But if there’s one particularly neat bit of music for the characters’ inevitably heroic rise, then it’s Isham’s brilliant use of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in an extended montage scene, a left classical hook that comes out of nowhere to do push-ups with Isham’s own steadily exhalant rhythms. You can imagine gladiators going out to their noble doom to similar strains, which is exactly the point here, albeit with a happier, if not exactly fist pump-to the sky ending. Watching Die Hard today, over thirty years since its 1988 release, it is striking that unlike so many other action vehicles, the film offers us a look at a working-class hero in a wealthy elite’s world. But emotion steadily rises to break through the orchestral ice, his heavy strings and brass steadily gaining their soul with sense of mythic importance, not to mention a heavy dose of percussive force as Isham approaches the big mano-a-mano. Editor’s Note: This essay was previously published on December 23, 2019.
WARRIOR SOUNDTRACK BEETHOVEN FULL
And the result is a musical WARRIOR that grabs you with surprising subtlety before delivering a knockout foot to the face (this is mixed martial arts after all).įor a good while, Isham keeps his drama in a brooding key, full of the fighting brothers’ family resentments and recriminations. His approach is apparent right from the start in this soundtrack albums first cue, 'Listen to the Beethoven,' an adaptation of the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.
Having scored the inspirational hockey drama MIRACLE and the downbeat cop conspiracy PRIDE AND GLORY for writer-director Gavin O’Connor, Mark Isham’s third step into the ring with the filmmaker combines both the grim and victorious. But work social justice warriors have ascribed new, darker meaning to Beethoven’s music, calling it a soundtrack for white privilege.
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