Iron Man

In a year that saw the top grossing comic book adaptation and superhero film of all time — The Dark Knight — many people have already forgotten just how big of a blockbuster film Iron Man really was. Although the two movies cannot be compared and analyzed under the same criteria, Iron Man did not prove to be as ground-breaking as The Dark Knight. Director Jon Favreu approached this film as one that would imitate the narrative as seen in an actual comic book; the result was a purely stylistic film that offered a limited array of possible interpretations and hidden connotations. For this reason, Jon Favreu decided to have an unconventional score that would simply excite viewers and do nothing else. As expected, he decided to choose one of the many disciples of the Remote Control Productions School of Film Music. Yes, I know, that school does not exist literally, but it is no secret that many of the new young film composers are being trained and subsequently spit out from that sound factory. Favreu decided to go with Ramin Djawadi, a relatively unknown composer who has already worked on a few big films. Apparently, Favreu told Djawadi that he wanted an unusual score for this superhero movie; one based on the sound of electric guitars. Djawadi did just that. The score does not have any great themes, harmonies, innovative sounds, or anything that could make this score revolutionary in terms of future scoring methods. Hence, rock rhythms and electric guitars are the only thing you’ll find in this score. Sadly, nothing else can be commended from Djawadi’s effort.

The album starts with an action-packed track called “Driving with the Top Down,” which is nothing more than electric guitars and a few string lines put to a rock rhythm. The sound is strikingly similar to the one achieved by Hans Zimmer in his Mission Impossible 2 score, although Djawadi manages to create something even more one-dimensional. Surprisingly, Djawadi tries to introduce a little five-note motif which repeats a few times, particularly towards the end of the track, but don’t expect this to be a “superhero” theme — I don’t know if it can even be considered a great theme. In subsequent tracks this theme will resurface a few times, but unfortunately, the simplicity of its structure make it a less than memorable one.

The majority of this score relies on modern electronic sounds, electric guitars, and rock rhythms. In ‘Merchant of death,’ for example, we find innovative electronic sounds supported by deafening electric guitars that eventually become too intrusive, both in the movie and in the soundtrack when heard by itself. Needless to say, the guitars will dominate the greater part of the score with acoustic instruments used very poorly. ‘Trinkets to Kill a Prince,’ ‘Mark I,’ and ‘Fireman’ are just some of the tracks that exemplify the aforementioned. Djawadi’s use of strings is appalling, having the string section sound like a few samples processed with electronic reverb. The variations are nonexistent, the orchestrations are mediocre to say the least, and the patterns become very repetitive. Even for a pupil of the Hans Zimmer and his Remote Control Productions sound, this is an incredibly poor use of those signature sounds. More importantly, the use of the brass section by Djawadi perplexes me; after all, we hear brass clusters and crescendos used randomly, yet they sound inadequately incorporated into the arrangements.

Another problem in Djawadi’s score is his very inadequate understanding of dramatic elements found on screen. In the beginning, when we see Tony Stark build the first Iron Man suit, the music contained in “Mark I” tries to mimic the actions and movements made by the character on screen. At one point, Stark’s hammering falls on tempo with the track —something I am sure Djawadi intended — but nevertheless, the piece quickly becomes a super-fast action cue that does not reflect the elements seen in the film. Thus, the track sounds ridiculous and over-the-top. Furthermore, in ‘Vacation’s over,’ we hear disproportionate emotionality brought by the score to a scene that did not require this type of music. Arguably, Tony Stark coming back to the U.S after being kept in captivity is a turning point for him and the movie, but the way the actions, script, and characterizations are portrayed on screen make us realize that a different set of emotions needed to be enthused by the music. With that being said, this track is more melodic and contains many elements characteristic of other film scores. In fact, after carefully listening to this piece, one can notice some similarities in the musical structure of this piece and Brian Tyler’s score for Rambo. Well, I should clarify that Tyler has more intricate arrangements and a very well defined theme in his score.

Undeniably, “Golden Egg” contains the worst orchestrations in the album. The arrangements continue to sound very weak, underdeveloped, and more over, truncated — the string staccato lines seem to appear and disappear depending on whether the characters on screen need a bit of movement. Again, he uses three or four notes on a few cellos with no other instruments supporting it, thereby having progressions that don’t lead the music anywhere.

“Iron Man” and “Gulmira” reveal many of the same problems we have seen throughout the score; the only difference here is the fact that Djawadi constantly replays a descending chord progression with the strings, which could be interpreted as a musical device pertaining to Iron Man. It’s difficult to acknowledge this, considering the fact that that the chord sequence is too simple. If we employed this judging system, based on that criteria, many more themes and motifs on countless other film scores would suddenly show up. Thus, while we see the intention by Djawadi, we cannot infer that he consciously decided to make this the predominant theme for Iron Man.

“Extra Dry, Extra Olives,” “Are those Bullet Holes,” and even “Section 16”, to some extent, are nothing more than sustained notes with the obligatory crescendos and diminuendos, creating some expressiveness out of the very dull musical lines. These pieces could have contained more thematic material or at least better developed harmonies, but in the end, they are extremely monotonous pieces.

Admittedly, I found “Ark Reactor” to be the best track in this album (excluding the big band arrangement by John’Obrien and Rick Boston in the second track). Even though guitars still dominate the soundscape, Djawadi utilizes his motifs intelligently: supported by better arrangements and instrumentations. This track is far from being perfect, but it does show Djawadi's potential as a film composer.

Overall, this is a very poor effort on Djawadi’s part. The director informed Djawadi that he desired to have a different kind of superhero score, one that relied on electric guitars, but in the end, this proved to be a terrible idea. (The songs added to the soundtrack are not entertaining or relevant and are probably there as part of their marketing and distribution agreements). The score is certainly adrenaline-inducing, almost to the point of feeling the unnecessary action music in the film— a problem found in The Rock, for example. Nonetheless, the music lacks too many important elements that should have been in such an important score. The absence of a defined theme for Iron Man is undeniably the biggest problem with the score. More importantly, a lack of individual themes and motifs, poor orchestrations, constant electric guitars throughout the entire score, and too many electronic sounds make this a forgettable endeavor by Djawadi.