Zanobard Reviews

On the one hand, Harry Gregson-Williams’ Gladiator II does an excellent job of bringing us back to the musical world of Hans Zimmer’s iconic Gladiator with both exquisite stylistic and grand thematic reprisals, but on the other it sadly doesn’t have much in the way of new themes or ideas of its own, so it ends up feeling more like a rehash overall than a proper sequel score.

The score for Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator sequel begins with “Gladiator II Overture”; intriguingly, while Hans Zimmer opted not to come back to compose for this second filmic entry, stating that he was “done with that world” when asked – which isn’t unreasonable in fairness – you’d be forgiven for thinking that he had actually returned, given how this opening cue begins. Gentle, ethereal vocals that drift and float rather wondrously echo all across the first few seconds of the piece – I believe it’s even Lisa Gerrard singing as well, the same vocalist from the first film – which of course pulls us right back into the musical world of Gladiator as if we’d never even left. You have to hand it to him; composer Harry Gregson-Williams, one of Zimmer’s former RCP protégés, certainly has the tone nailed right off the bat. As the track continues however things then start to get darker and moodier, as ominous brass and worrisome strings start to build and overtake the vocals until a dramatically malevolent crash of drums and brass finally crescendos at the two minute mark. Things then quieten somewhat for thirty seconds or so before louder, more emphatic vocals join the fray and the aforementioned instrumentation builds to an even louder and more dramatic finishing crescendo. All-in, it’s a curiously villainous start to Gladiator II – but I can’t say those opening vocals didn’t put a smile on my face. We are certainly back, and the gladiator games are calling.

The eight minute “Lucius, Arishat And The Roman Invasion” opens with eerie, high-pitched woodwinds that harken back to the villainous motif for Joaquin Phoenix’s evil Commodus from the first film before the gently serene Gladiator vocals from earlier then briefly reprise. As the track continues however these too are replaced by moody, battle-ready brassy bursts, ominous strings and woodwinds and unnerving vocal chanting for a time with brief interspersions of tense war drums. This wary ambience then comes to a violent head at the five minute mark as frantic action thunders into centre stage, with brass roaring and drums crashing until shrill vocals bring it all to a deafeningly in-your-face finish. “I’ll Wait For You” then opens in much a similar vein as the start of the prior cue with moody vocal and electronic ambience, though solemn strings and additional, more atmospheric vocals do then start to take over in the back half as the tone begins to lighten somewhat. These vocals continue into the subsequent “Ostia” before gentler strings, brass and woodwinds start to overtake with the middle instrument in particular raising thunderous chaos in the back half of the cue. “Baboons” then leaps and crashes chaotically, this time with drumming vocals and shrill whistles following a grand percussive charge throughout the track’s two minutes.

“Strength And Honor”, despite its title, is not simply a repetition of the same-titled cue from Zimmer’s original Gladiator score. Downtrodden, low-pitched vocals and a wary string and brass combination build for the first two minutes until darkness then gives way to thunderous grandiosity – and then, finally, the brilliant notes of Zimmer’s Maximus theme crash heroically into centre stage on powerful brass. They don’t last for long here, it’s barely a cameo appearance in fact, but damn does it feel good to hear those notes again. Let’s be honest; it’s half the reason we’re listening to this score – at least for me anyway – and I’m all here for it. The tenser “Acacius Returns” then hints toward Zimmer’s six-note theme for Maximus’ war efforts in the original film, with “City Of Rome” afterwards building atmosphere with grand swirls of strings and tense, echoing drums as well as ominous high-pitched vocals. A sudden thunderous vocal chant then bursts free at the start of “Defiance”, with frantic percussion and strings leading a tense charge throughout the cue’s sub-minute runtime. Things slow back down for “I See Him In You”, with sorrowfully downtrodden strings taking prominence initially with eerie woodwind hints toward the Commodus motif before quiet vocals and noble brass then start to play Maximus’ theme, and a stirringly heroic though again sadly short crescendo is reached just before track’s end.

Tension is the focal point of seven minute setpiece “Acacius In The Colosseum”, with anxious bursts of brass and strings playing alongside percussive stabs and frenetic chanting vocals until a loud crescendo is reached, at which point the orchestra gives way to sorrowful strings for a few minutes before the track then builds to another anxious brassy finale. Strings then take prominence in “Let The Gods Decide”, at first rather solemnly before building into anger and tension in the back half of the track, with “Macrinus’ Plan” continuing in much a similar tonal vein until volume and intensity pick up dramatically in the final ninety seconds for a worriedly high-pitched finish, stylistically calling back to the tenser half of the opening overture in doing so. Loud vocal chanting and determined brassy bursts then occupy much of the first minute or so of “I Need You To Do This”, though this then then crashes back down into quiet solemnity afterward for the remainder of the cue. This solemnity turns vocal in “Smooth Is The Descent”, with serene and rather beautiful vocals singing wistfully alongside sorrowful strings and woodwinds. “Now That I Have Found You” then hints and whispers towards Commodus’ malevolent motif once again with serene strings in tow, before “Echoes In Eternity” starts to pick up the war pace with rising brass building to a grandly dramatic and somewhat heroic finishing flourish.

With the album starting to near its end “War, Real War” dives deep into action territory, with frantic percussion kicking into gear right as the track begins alongside nerve-wracking brass and strings. Tensely chanting vocals soon join this rapidly building orchestral thunder, overall building to several increasingly worrisome crescendos until a final frenetic flurry of woodwinds hints towards Commodus – which I guess is just the villain theme for the Gladiator franchise at this point – before one final burst of brass then sends the fast-paced track packing. Standout Cue “The Dream Is Lost” then finally does the thing I personally have been waiting for – a big, full reprise of Maximus’ gentler theme from the first Gladiator, except this time it’s not gentle at all. Wistful woodwinds open the track before a sudden eruption of victorious brass, vocals and strings practically blasts Maximus’ theme in about as thunderously heroic a manner as possible – and honestly, the whole album is worth it just for this moment. With the music simmering back down, gentler vocals and strings then reprise said theme quietly for a further minute before fading gently away. To end the score, “Now We Are Free” from the first film is then added on at the end – it’s just the same track from the original album as far as I can tell, but that doesn’t stop it from being fantastic, because well… it always was.

Overall, Harry Gregson-Williams’ score for Gladiator II is an interesting one, to say the least – on the one hand, what we have here is a solid additional soundtrack to the original Gladiator, complete with stylistic reprisals like the wonderful Lisa Gerrard’s vocals and of course thematic ones with the return of both Maximus’ and surprisingly Commodus’ recognisable motifs, but on the other hand… that’s kind of all there is to this album really. There’s not a whole lot of new, either stylistically or thematically. The best sequel scores not only take on the mantle of the originals but also expand and build upon the foundations the originals set, but sadly this one doesn’t do much building – certainly I struggled to pick out much in the way of new discernable motifs for Paul Mescal’s Lucius or Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius for example, or anybody really. There’s a few recurring textures and emotive ideas between the ambience here and there – Lucius has some grander, bolder strings and there’s a bit of a tense, frenetic action thing going on I presume for Macrinus, Denzel Washington’s character – but that’s about it. Given the genuinely iconic nature of Zimmer’s original score as well, I guess I kind of hoped Gregson-Williams might have tried to add some new recognisable themes of his own, but I’m struggling to find any here which is a shame. As such, the most standout moments are when Zimmer’s themes appear, with “Strength And Honor” and “The Dream Is Lost” in particular being genuinely excellent for that. So if you’re just here for those, you’re going to have a good time.

All-in; the Zimmer reprisals are great, but there isn’t enough new here to really stand this apart from the original Gladiator. It’s not bad, I just feel it could have been more than it is.

Score: 7/10

Standout Cue: The Dream Is Lost

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