Soundtrack Review: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2 Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Iron Man 2 by John Debney.

"This isn't "wow, this is the greatest thing ever" but it's a definite improvement."

It's time for Iron Man yet again. Iron Man 2 should be in cinemas everywhere about now and the only soundtrack people seems to know exist is the AC/DC Best Of effort they have put out. What is that all about? That's seriously just a lame marketing approach which no doubt works and will make some people very rich, HOWEVER, there is a score, the real soundtrack to Iron Man 2. It will be released on Sony Classical July 7th, that's right. July 7th! That seems unusually long for a movie that's out now and we barely creeped into May. The score in the first movie from 2008 was composed by Ramin Djawadi and I wasn't too impressed with that one. It pretty much underperformed. Naturally I was excited when John Debney was assigned to score the sequel, but would it be just more of the same or will Debney provide something fresh and different to the table?

Track List

1. Ivan's Metamorphosis	****
2. House Fight MK1	***
3. Making Pepper CEO	***
4. Senate/Ivan Creates Drones	***
5. Make Way For Tomorrow Expo	***
6. Rhodey Dons Suit	****
7. Dying Hero	***
8. Natalie Intro Rhodey / Tony Talk	***
9. Monaco Drive	***
10. Monaco	****
11. Jailhouse Talk	***
12. Ivan Escapes	****
13. Gun Show	*****
14. Tony Discover Dad's Secret	****
15. Sledgehammer MK2	*****
16. Nick Fury	****
17. New Element / Particle Accelerator	****
18. Sledgehammer MK1	****
19. New RT / To The Expo	****
20. Black Widow Kicks Ass	****
21. Iron Man Battles the Drones	*****
22. Ivan Demise / The Kiss	*****
23. Thor	***
24. I Am Iron Man	*****

My biggest problem with the first Iron Man was a lack of recognizable themes and lack of direction. By that I mean that it felt like drone music, didn't really go anywhere and that was disappointing. I do understand that this is Iron Man and the music has to be hard, it has to be metal but I was hoping that Debney would take the score into a more orchestral direction.

Recognizable Themes

So what does it sound like? Like Iron Man 2, but... there is a but here and it's quite significant. With Debney comes recognizable themes and yes, a definitely more orchestral experience even though a lot is clouded by truly heavy metal music. Reviews of the movies says that the score is practically non-existent due to the massive sound effects of the movie. I can see that, and as much as Debney tries to make it heavy and hard, he too had to lose against the effect of modern cinema.

Here's what Debney has brought to the table, a proper Iron Man superhero theme in 'I Am Iron Man', which is a very heroic all-American affair which you might like or you might hate. I think it's quite good and fitting, but it's not the best superhero theme I have ever heard, although it's up there (even though Iron Man isn't a proper superhero, but hey he's a Marvel guy). That is also a theme without too much heavy metal which is kind of ironic. It is also heard in 'Monaco' and 'Ivan Demise / The Kiss' among others. Ivan Vanko, the bad guy also has a theme, a quite good one in 'Ivan's Metamorphosis' which is a kind of "sad, misunderstood guy goes crazy" and you can hear the theme from 3:45 which is a very heavy doomsday effort. We've heard it all before, but it's definitely a good theme fit for a bad guy. I Love the fact that Debney uses a very dramatic male choir to emphasize that doomsday is coming.

A Clear Purpose

There's definitely more to like this time around even if it doesn't have a cue like 'Merchant of Death' up it's sleeves, the best cue of Iron Man 1. There's 'Gun Show' which is just a very cool and heavy song. 'Sledgehammer MK2' is even more heavy as it could almost be mistaken for a 90s monster rock anthem at times. I like it when Debney lets it all loose and goes heavy which he certainly does. It seems a lot better orchestrated and put together than the score by Djawadi. There's a clear purpose with almost every cue and you can actually hum to Debney's work which you can't say for pretty much everything from the first movie.

The best cue is also the longest one. At just over 8 minutes 'Iron Man Battles The Drones' is what it's all about. It's an exciting battle from start to finish and Debney doesn't spare on the pyrotechnics either. There's a lot of heavy metal mixed with some heroic horns and Ivan's bad guy music comes through in pulses. It's the equivalent of 'War' from James Horner's Avatar. It's not quite as good as that, but I love the way Debney purposely set every tone so you can clearly hear what's going on and you don't even need to see the scene to get it. Oh I forgot to mention that Ivan's drones have their own sound, which can also be heard in 'Senate / Ivan Creates Drones'.

Ivan gets what's coming to him in 'Ivan Demise / The Kiss'. I am not sure it should be 'Ivan Demise', but that's what I got sent as a track list. 'Ivan's Demise' sound better to me, but it doesn't matter. It's all about the music and Debney brings an end fitting of the bad guy. Again he brings the male choir and I know there is a Russian reference to it, and it certainly sounds like it. From 3:34 the Iron Man theme heard best in 'I Am Iron Man' starts and quickly transcends into a softer ending with 'The Kiss'.

Conclusion

Is Iron Man 2 by John Debney better than Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi? Definitely. This isn't "wow, this is the greatest thing ever" but it's a definite improvement. Debney brings the themes, very good themes, and he brings a more orchestral appeal to it while keeping it very heavy, even more heavy than Djawadi did. I think this score will grow on me and become even better over time as I listen to it more. There's around 80 minutes of music here to be enjoyed, some of it meh, but a lot of it quite good. The only thing that annoys me for you soundtrack fans out there is the release date. The movie is out now, the "other" soundtrack is out now, why wait 2 months before releasing this to the public? Bad move! The momentum will be gone by then and this score, which is quite good, will have much less impact. So here's my plea: Please release this now, today, this instant. It needs to be out there for musical and financial reasons.

CUE RATING: 77.5

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