Could someone please explain the Hans Zimmer hatred on this site?

Is it just me or does it seem like people cast Hans Zimmer with a lot of aspersion on this site? I think I'm the one of the few people here that really enjoyed his Sherlock Holmes score.

edited 7th Sep '11 7:24:23 PM by Mattonymy

From what I've seen, it's just Buscemi (the user, not the actor).

Hold the phone..

people hate him?

Apparently. I dunno, I usually enjoy his work for the most part (ie Kung Fu Panda, Chicken Run, POTC) even though I do think he's a tad overused.

What Robbie said. I didn't know he even had a hatedom.

(psst: if you see any blatant Creator Bashing, be sure to remove it. thanks!)

I seem to be the main source here on Zimmer but with good reason. If you look around the Internet, you'll see that Zimmer is an egotist that uses dirty tricks to get what he wants. And he uses his company (Remote Control) to basically manufacture clones of him and his work.

Also, I recently listened to the scores from Crimson Tide (Zimmer), The Rock (Zimmer/Nick Glennie-Smith), Armageddon (Trevor Rabin) and a few other Zimmer-composed or produced scores back to back. They all sounded the exact same. Sure many composers may copy themselves once in a while (for example, I've been told that Jerry Goldsmith's score to Extreme Prejudice is basically his score to Under Fire but with synths and without the Pat Metheny solos) but Zimmer does it all the time.

Yeah, I dunno. I still think Zimmer is capable of producing good music but he's overrated enough that I don't mind tearing him down whenever he's brought up. Seriously, there are way better film composers, and yet I see upvoted You Tube comments declaring the guy's a god. Fuck that noise.

I guess I'm kind of blind to the problem, then, since I haven't actually seen or heard most of his soundtracks beyond Backdraft and The Lion King.

I did find it a little strange, though, how he was brought in for Wallace and Gromit Curse Of The Wererabbit, when Julian Nott usually does all of the W&G music fantastic. What was he, musical consultant or something?

Anyway, I think the only film where I actually had any real issues with him composing for was The Simpsons Movie- would've loved Alf Clausen or Danny Elfman to have done that score instead.

I keep forgetting he did TLK

edited 7th Sep '11 8:43:43 PM by Mattonymy

He just produced the score. It was a compromise for Zimmer throwing out Nott's score to Chicken Run (which has never seen the light of day, not even as an exclusive "limited to 3,000 copies" release).

"If you look around the Internet, you'll see that Zimmer is an egotist that uses dirty tricks to get what he wants."

That doesn't matter. Don't judge the artist's work by the artist. Dr. Seuss had an affair, which prompted his wife to commit suicide, at which point he married the person he was having an affair with.

I really liked Hans' score for The Simpsons Movie. I own it on CD. Yes, a physical CD. Those still exist.

edited 7th Sep '11 10:02:38 PM by TacoWiz

Well an example of why I'm not fond of Hans Zimmer even though I should be would be the soundtrack to the film Rango. I love spaghetti westerns, mostly for the music and I really loved Rango's use of bits from them as shout outs. There was even a nice shout out where you could hear a bit of Pirates Of The Carribean, which considering the director and main actor was a nice touch. But, when I looked it up it turns out that the bit of music I thougt was merely referencing The Pirates Of The Carribean was actually from The Pirates Of The Carribean. Now I'm probably over reacting but it feels cheap and lazy to me. But anyway, that's why I almost love the music, almost.

edited 7th Sep '11 10:08:43 PM by Gvzbgul

Rango is part of his recent work where he shamelessly rips off Ennio Morricone. He did the same thing in Sherlock Holmes. I've also read his score to On Stranger Tides is nothing more than a Morricone ripoff.

I don't actually dislike him, but even my family (who don't listen to music scores outside of the films they're in) have noticed his ridiculous self-plagiarisation. I used to really like the first Pirates score until I found that the main theme actually appeared in Gladiator, and now it bugs me. Gladiator and Lion King are his best scores, if you ask me.

What annoys me is when his scores get nominated for awards when there are actually much better ones out there each year. However, those seem to go unnoticed because the film they are in are lesser known.

edited 8th Sep '11 4:08:58 AM by Fiwen9430

Yeah I'm annoyed he's become the go to guy for Chris Nolan too. The soundtracks for Memento and The Prestige were far far better than Zimmer's generic and bland tracks for Batman Begins and TDK. And the Inception BWONG! which was just mildly irritating at first is so annoying now that so many trailers for both games and movies are trying to ape it- probably from Zimmer himself.

I also noticed that the Sherlock Holmes theme sounded awfully like Cheyenne's theme in Once Upon A Time in the West. That messed with the mood for me as I just started thinking about badass spaghetti westerns instead of Sherlock Holmes.

I'm with Buscemi, Zimmer has waay too much exposure and his works all sound the same...after a while you just have to wonder why his generic tracks are so prevalent.

I don't know, I LOVE Hans Zimmer, especially his scores from Modern Warfare 2.

The only reason I could dislike Zimmer is becuase of the Nolan fanboys who proclaim that he did the best Batman scores ever,despite Danny Elfman's fantastic use of Cherubic Choir for Batman Returns and noir-ish feel for Batman.

And lets not forget that Zimmer had help from James Newton Howard to score Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Besides at least Zimmer researches what the music should sound like when doing something different,just look at The Last Samurai.

Did Howard do that for The Last Airbender? No,no he did not.

I like Zimmer just fine. Anyone who says all his soundtracks sound the same had better not follow it up by praising John Williams or Howard Shore.

Or Leonard Rosenmann and Jerry Goldsmith either.

Speaking of Leonard Rosenman: Listen to the main theme from the 1978 Lord of the Rings movie. Now listen to the main theme from Star Trek IV. See what I mean?

edited 8th Sep '11 9:46:58 AM by lee4hmz

Excuse me, I believe you are forgetting the best Batman theme of them all. The 1960's one of course!

*ahem*

edited 8th Sep '11 2:04:19 PM by Kerrah

Have you heard Zimmer's score for The Thin Red Line? Its fantastic, and very much "meticulous" and slow-paced compared to his other works.

Hold on, John Williams' stuff sounds the same? I admit that I've not listened every soundtrack over so many decades, but I can definitely hear the difference between Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jaws and Superman.