Robert Downey Jr. | Film Music Central

It’s hard to create a sequel that lives up to the awesomeness that was the original Iron Man film, but Iron Man 2 did a pretty good job. The film follows Tony Stark after he publicly reveals that he is Iron Man to the world.

See, as it turns out, the palladium in the arc reactor that’s keeping Tony alive is also slowly killing him, so he begins to live life very recklessly (as he doesn’t have much time to live), to the consternation of Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, who have no idea that Tony is slowly dying. But there are other problems: Ivan Vanko, determined to seek vengeance on Stark, builds his own arc reactor and sets out to kill him. (This is also the film that introduces Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow) to the MCU.

Stark is also under increasing pressure to sell the designs of his Iron Man suits to the government, but he is unwilling to do so. Everything comes to a head when Tony gets drunk at a birthday party while wearing his Mark IV armor. Rhodes dons the Mark II prototype and the two fight to a stalemate which ends with Rhodes flying off with the armor to give to the Air Force. At the same time, rival Justin Hammer has enlisted Vanko to build his own set of armored suits (which he passes off as his own work), not realizing that Vanko has sabotaged them so that they can be remotely controlled by him. It’s up to Tony to stop Vanko once and for all!

While the film’s score features a healthy selection of rock songs (including two from AC/DC), the orchestral score was composed by John Debney and Tom Morello. The above video featurette details how Debney collaborated with Morello to create the score for the film.

Some have criticized the MCU for not having a “consistent” sound, which is to be expected since multiple composers have been employed to score these films, but I think each composer puts their own unique twist to each installment of the MCU, and Iron Man 2 is no exception. I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes look at the making of this film’s score.

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See also:

Film Composer Interviews A-H

Film Composer Interviews K-Z

John Debney scoring Predators (2010)

John Debney talks The Scorpion King (2002)

John Debney talks The Passion of the Christ (2004)

John Debney talks The Jungle Book (2016)

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With the wonderful news that Sherlock Holmes 3 is in fact happening (*still dancing for joy*) I thought I would find Hans Zimmer’s interviews on the scores he did for Sherlock Holmes (2009) and the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).

Hans Zimmer talks Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I love these movies, I really do. Being a fan of the late Jeremy Brett’s interpretation of the famous detective (he played the role on the Granada television series in the 1980s), I wasn’t sure about Robert Downey Jr. playing the role initially. However, once I saw the movies, all my doubts fell away and I was in love!

And being a musicologist, the music jumped out to me almost immediately. That slightly off-tune piano melody does an amazing job of setting the scene for the entire story. My favorite part (one of many) has to be the climactic battle on the unfinished Tower Bridge. Also, the byplay between Irene and Holmes was spot-on perfection (music included, you can tell that Holmes still has rather strong feelings for her, even if he denies it).

The sequel is just as amazing and Hans Zimmer returns to deliver an exceptional score. What’s fascinating here is that for this score, Zimmer traveled to various countries to find musicians with that “ethnic” and “rustic” sound that matched the mood he was looking for.

Hans Zimmer talks Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

The big moment here, is when Holmes and Moriarty are playing out their own scenarios as to how this fight between them will go. The very end, when Holmes admits that the only way is for them BOTH to die….is just perfect. There’s a weird imbalance between the music and the scene here, but it works. The only one screaming is Moriarty; Holmes is perfectly serene. At first it would appear to be because he’s come to terms with his life and impending death, but of course, we find out at the end it’s probably because he had no intention of dying at all (I hope Watson slugs him in the next one for faking his death like that).

My biggest wish now is that Zimmer returns for Sherlock Holmes 3, what a pity it doesn’t come out until next year! Argh!!!

*both posters are the property of Warner Bros. Pictures

If you’d like to learn more about the film scores of Hans Zimmer, see here

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