Man of Steel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name composed by Hans Zimmer. It was released on June 11, 2013, by WaterTower Music and Sony Classical Records. The exclusive deluxe edition of the album contains six bonus tracks, entitled "Are You Listening, Clark?", "General Zod", "You Led Us Here", "This Is Madness!", "Earth" and "Arcade".[2]
Hans Zimmer initially denied popular rumors that he would be composing the film's soundtrack,[3] but in June 2012, Zimmer was in fact writing the film's musical score.[4] To completely distinguish Man of Steel from the previous films, the iconic "Superman March" by John Williams is not heard.[5][6][7] The musical score from the third trailer, entitled "An Ideal of Hope", was released online for listening purposes on April 19, 2013.[8] This music was a shortened version of the album track "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?". In late April the same year, the official track listing of the two-disc deluxe edition was revealed.[9]
Popular reception to the score was positive and the album rose to #4 on iTunes during the first week of its release.[10] Critical reception for the score, however, has been polarized.
The soundtrack opened at number 9 on the Billboard 200 with 32,000 copies sold.
While popular among fans, the score was polarizing among critics. Some were quite disappointed by the score, citing it as being repetitive, simplistic and over-reliant on drums, while others reacted more positively.
In her review of the film, Ann Hornday, from The Washington Post, called the score "turgid" and "over-produced".[12]
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK commended the tracks "Flight" and "What are You Doing When You're Not Saving the World?" as the best in the soundtrack album, but criticized the lack of development of those themes and the simplicity of the writing: "For [Superman] to be saddled with witless percussion, such predictable string writing, and such a simplistic and repetitive thematic statement is disappointing in the extreme".[13]
Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks.com dismissed the score as a "lowest common denominator" effort, criticizing the excessive use of percussion over other instruments, such as woodwinds or chimes. He concluded by saying: "Ultimately, Zimmer was right. He was the wrong man for this assignment".[14]
James Southall, of Movie Wave, cited concerns with the score's over-reliance on a brass effect, dubbed "horn of doom" (made popular with the music from Inception) and wrote: "Man of Steel – the film – may not have the ambition of Inception – but it still has its unique musical needs, and they’re just not satisfied".[15]
Conversely, James Christopher Monger, writing for Allmusic, called the soundtrack "grittier and darker than any of its predecessors, due in large part to Zimmer's proclivity for non-stop, thunderous percussion, though it retains enough goose bump-inducing moments to be called a proper Superman score, especially on the elegiac "Look to the Stars" and its soaring counterpart "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?", both of which dutifully reflect the iconic superhero's propensity for both goodness and might".[16] Chris McEneany of AVForums stated that Zimmer, despite his excessive use of drums, "[came] up with a work that is blistering, beautiful, bold and, I have to say it, brilliant".[17] Jørn Tillnes of Soundtrackgeek gave the score a rave review: "The purists, the soundtrack geeks of old will no doubt hate this score and will use every ounce of their energy to bash it as nothing more than generic droning music. For the rest of us, I believe the new bold direction the Superman franchise is taking is both brilliant and brave. Superman deserves this score and so do you".[18]
Track listingedit
Standard editionedit
All music by Hans Zimmer, except where noted.
Disc 1 – Flight
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Look to the Stars"
2:54
2.
"Oil Rig"
1:31
3.
"Sent Here for a Reason"
3:46
4.
"DNA"
3:18
5.
"Goodbye My Son"
1:57
6.
"If You Love These People"
3:02
7.
"Krypton's Last"
1:58
8.
"Terraforming"
9:46
9.
"Tornado"
2:46
10.
"You Die or I Do"
3:04
11.
"Launch"
2:29
12.
"Ignition"
1:12
13.
"I Will Find Him"
2:57
14.
"This Is Clark Kent"
3:36
15.
"I Have So Many Questions"
3:21
16.
"Flight"
4:09
17.
"What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?"
5:26
Total length:
57:04
Disc 2 – Experiments from the Fortress of Solitude
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Man of Steel" (Hans' Original Sketchbook)
28:11
Total length:
85:15
Limited Deluxe editionedit
Disc 1 – Flight
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Look to the Stars"
2:54
2.
"Oil Rig"
1:31
3.
"Sent Here for a Reason"
3:46
4.
"DNA"
3:18
5.
"Goodbye My Son"
1:57
6.
"If You Love These People"
3:02
7.
"Krypton's Last"
1:58
8.
"Terraforming"
9:46
9.
"Tornado"
2:46
10.
"You Die or I Do"
3:04
11.
"Launch"
2:29
12.
"Ignition"
1:12
13.
"I Will Find Him"
2:57
14.
"This Is Clark Kent"
3:36
15.
"I Have So Many Questions"
3:21
16.
"Flight"
4:09
17.
"What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?"
5:26
Total length:
57:04
Disc 2 – Experiments from the Fortress of Solitude
^Rome, Emily (January 18, 2015). "'Man of Steel' soundtrack: New tech simulates surround sound through headphones". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
^ASIN B00C2U6EUG, Man of Steel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
^"Hans Zimmer Debunks SUPERMAN Rumor". Collider. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
^Eisenberg, Eric (18 June 2012). "Man Of Steel To Feature The Music Of Hans Zimmer". cinemablend.com. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
^"MAN OF STEEL Won't Include John Williams' SUPERMAN Score". Geektyrant.com. August 13, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
^No “Superman” Theme in “Man of Steel” Archived 2012-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
^""Man of Steel" Won't Use John Williams' "Superman" Music". Worstpreviews.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
^"Hans Zimmer's 'Man of Steel' Trailer Song Available To Stream In Full: "An Ideal of Hope"". Flicks and Bits. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
^"Man of Steel Two-Disc Soundtrack Featuring Original Music by Hans Zimmer Set for Release June 11th". fortmilltimes.com. April 30, 2013. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
^Keith Caulfield, Billboard (15 June 2013). "'Man of Steel' Soundtrack Heading for Top 10 on Billboard 200". The Hollywood Reporter.
^James Christopher Monger. "Man of Steel [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] - Hans Zimmer - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic.
^"Movies Reviews, News & Articles". avforums.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
^Jørn Tillnes. "Soundtrack Review: Man Of Steel (2013)". Soundtrack Geek V2 - Film Scores and Soundtrack Reviews - Your home for movie scores, game music and television scores. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
^ ab"Man of Steel Soundtrack". Hans Zimmer. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
^"Man of Steel Soundtrack Personnel". IMDb. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
^"Man of Steel Dummers". Consequence of Sound. 27 June 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
^"Austriancharts.at – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Lescharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Offiziellecharts.de – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Spanishcharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack / Hans Zimmer – Man Of Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Soundtrack Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Soundtrack Chart History (Soundtrack Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
^"Soundtracks – Year-End 2013". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
