Music: Impossible
Review by Christopher Coleman

Completing the trifecta for 2000, Hans Zimmer releases his score for the highly anticipated sequel, Mission: Impossible 2.  With many fans being vocally disappointed with Danny Elfman's effort for the first Mission: Impossible film released back in 1996, many believed that Zimmer, with two solid scores already to his credit for the year, would certainly make a bigger musical mark than Elfman was able to manage.  At the same time, with The Road to El Dorado and Gladiator being such unique, time consuming efforts, would Zimmer be able to produce a third, high quality score in just the first half of the year?  

As it turns out, Zimmer (and band) certainly made a bigger mark than Danny Elfman did.  It is not; however, the mark most film music fans had hoped for.  For Mission: Impossible 2, Hans Zimmer reverts to his edgy-rock compositional style and even gives them a nitric-oxide boost beyond even Broken Arrow and Drop Zone.  For Mission: Impossible 2, Zimmer violently forces mystic vocals, Spanish flamenco dancers, and high-octane rhythms together a musical mission, that most would consider "impossible" indeed.

The film, directed by one of today's hottest directors, John Woo, is a hyper-stylized film that bares little resemblance to the first film and even less to the television series.  In an attempt to add even more "style," Zimmer and crew have laid down a keg of musical directions which, by themselves could be embraced much easier, but together form an explosion of chaos.  To Zimmer's credit the majority of the music does fit the grungy, extreme, style established by Cruise and Woo in the film.  Still, outside of the film, the music suffers greatly.

There is certainly a Batman-Beyond-Shirley-Walker-thing that dominates a significant portion of the score's flavor.  Ok.  It's the year 2000.  From time to time, it must be expected and accepted that such music will infiltrate the ranks of film music.  However difficult this might be to swallow, this sort of film music is here to stay.  

Then there is the beauty of the Spanish element of M:I 2.  Zimmer once again delivers some very enticing Spanish elements as he did for The Road to El Dorado.  These tracks comprise the most enjoyable segments of the CD.  Pretty, indeed, but hardly germane to the story nor easily connected to the adrenaline soaked tracks which both precede and proceed them.

Another element Zimmer has integrated in his this is score is his apparent new pal, Lisa Gerrard; heard in Nyah (4), Injection (9), .  She, in essence, reprises  her vocal role from Gladiator.  Her voice shimmered with originality and worked perfectly in Gladiator, but due to the very similar melody in M:I2, it becomes merely a disappointing distraction.  

Finally, we have the famous Mission:  Impossible theme, originally crafted in its cool, jazz form by Lalo Schifirin o' so long ago.  What Zimmer has done to this theme is nothing short of nightmarish.  It is shrieked out on the electric guitar and stomped out by flamenco dancers, but it is never done justice.  The theme makes scant appearances, but  each time it does, one can't but wish it hadn't.

As hectic as Zimmer's latest might seem, in reality, Mission: Impossible 2 can be summed up quite simply.  It is the aftermath of the violent synthesis of The Road to El Dorado with Gladiator and a dose of Broken Arrow on the side.   If you say, "Well, that's impossible to do.  The end result would be horrific."  Well, you'd be right.  The handful of enjoyable moments in this score are most unfortunately, sabotaged by their surrounding tracks, and are not enough to bring this score into a favorable rating.

Referenced Reviews:  
The Road to El Dorado | Gladiator