When it comes to movies, one thing that can amplify a given work is its musical score (aka 'soundtrack'); while the music a composer produces is meant to accompany what happens in a film, there are a select few of these artists whose music manages to elevate what's taking place onscreen, to the point that just hearing a part of the score automatically enables one to recall the scene that it accompanies! With this being said, today, we're going to give shout-outs to those composers whose music has left an indelible impact on my experiences as a movie-goer. Not everyone may agree with my choices and the order in which I've listed them; despite this, please feel free to list your top favorite composers in the comments below. Without further to do, let's begin the list!
5. Ludwig Göransson
This Swedish composer made the list thanks to his Academy Award-winning work on Marvel Studios' 2018 smash hit Black Panther and his musical contributions to the Disney+ TV show The Mandalorian. What separates Göransson's compositions from those of his contemporaries is his choice of instruments (e.g., a flute and drums for The Mandalorian's theme, as well as what's known as a 'talking drum' for the track "Wakanda" from Black Panther, among other examples) which are often radically different from what one would expect from a film score. This 'experimentalism' that Göransson brings to his projects is what made him stand out enough to warrant inclusion on this list.
Disclaimer: I know The Mandalorian isn't a movie, but it is a show set in the Star Wars (which is obviously a movie franchise) galaxy and has some feature film-level production values, so I therefore figured alluding to the series as one of Göransson's standout projects was okay to do.
4. Steve Jablonsky
Steve Jablonsky is an American composer whom I know best for his contributions to the Transformers franchise (the ones helmed by Michael Bay, as Jablonsky sadly didn't return to do the score for the 2018 reboot of the movie series known as Bumblebee). And I know what some of you might be thinking, 'He worked on those blots of cinema? How could he be on this list, then?!?' Although the quality of the Bay-directed Transformers movies is certainly up for debate, one facet of them I think everyone can agree was decent was the scores! For the first film from 2007, for example, Jablonsky gave us such tracks as "Autobots", "The All Spark", "Optimus", "Soccent Attack", "Optimus vs. Megatron", and of course, "Arrival to Earth" (arguably the track viewers are most likely to remember from this flick). As divisive as the subsequent movies may be, they still have pieces of music that manage to stand out in big ways; these include "Forest Battle" from Revenge of the Fallen, "Battle" and "It's Our Fight" from Dark of the Moon, "Autobots Reunite", "Lockdown" (the theme music for the eponymous Cybertronian antagonist), and "Dinobot Charge" from Age of Extinction, and even "Calling All Autobots" from The Last Knight. Suffice to say, as someone whose introduction to the Transformers franchise was through the movie franchise that began all the way back in 2007, I, along with many other viewers, owe a lot to Jablonsky for composing scores that are 'more than meets the eye'!
Before we move on to the next entry, I just wanted to make a disclaimer: I was torn over which of the following 2 composers would take the #3 and #2 spot (respectively), so let's just consider the next two entries as interchangeable (in that they may switch from #3 to #2 on my list or vice versa depending on how I feel at a given time). With that, let's move on to my #3 entry!
3. John Powell
John Powell first came to my attention with his Oscar-nominated score for 2010's How to Train Your Dragon and has since continued to win me over with his soundtracks for the second and third installments of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, as well as his prior scores for 2006's Ice Age: The Meltdown (taking over for David Newman, who was the composer for the 2002 original) and 2009's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. What makes Powell's compositions so impactful lies in how they capture the 'mood' of whatever's unfolding onscreen whilst managing to sound memorable to the point that viewers find themselves humming certain musical pieces even after finishing a movie Powell was the composer for; what I especially like about Powell's work is his smart utilization of vocalists/choirs for various parts of his scores, which can enhance the existing music they accompany by either providing a sense of grandness or a foreboding/eerie aura, thus providing for an even more immersive audio-based experience. With all this in mind, John Powell is easily one of the most underrated composers working today, who is quite overdue for an Oscar!
2. John Williams
Of course I couldn't make a list of my favorite composers without including this living legend! John Williams has rightfully earned his reputation as a titan of film scoring, known for his numerous collaborations with equally renowned director Steven Spielberg on such projects as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as well as the beloved Indiana Jones movie series. However, what I personally know Williams for is his musical contributions to a little saga readers might know as:
In addition to being the mastermind behind the legendary score for George Lucas' beloved original trilogy (which ran from 1977 to 1983), Williams' music also graced audiences' ears in the prequel trilogy, with such unforgettable pieces as "Duel of the Fates" from Episode I - The Phantom Menace, "Across the Stars" from Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and "Battle of the Heroes" from Episode III - Revenge of the Sith practically branding themselves into audiences' psyches. Although what Williams gave us in the sequel trilogy was (arguably) rather forgettable, it wasn't without its highlights either, such as "Rey's Theme", "March of the Resistance", and what I call the 'First Order/Kylo Ren theme', which all debuted in The Force Awakens (which reigns as my personal favorite of the sequel trilogy as of now). In addition to Star Wars, I also know Williams for his work on the first two installments of the Jurassic Park franchise (the 1993 original of the same name and its 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), particularly the theme music for said films. With such a decades-long career and 5 Academy Awards under his belt, there's a darn good reason John Williams has made it so far up my list!
Despite such a musical legacy that's given audiences so many memorable scores, though, who could possibly top this musical wizard? That brings us to my #1 pick:
1. Hans Zimmer
As iconic as John Williams may be, Hans Zimmer claims the top spot on this list because of the monumental impact his music had on my youth. Having produced the scores for such staples of my childhood as The Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and the criminally underrated 2002 DreamWorks Animation flick Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Zimmer's music alone contributed to making these and numerous other films he's worked on that much more special for me growing up. Even in more recent times, Zimmer has managed to prove he can still make engrossing pieces of music, as seen with his impressive work on the Kung Fu Panda trilogy (funny enough, he scored the first two films in the series alongside the previously-mentioned John Powell before composing by himself for the third installment), as well as the utterly epic new theme for Wonder Woman he (alongside fellow composer Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL) crafted for the heroine's appearance in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. If that wasn't enough, Zimmer is also the owner of the film score company Remote Control Productions; its members include the aforementioned Steve Jablonsky and John Powell, as well as such talented composers as Tyler Bates (composer of both Guardians of the Galaxy movies and the John Wick trilogy), Ramin Djawadi (who's composed for 2008's Iron Man, Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, and the hit TV show Game of Thrones), Harry-Gregson Williams (composer behind the Shrek franchise and the film adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, among other projects), and James Newton Howard (whose work includes the 2000 Disney animated feature Dinosaur, the 2005 Peter Jackson-directed remake of King Kong, and the first two films of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, which he worked with Zimmer on, as well as the more recent Raya and the Last Dragon). With all this under his belt, Hans Zimmer has, and continues to, have a profound influence on my life, and I don't think I'd want it any other way, hence his place as my #1 favorite composer!
So, there's my list of my top film composers. If you'd put anyone different on the list or want to share your own list/other thoughts, please feel free to do so in the form of comments. Thanks for reading!
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