Zanobard Reviews

John Murphy and David Fleming’s score for Superman is sadly focused on cheap, trailerised repeating excerpts of John Williams’ iconic theme playing over seemingly synthesized, generic-sounding action music, and while this isn’t the worst thing in the world as the theme still sounds great due to Williams’ thematic skill, you can’t help but wonder how much better this score could have been had another composer tackled it instead.

Strap in folks – this is going to be an interesting one.

So we’ve known for a little while now that for the new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet, composers John Murphy and David Fleming were going to be re-using John Williams’ iconic theme for Superman from the original 1978 film (starring Christopher Reeve). To say opinions online on that thematic decision were divided is perhaps understating things, but from my end I felt… wary, and yet cautiously optimistic about it at the same time. On the one hand, I firmly believe that Superman is not defined by Williams’ theme, at least in the same way that James Bond is defined by Monty Norman and John Barry’s anyway. We’ve had plenty of varied music for Superman over the years – Mark Snow and Louis Febre for Smallville, Blake Neely for the Arrowverse version of the character, Hans Zimmer for Man of Steel etc. – and so to say that Williams’ theme should be the only one for the character is quite creatively reductive, I feel.

That said, there’s no denying that Williams’ is the most iconic, and given Gunn’s seemingly more optimistic and upbeat approach to Superman with his new film, I can understand why Williams’ theme may suit it well. So, much as I would love to hear what a composer could come up with in a brand new theme for the Man Of Steel to kick off the new cinematic DC Universe (DCU), I decided to give Murphy and Fleming’s new take on Williams’ a solid chance. As long as it breathed new life into the theme anyway, ideally modernising and reinventing it for a new audience and Superman without simply rehashing it, and also wasn’t just a blandly uninspired collection of dully orchestrated excerpts and cameos of the theme rather than ever playing it in full – as so many reboot scores tend to do with classic film themes nowadays. Oh, and a personal request; please don’t “trailerise” the theme with horrible synthethic orchestra and drums either (in the same way the actual trailers for the film did). All this hope, as you can probably imagine, went well.

The album opens with “Home” and almost immediately noble, grandiose brass starts to play the opening notes of John Williams’ classic theme. Good start. An electric guitar then joins the brass alongside building drums and hope starts to rise, but suddenly – it seems evident that the orchestra for this is synthetic. Or at least, if it is a real orchestra I don’t know how they’ve managed to make it sound like this. Hollow. And cheap. It’s odd as some synthetic instruments (if that’s what this is) can sound great in quality as well but this just… doesn’t. There’s no power behind it at all. Anyway, let’s put that concern aside for a moment and keep listening. The subsequent “Last Son” reprises Williams’ theme again – specifically a three-note repeating segment of it – on warm vocals, strings and brass before then practically bursting with heroism at the ninety second mark with further excerpts from it. A loudly triumphant action rendition of the three-note repeating segment then rounds off the track. Proper action then kicks off in “Hammer Of Boravia”, with pounding percussion and wary brass thundering along for three frantic minutes. “Luthorcorp” then introduces a brand new theme for the infamous Lex Luthor, a guitar-based and rather moody piece that plays on the quiet malevolence of the character.

“Daily Planet” is pretty much the tonal opposite of Luthor’s theme, being a busy, bustling new motif for the titular newspaper that serves it rather well honestly. The subsequent “Lois & Clark” then delves into a love theme of sorts, with little romantic string twangs and hints toward Williams’ main theme, but it’s got to be said – it’s a far cry from the iconic love theme from the 1978 film. It’s not even hummable. Action then returns in “Eyes Up Here”, with deafening blasts of imposing brass and frenetic strings kicking things off before Williams’ theme – well, a slightly expanded repeating segment of it anyway – thunders heroically into centre stage on rousing brass and vocals. Superman and the giant monster (who’s motif lies in those blasts of brass from earlier) then do orchestral battle for a further two minutes, for honestly not a half bad action cue overall – it’s just a shame that they’re persisting with a repeating segment of the main theme so far, rather than playing it in full. Suddenly, a loud guitar riff kicks off “Justice Gang V.s. Kaiju”, introducing a grandiose motif for the titular Justice Gang (consisting of Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Metamorpho and Hawkgirl) that then goes orchestrally head-to-head with the imposing Kaiju theme throughout the track. Fast-paced drums, strings and tense brass then blast into view in “Intruders” with Luthor’s malevolent motif in tow and the remainder of the track emanating a particularly wary, eerie mood as a result.

The three-note segment of Williams’ theme echoes warily in “The Message” alongside some rather forlorn strings, with Luthor’s theme then villainously reprising in “Secret Harem” as dramatic electronics and imposing brass join the fray with a particularly thunderous electric guitar rendition closing out the track. The simple love motif from “Lois & Clark” reprises in “The Real Punk Rock” on gentle strings and piano notes, with a nice crescendo being reached with twinkling percussion towards the end. Solemn brass and strings accompanied by rolling drums take over in “Something Like A Sun”, with a massive sense of dread and anxiety fuelled throughout alongside hints toward Luthor’s motif. The subsequent “Jailbreak” however then rapidly re-injects hope with the Justice Gang theme reprising, and before long a grand excerpt rendition of Williams’ theme also follows suit. Chanting vocals and tense orchestra are then centre stage in action track “The River Pi”, with the pace quickening and tensions rising throughout until a final victorious rendition of Williams’ theme closes it out. Guitar twangs echo the love motif through “Take The T-Craft” with the subsequent “Your Choices, Your Actions” continuing this strings-based gentleness with quiet hints toward the three note segment of Williams’ theme. A suddenly dramatically prominent electric guitar then rings out in “Raising The Flag”, playing a triumphant and rare full rendition of Williams’ theme with brass rising in the background.

The Daily Planet motif returns in the first half of “The Rift” before tense action overtakes in the final minutes with imposing brass, loud vocals and wacky electronics playing centrally, though a grandiose rendition of the Williams’ theme does arrive to save the day. Frantic synth then continues the action in “Bases Loaded” before moody brass slithers malevolently into play for the decidedly villainous back half of the cue. Frantic strings continue this curiously Williams-less action sequence in “Speeding Bullet” with pounding drums thundering along, and I feel like I have to say; it’s kind of painful how generic this all sounds without the Williams theme present. It does so much heavy lifting on this album that its absence is very noticeable. Moody strings then open “Remote Control” with the Williams theme returning on wary echoing vocals, and shortly afterward the full orchestra builds to a dramatic action crescendo. Hints toward Luthor’s theme recur in the short “Upgrade” with “Driven By Envy” following tonally suit with orchestral villainy abound, before “Look Up” returns to Williams’ theme with a lengthy but irritatingly fragmented approach; bold brass and triumphant strings stop and start throughout, repeating different excerpts of the theme without giving them time to breathe or develop. Listening to it, you feel like you should be really enjoying it as its Williams’ theme modernised and grand in its longest appearance yet, but… it never quite plays in that big triumphant way you want it to. The style at least sounds all right here though.

As the score starts to draw to a close “Being Human” continues the orchestral hope with further three-note segment renditions of the Williams theme, with “Luthor The Traitor” straight after bringing back Luthor’s motif for a grand brassy and vocal finish. With the action having wrapped up, “Metropolis” returns to stylistic tranquility with hopeful strings evoking a peaceful mood throughout its runtime, before final track “Walking On Air” brings back the love motif for one last romantic guitar twang that builds into a grand finishing crescendo.

Overall, I don’t hate John Murphy and David Fleming’s score for Superman, but I can’t say I’m anywhere near in love with it either. It feels like it was made quickly and cheaply, with John Williams’ theme utilised throughout to try and hide how frankly dull and generic the orchestral style of the album sounds. That sounds harsh I know, and perhaps it is but – this is Superman. This is not some random superhero. This is the superhero, and the music for him should be treated with the same respect that the character himself deserves, and that just hasn’t happened here. It’s not all bad, I’ll get into the good moments in a second, but – it is disappointing. Cheap, trailerised repeating excerpts of Williams’ iconic theme playing over painfully generic action music form the majority of the score, and the worst part is it still sounds good at times purely because of how brilliant Williams’ theme is. It carries this score so much, but it’s like putting a bright red and blue plaster on a dam about to break. You can still see the cracks.

As I say, it’s not all irredeemable – Murphy and Fleming’s new themes in the bustling Daily Planet, villainous Luthor, gentle love and heroic Justice Gang motifs are interesting and they do pop up frequently; for me the Justice Gang stands out the most (see “Justice Gang V.s. Kaiju”) but I can’t help be disappointed by the love theme, especially considering how iconic Williams’ one was for the 1978 film in comparison. The orchestral style also does sound all right at points, with “Eyes Up Here” and “Look Up” being decent examples of this (though the fragmented structure of the latter is annoyingly unsatisfying; stop stopping, just play the theme!). However, stylistically it’s hard to overlook just how generic and uninspired the rest of the album sounds in comparison. When the Williams theme isn’t playing, the music is just so standard that it could be played for literally anything. I don’t feel anything listening to it either, and I should. The music for Superman has always been special, and when done right it should make you feel like you’re soaring alongside him, but this score mostly feels so uninspired that it doesn’t elicit any emotions at all. The orchestra sounds so synthetic too – if it’s a real one I’d be astonished, and if it isn’t; could they really not have hired a proper orchestra for Superman of all things?

All-in, one can’t help but wonder what happened here. David Fleming seems to have the majority credit on the album with John Murphy – the originally announced composer – being curiously infrequent. Fleming was also brought on only months before the film released, so it’s entirely possible that this album was indeed a rush job as frankly it sounds. I tried to love it, I really did, but I just feel defeated by how boring it is. And it’s exactly what I was worried it was going to be too; excerpts and cameos of the iconic theme, orchestrated cheaply in exactly the same way that the versions for the trailers were. Trailerised. Having a score this bland for Superman, the superhero, is such a shame, especially considering what came before it and that its re-using one of the most iconic superhero themes of all time. It’s a far cry from the incredible John Williams score that it tries to emulate.

Do better, DCU.

Score: 6/10

Standout Cues: Look Up/Eyes Up Here

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