


|
|
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
|
|
Reviews
|
    What's Zimmer Thinking?
by Michael Longstreet (December 5, 2006)
Unfortunately, this is not one of Hans Zimmer's best works. Like "The Da Vinci Code," "Dead Man's Chest" fails to deliver musically. With a great soundtrack in "Curse of the Black Pearl," I think everyone expected this one to be smashing and worth the time. It is anything but that.
If it wasn't for "Jack Sparrow" and "The Kraken," this album wouldn't even be worth a purchase. They save it slightly. "The Kraken" is by far the best track on the CD. The use of deep tones and great bass is used well, and you almost forget that you're listening to a bad soundtrack, that is until you get to the next subsequent tracks. The album tries to save itself with "Hello Beastie," which has a good finish, but the 10 minute track is really a bore. Just when you think that soundtrack couldn't get any worse, Zimmer throws in a "Tiesto Remix" of "He's a Pirate" from the first film. This is a badly mixed techno beat to a great tune that ruins a already mediocre soundtrack at best. A mediocre soundtrack for a mediocre film.
    Zimmer's missing something these days
by Noël Grima (July 26, 2006)
Totally horrible sequel music. While there were lots of complaints on the Black Pearl for all the synths used, they actually did the job fairly well and the whole album was easily memorisable. This try though is totally disjointed. The album is like some sort of potpourri of themes, yet they last so little that it's impossible to get the hang of what Zimmer is trying to do.
The orchestra sounded a bit unbalanced. The 'cello section sounded great, but that is quite about all I could say. In addition, I think Klaus Badelt's orchestration was far, far superior than this soundtrack's. Zimmer did not take the cue from the Black Pearl's reviews and further indulged in the synths. As a person who approved the final effect of the first soundtrack's synths, this time I must say that the synths were a total farse. They synths sounded to synthetic (ironically), and the mixing into the orchestra was horrid - I sincerely thought the whole music was built on samples (and would not be surprised if it were). In addition, there was no actual "sound"... nothing that says 'these synths are of this movie', like Rain Man. I've heard sounds from Face/Off, The Rock, Broken Arrow, Pearl Harbor, yet nothing new. In fact, I caught a glimpse of these movie's themes too, more than once, and many of them appeared in the same track!
The biggest problem I had with this score is the development. Themes are left short, and cues are totally disfunctional (ex. heavy accelerandi to dissolve into nothing - why even bother?). And the guitars? How on earth are those supposed to sound piratey? I know Hans Zimmer as a genius in developing a whole soundtrack from nothing. Yet this album only shows total confusion and sounds like it has been organised by a beginner.
The Curse of the Black Pearl was heavily criticised, yet it did its job well and gave affecionados of the movie some good themes (Will and Elizabeth, Moonlight Serenade, Underwater March, He's A Pirate) to remember. I myself can whistle through the whole score. But Dead Man's Chest lacks the overall rhythm present in its predecessor, and in my opinion would have deserved no better than to be the music for a telefilm. Deeply disappointing.
    Cap'n Jack is Back!
by a soundtrack collector (July 12, 2006)
Once again another brilliant score to the next in line Pirates of the Caribbean film. Many fans will recognise some of the music parts as some of the sounds and tunes from the first film make their appearance again.
Having recently watched the film, I was glad to see that the music was along the same lines as the first one, and matches so well to the film.
Recommend both film, and music.
|  |
|
|
|