Soundtrack Review: Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi (2008)
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This is a review of the motion picture score for Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi.
It’s finally here and I have been waiting for some time for this. I’ve been buzzing about this movie and also very excited about the prospect of having Ramin Djawadi compose the score. For those who doesn’t know Ramin Djawadi, here’s a short bio. He has mostly made his name scoring for TV shows such as Threshold, Blade: The Series and most notably Prison Break. He has worked as an assistant with Hans Zimmer on the movies Batman Begins and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Last year he composed for the movie Mr. Brooks which happens to be one of my favourite scores of 2007. This is the track list for Iron Man:
- Driving With The Top Down
- Iron Man (2008 Version) (by John O´brien & Rick Boston)
- Merchant Of Death
- Trinkets To Kill A Prince
- Mark 1
- Fireman
- Vacation´s Over
- Golden Egg
- Damnkid (by DJ Boborobo)
- Mark II
- Extra Dry, Extra Olives
- Iron Man
- Gulmira
- Are Those Bullet Holes
- Section 16
- Iron Monger
- Arc Reaktor
- Institutionalized (by Suicidal Tendencies)
- Iron Man (by Jack Urbont)
19 tracks in all with a total play length of 54:38. Like I said in the intro, I have been eagerly awaiting this soundtrack for 2 reasons. One reason is of course the movie Iron Man which has to be a thrill ride from beginning to end and then there’s Ramin Djawadi. I have only heard a few scores by him, but what I have heard I really like. So what is Iron Man like? One track has been available for a few weeks now, and it’s the track Fireman. If you have listened to that, you know what to expect of this soundtrack. It’s a rocking score from the beginning, but it changes character. When you start listening to the score you are thinking heavy metal I’m sure, and it does feel like that when watching the movie too, but that’s only half the truth.
Around track 8, Golden Egg, it all starts to feel different, but it doesn’t come across too well in the movie, but that’s the beauty of it. Once you have the soundtrack and can listen to it at home you realize there is more to Iron Man than heavy metal (although I’d go with heavy iron). It’s one of those movies, that has a lot of action and to that end, the score delivers in spades. Saying that, there’s also the possibility to give Iron Man some more flavour, but maybe the soundtrack is a bit too heavy? I think that the score fits the movie well, but it lacks variety and most importantly, a theme. It could have worked much better if there were more of a melodic sound to it. I am also starting to hear a pattern in Ramin Djawadi’s music that I have heard in Prison Break, Mr. Brooks and now this which can either get annoying or it can work (much like it has for Thomas Newman). Time will tell, but this score isn’t bad, but it isn’t close to a score like Transformers by Steve Jablonsky for example. Listen to Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi below:
http://soundtrackgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/ironmanscore.flv
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(2 votes, average: 9 out of 10)
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Congrats on winning the first Lammy! I’ll have to stop in here more often and see what you have going on.
Patrick: I hope you are right. I wouldn’t mind a sequel or two 
Evan: Thanks! I am both shocked and surprised (happily so)
You’re right about the soundtrack needing a theme. The film still kicked ass either way. The composer was most-likely trying to cover the scenes with music and gave little thought to the over-arcing theme. It still worked though.
Btw, I’m happy to see that people are recognizing your site.
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Yep, no doubt it works in the movie. I can’t listen to it outside of it though. It’s like “There Will Be Blood” in that respect.
Thanks! Onwards and upwards!
hey i was wondering if anybody knew the song that plays after stark and his friend drink sake on the plane and have the girls dancing while they sit on the couch and his friend talks his ear off. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE i cannot find this song
Can anyone help Brandon out? Going to see the movie this weekend, so I’ll let you know if I recognize it.
hey! great music!! does anyone know where to find the music when pepper is hacking into the computer and when she and the agents are going to arrest obadiah?
Loved it, just can’t find it
Thanks
Eric
Brandon: I couldn’t hear what the lyrics was to that song, and I haven’t heard it before. If you are able to hear what they are singing, then you can search for the lyrics in Google.
Eric: I think the tracks played there are not on the soundtrack. I also heard other cues throughout the movie, that isn’t on the soundtrack. Hopefully an expanded version will be released.
Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the lyrics, but if you can, then all you have to do is search on Google.
just so you guys know I found the name of the song but unfortunatly its unrealeased at this time the name of the song on the airplane is called
“Slept on Tony with dirt” by, Ghostface Killah
hope that helps somebody.
Thanks Brandon! Never late than ever and I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy that song, now that they know what it is.
Well, here we go. Someone from Media Ventures gets a score assignment over someone else and the community divides into lovers and haters. I’m not on either side; Zimmer, HGW, Powell, and others from the factory can produce great music, but they also can be banal and derivative. While I was saddened we weren’t getting a chance for Debney to unleash some heroism on us (the man needs more chances to throw his grand Cutthroat Island style on us), I wasn’t about to flat out reject Djawadi, who’s produced good music for Prison Break and could break out here. Why Ramin’s guitar performance degree mattered so much in a world where Debney has composed The Scorpion King is beyond me, but let’s give it a shot.
The finished product is certainly effective on film, giving it a real “hellz yeah!” attitude. And this kick-ass attitude does work well sometimes on album too. While stuck in MV stylings like nobody’s business, action cues like “Fireman”, “Iron Monger”, and, best of all, “Ark Reactor” embody a furious electronic rage that is probably best described as a “guilty pleasure”.
To say there aren’t themes is a poor criticism, for there are. It’s just they’re all stuff we’ve heard before and really isn’t inventive or original. The main theme, the four notes rising and then one note descending, makes me think, “huh…Spider-Man?”. What is called the “building motif” is really just string rhythm, and the Iron Monger themes are simple brass hits.
So, fun walks into all-too-familiar on the street…and what happens? Well, while I may enjoy parts of it for sure, there’s also parts that do nothing musically (”Merchant of Death”, “Trinkets to Kill a Prince”, “Golden Egg”, “Extra Dry, Extra Olives”), and the maddeningly derivative parts make me yearn for better scores. Familiarity breeds contempt, but contempt doesn’t equal outright rejection. 2.5/5
I felt this is a step back from the excellent Mr. Brooks last year. On film I have to agree that it is very effective, but outside of the movie, it doesn’t do that much for me unfortunately.
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Iron Man was a practically flawless hero flick; its makers drop some pretty obvious sequel hints too… i’m thinking the next one should be equally great
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