlights are: last 2 minutes of My Mind Rebels At Stagnation, the 18 minute track and the last track.
Good review, except for the small fonts :p
Jorn Tillnes Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Thanks, this post was trouble. Finally got it fixed 
Jorn
I have to say I disagree with your review.
Hans Zimmer has taken the victorian pianola/detuned piano motif and made it its own. London was a place in Victorian England full of Jewish influence – re: Jack the Ripper and as Hans himself says he didn’t want to go down the Elgar etc. track or the Patrick Doyle (from the Jeremy Brett TV series. So I think he has combined a mish-mash of Steptoe and Son versus pub piano and as Holmes was an experimental violinist himself and as we are on the threshold in time of the end of the Romantic era added some atonal effects across the whole score – hence the de-tuning. It is apt that Holmes has a knowledge of atonalism or serialism on the threshold of its invention – (see later Schonberg)as a demonstration of his genius and I think this is reflected in the music.
can anyone tell me the name of the song and artist at the beginning of the credits? after the film to sketch bit? when the credits actually start rolling and the Irish traditional music started playing…i loved it but had to leave the theatre before catching the name.
Jessica Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:42 am
The Irish song you were inquiring about is “Rocky Road to Dublin,” as performed by the Dubliners.
I really enjoyed this soundtrack I found the Jewish/Irish influences create a score that not only get’s stuck in your head but makes commonplace activities a little more interesting.
Initially i was not that interested in seeing this film, but I’m very glad I was broadminded enough to give it a go, because I LOVED it. Plenty of action , tempered with humour, plus a soundtrack that fitted Holmes eccentric character PERFECTLY in my humble opinion. To my relief, the storyline wasn’t sidetracked by the appearance of Holmes’ old romantic interest either .
I genuinely got excited about the soundtrack while watching this film! Indeed it may not be pretentious enough for many soundtrack buffs, but I personally thought it was perfectly fitting for the film. Needless to say, I WILL be purchasing the soundtrack as soon as I can! Thumbs up from me!
Asylum Dolly´s last blog ..La la la la la! 
Jorn Tillnes Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Happy you enjoyed the movie and the soundtrack!
Soundtrack Seek
I already sort of gave my own review for this score on the score preview post (after having listened to the entire thing). If you want to see what I thought, I have it there.
Jeremiah Pena´s last blog ..Kantoka
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Jorn Tillnes Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:58 am
I couldnt find it. Christmas blindness you know. Can you provide the link? Would love to read it.
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Jeremiah Pena Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
It’s right here: http://soundtrackgeek.com/2009/12/08/movie-soundtrack-preview-sherlock-holmes-by-hans-zimmer/
15th comment down.
Jeremiah Pena´s last blog ..Dynasty of Drums
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Jorn Tillnes Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Ha! I was looking all over your blog for the preview