Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Soundtrack Review Part 2

Back for the second part of my Pirates review…

7. The Brethren Court: It begins with the Jack Sparrow theme and morphs into one of the newer themes in the score. I liked the low male voices in this section. The track then turns into a playful comedic tone with some silly stuff thrown in. I didn’t really enjoy some of the stuff at the end, but it is a short track.

8. Parlay: As every reviewer has stated, this is Hans Zimmer’s tribute to Ennio Morricone. It is purely a Morricone Western cue. It is totally out of character with the rest of the score, but I’m sure it was thrown in for Film Score fans. The guitar has a little bit of Broken Arrow vibe as well. It’s a fun little cue.

9. Calypso: Not my favorite track, but there are some intense Chorus notes in there.

10. What Shall We Die For: The track has an Armageddon feel at the beginning, but I love the military drums and the build up to the Chorus singing at the end, which leads us directly into track 11.

11. I Don't Think Now is the Best Time: This is the big track with the big battle. Here’s where Zimmer mixes many of his major themes together in one final battle. The Chorus is strong and we get a lot of Zimmer’s action ‘hits’. Some of the cues I don’t care for, but the Chorus saves those portions. The Jack Sparrow theme comes back in full force and it’s fun to hear it doing battle with chorus themes. The Love Theme also shows up and adds its hand in the mix followed by the old school Pirates Theme from the first movie. Part of the fun is to spot every theme Zimmer has in this track.

12. One Day: Here’s another track I love. Yeah, there are a few too many Armageddon notes at the beginning for my tastes, but it really turns into a heart-felt song around the 1:30 mark. Here, Zimmer combines all his major new themes and turns it into a touching song. It ends on a nice flute solo.

13. Drink Up Me Hearties: We are at the end, and Zimmer saves his best for the last track. He's a Pirate theme comes in and it changes into a small bit with the Jack Sparrow theme. From there we get a faster paced suite of Zimmer’s new themes before ending on a very Batman Begins ending.

Overview

Something inside Zimmer changed during the time between this and the Pirates II soundtrack. I can see him saying, “I’m going to write a score like John Williams did back in the 70s and 80s.” In this score, there are some wonderfully conceived themes that Zimmer wasn’t afraid to explore. He knows how to turn a romantic cue into an action cue on a dime. This score shows that Zimmer is growing out of his action phase into a more traditional composer.

Well done, Zimmer

Grade: B