After a long and glorious campaign of office hours with my calculus professor and late night meetings with my final project team, I have made my customary migration back to my ancestral homestead in Fort Bend Co. Upon my arrival, I spent three majestic days idling about, feasting on any sweets I found and—when I became bored of that—remembered during the previous time I was back with my family, I watched Gladiator II to commemorate my younger brother’s birthday. I can remember two things from that experience: someone decided to bring a very loud baby to a very gory movie, and I wanted to watch the first film. After a lot of doing nothing, I finally came around to viewing Ridley Scott’s original grand Roman epic and realized that, while the story may be so-so, the soundtrack is worthy of redemption by combat
Our aural odyssey begins with “Prologue” and “Wheat” as Rusell Crowe’s Maximus Meridius reminisces on his Spanish homestead—before waging battle against insubordinate Germanic tribes in “The Battle.” It’s composed of your standard tense strings and drums for waging warfare, but it demonstrates Hans Zimmer’s competency as a composer who’s able to introduce feeling through music very quickly. After suppressing the conquest’s resistance, Meridius returns to his barracks at Vindobona with “Earth” and its motif of “Now We Are Free” in the background. While the modern guitar was a long way from being developed, the Romans did have an ancestral descendent in the lute, which Zimmer masterfully evokes.
Without giving away too much in the way of spoilers, Merdius is forced into purgatory as he arrives to find his property torched and his family dead. He collapses from grief, and injury “Sorrow” puts us in his state of mind as his suffering momentarily severs him from reality. It is here where vocals from Yvonne Moriarty and Lisa Garrity help put us in the mood. As Merdius awakes to newfound station as a slave, “To Zucchabar” hints at the exotic environment he is about to enter the markets of Roman Algeria to be bartered off as a fighting slave.
Not every track here is a winner; I could have sworn I’ve heard “Patricide” in almost a dozen movies, all in the early aughts. “The Emperor Is Dead” also doesn’t inspire much excitement from me either, but perhaps I’m just an impatient soul.
We then transition into ”The Might of Rome,” where we kick into high gear as Meridius is finally sent into the beating heart of the beast he once served and now seeks to fight. “Strength And Honor” is familiar, like “Patricide,” but it provides weight and lives up to its name. “Reunion” and “Slaves To Rome” are where the soundtrack is at its most triumphant.
In an act of not so subtle irony, “Barbarian Horde” employs a yangqin to help dial in the degeneracy of Joaquin Phoenix’s Comidius. This is where Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard shine, establishing a mood for the audience. As a continuation of the themes of the previous track, “Am I Not Merciful” is where we reach the emotional apex of both the album and the film. It is dark and foreboding, yet also incredibly powerful. The vocals add a majestic gravitas to a track that would otherwise fit with any historical drama of the 2000s.
We then take a more upbeat turn in “Elysium” as we transition from uneasiness towards the soothing sounds of the next life. This track belongs not only to the conclusion of the hero’s journey, but to a spa session—and I say that as a complement. “Honour Him” acts as a hors d’oeuvre to the main theme of the movie “Now We Are Free,” a powerful track showcasing Lisa Gerard’s vocals and her prowess in establishing a mood through music (the lyrics aren’t even in Latin!). We’ve reached the end, and our righteous hero has triumphed over the dark forces that be.
So, what are we to make of the soundtrack of Gladiator? It’s neither the best nor the worst of Zimmer or Gerard’s long and illustrious discography. It’s fit for the task of enveloping the audience into Ridley Scott’s Roman Empire. Like much of the movie (sans cinematography): it’s a decent flick. As for its successor soundtrack, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, Zimmer’s former assistant: like the film it’s attached to, it’s pretty good, but it lives under the shadow of its predecessor.
