Rating:  -
To be honest, I've never regarded John Ottman as a composer who could tackle such a project, but hey, it's Superman, and I would be more than glad to discard my doubts about him. So, I approached Superman Returns with every bit of enthusiasm I could summon, but it didn't completely convince me.
John Ottman himself said numerous times that his score was bound to fail because it will always be compared to John Williams' effort, so he just did the best he could.
The album starts with the Main Title March that we all learned to love over the passing years. It has been cut down to it's most basic form, but it is still as powerful as ever.
The rest of the score uses Williams' material, the love theme, Krypton's theme and the march, quite frequently, sometimes in full form, sometimes in fragments.
This move by the director and Ottman himself is highly welcome and very appropriate, and sometimes the integration into the score is quite exquisite, like in "Memories", but in the end the flawed moments outweight the bright ones.
Often, Williams' march, although different in orchestration, sounds like just thrown in.
The truth is, the marriage between Ottman's and Williams' styles doesn't go very well. John Ottman is a huge Williams fan, so his intentions are undoubtly the best, but his skills simply don't match the level of perfection Williams' themes suggest.
When you hear Ottman's own theme, Superman's personal theme, heard in full form in "Power Of The Sun", you quickly realise that without Williams, Superman Returns would be nothing.
Lex Luthor's new theme ("Bank Job") is decent, but as far away from the 1978 original as Kevin Spacey is from Gene Hackman. This is indeed something you can't blame Ottman for because the movie is what it is, and although being a sequel, Returns completely neglects Hackman's Luthor.
But the incoherence remains.
It's hurts every cell in your brain when you hear the Superman march being abruptly cut off by choral noise (the technical terms are different of course, but "noise " describes it best).
The clash of cultures is just too jarring. Maybe Ottman knew this and changed orchestration and harmonisation of the love theme (Can You Read My Mind?) significantly. I was so looking forward to it when I heard he was going to use it.
It's amazing that modern composers can make even the most classic theme sound like run off the mill stuff. Change the chord progression to a simple I- IV- V, use lush strings, mid- range horns, and voila!
Now, I could have made peace with the incoherence of the soundtrack, were it just a matter of bad editing, but there are no edits, this is the way it's played in the film! These aren't even scoring necessities anymore, when a composer has to cut short a thematic line to match the imagery, this is just guillotine writing, a couple of ideas glued together by Williams material!
Plus, the score is very very badly spotted. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't film composers just long for scenes like the plane rescue or the flight sequence with Lois and Superman? Scenes in which they don't have to pay attention to the musical balance in order to not detract the audience from the film? These scenes must be heaven for a composer, especially when he can draw from such brilliant material; he can let the music take off.
But Ottman isn't anywhere near that. He's more focused on hitting sync points than the overall feel of the scenes or indeed musical coherence. Every time the music gains some decent rhythm and melody, it's suddenly cut off.
This is a general trend in film scoring lately, but it's as bad for Superman Returns as it is for any other film.
Of course the score has moments to cherish. The choral use is extremely good, and when done properly, the integration of Williams' music is thrilling.
Nevertheless, listening to Superman Returns makes you wonder whether Ottman compromised John Williams' musical intentions for being allowed to use his music, or whether he just doesn't understand it.
Either way, the result is anything but perfect, and in retrospect, I wouldn't buy the score because of John Ottman. I listen to it from time to time because it's simply good to hear John Williams getting a new twist here and there, and that's how you should shift your own expectations.
I give 3 stars instead of 2 because John Ottman has his heart in the right place, although his skills aren't developed enough to translate his ideas into music.
Rating:  -
Well done of John Ottman, who found a good balance between using the majestic greatness of the John Williams music and his own new themes and ideas.
About the CD: because he is enhanced and therefor contains 4 mov-files, there was not enough space left on the CD for the music. For example: I miss the music played when Superman gets out of the plane he just rescued and is being welcomed back and cheered by the people around.
In fact, when a customer buys a MUSIC-CD, he expects AUDIO and not VIDEO. Allthough the "Behind the scenes: Superman Returns Score" is very very good, (almost got a heart-attack seeing and hearing it for the first time) it should be on the DVD (on which there is a lot more space) who is yet to come soon, and not on this CD.
Finally, the "Look up in the Sky" is in fact free publicity for an other feature we can buy. And the two trailers are legaly available on the internet.
So because of al this extra video-material, there is not enough space on the CD for the soundtrack.
Nowing the marchandise, we may soon be expecting a double-CD with the whole soundtrack, so as they did with "Moulin Rouge".
*GSX july 2006*
Rating: -
Finally John Ottman has written a score worthy of much praise and adulation, and not just because He used some of William's themes either!
After the good but forgettable X2 and the rather weak Fantastic Four, I was worried about how his take on Superman would be. There was no need to worry. I actually think this CD improves on what John Williams did in the original soundtrack!
Blasphemy? Maybe.
Right off, Ottman gives us a slightly more intense rendition of the classic Superman Theme. I have felt lately that the Superman theme hasn't aged particularly well, but Ottman was able to modernize it without changing a note. Bravo! Then he pulls out a surprising and attention-grabbing rendition of the Kent family theme that is also top-notch. The way he inserts the love theme into his new Lois theme is also very impressive.
His new material, like the Lois Theme, is very memorable. I liked the fact that Lex Luthor finally got a nice and nasty motif, even though I have a soft spot for "March of the Villains" from the original.
I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but I enjoyed the Goldsmithian rhythms in track 5, "the Bank Job", which my Dad pointed out as sounding similar to Capricorn One, and I also really like track 9, "Not like the Train Set", which seems to borrow from Danny Elfman's "Hulk" Theme.
With this CD, Ottman has finally been able to add a worthwhile addition to all the great Comic Book Soundtracks. Again, BRAVO!
Rating: -
Like hundreds of other comic book fans worldwide I was eager to watch SUPERMAN RETURNS on the theater. The very same feeling I also had about its music score, considering 'maestro's' John Williams masterpiece recorded for Richard Donner's 1978 blockbuster starring the late Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder. Well, may I say the waiting has worthed. Bryan Singer does a terrific job revisiting the original 1978 movie and John Ottman brings out a refreshing and vibrant score that pays a beautiful tribute to John William's work. I've just listened to the new score again, this time on the CD, and I can't stop repeating it over and over again on my player. I recomend this score to any true fan of the movie and the character. The Man of Steel is really back, folks. You can bet.
Rating:  -
The John Ottman score for the beautifully created feature film SUPERMAN RETURNS is a fitting and mostly worthy score for the film. No one can completely replace John Williams, but his original themes are peppered nicely thoughout the score, especially the universally recognizable Superman Theme...seems to me like this release doesn't quite match up to the music in the film as it appears a tad short on the running time...could we see a complete motion picture score to coincide with the impending DVD release? Let's hope so. Superman Returns, indeed.
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