I’ll admit it; Hancock was not one of those movies that caught my attention when it came out earlier this summer. The premise sounded too ridiculous, perhaps a bit over the top — which I don’t even know what it means for Hollywood standards. Having said that, I do have great respect for Will Smith and Charlize Theron as actors, so I said to myself, why not give them the benefit of the doubt. In a year that has already proven to be extremely busy for John Powell, he still managed to create an enjoyable score for this movie. The score is far from great or perfect: it undoubtedly lacks thematic material, cohesive instrumentation, and a defining style. Thus, this score, although well composed and orchestrated, sounds more like a disjointed experimentation of new sounds, old sounds, and the well known style that defines John Powell.
‘SUV chase’ is a powerful introductory track with a nice blend of 70’s sounds and a more modern style. Some of the brass parts are a bit piercing and not too intricate, but the mix as a whole is superb. Unfortunately, no themes can be heard in this piece, so the listener will be left wondering whether any main theme will appear later on. ‘John meet Ray’, on the other hand, is a somewhat simpler track that is well composed. At times the sound will appear to be a mixture of Kung Fu Panda and George Fenton’s You’ve Got Mail. Still, it is in this track that we first hear some indications of the themes that will reappear throughout the album.
‘Train Disaster’ feels more like two separate tracks. In the first part, we hear the well known Powell sound with heavy use of percussion and strings. The second half contains more of that 70’s blend that is cleverly orchestrated by Powell. Thankfully, Powell knows exactly how to make these compositions sound full and never weak.
‘The Trailer’ and ‘Standing Ovation’ are some of the softer pieces in this album. In 'The Trailer,' we get a better glimpse at one of the themes; sadly, it’s not a very memorable theme, so listeners will quickly forget about it. ‘Standing Ovation’ possesses a more emotional tone, but its short duration does not allow it to develop into anything more than that. In fact, most of the tracks are fairly short in duration and, thus, no defining themes, melodies, rhythms, or styles will be found throughout most of this CD. However, even though the tracks may be a little bit short, they are still enjoyable.
‘Getting Therapy’ again reintroduces the only somewhat defined theme of the score. Needless to say, it lacks development and is quickly obscured by the rest of the instruments — most notably the guitars. Moreover, this track feels more like a pop tune, rather than a piece out of a film score. The chord progressions are simple and there is little musical development from within. ’To War’ is one of the most action packed cues of the soundtrack. This piece starts somewhat poorly, but quickly evolves into a track that appears to be taken out of The Italian Job. Well, I should say that it lacks the energy that made the score for The Italian Job such an admirable job (no pun intended) by Powell.
‘Hollywood Boulevard’ and ‘Mortal’ are the longest tracks in this album. They certainly contain a lot of original material but, sadly, all of this material lacks thematic content. As you would expect, the tracks are brilliantly mixed and mastered; the sounds are also very innovative. Nonetheless, they contain too many variations within them to really appreciate the music. ‘Mortal’ tries to reincorporate the organ theme into the mix. Admittedly, this is one of those themes that you can recognize, but one you can hardly remember after hearing it. Not surprisingly, ‘The Moon and the Superhero’ is the best track of this soundtrack. Not only do the orchestrations sound fuller and more Powell-appropriate, but its thematic content is better than all of the other 19 tracks combined. This track would’ve served as a nice reference for the rest of the score, instead of having no real focus from which to base all of the compositions (John Powell should’ve realized this).
Overall, the score is an enjoyable one. The mixes are really outstanding and, for the most part, the music is entertaining. However, this score definitely lacks themes, motifs, and a defining musical center; which, as expected, forces the music into a diverse mixture of sounds and orchestrations — hence producing a disjointed work. Surely, some fans will enjoy it more than others, but this is not Powell’s best work. Luckily, the CD still contains sufficient entertaining and creative material that most people will have a good listening experience.