By Erin V.

Score soundtracks are a niche market of sorts, but there is a demand for them.  On August 3rd, 2010 (in Canada), three months after the release of Iron Man 2, the score has been released.  Click here for a picture of the reverse of the CD, which includes the track list – which can include spoilers.

I won’t go all off-topic and get into my complaints of the lack of physical CD releases for Pixar’s last two films (you can read all about that here), but rather focus on this one which is available on CD for your listening pleasure.

While the film didn’t get the same reviews that the first one did, I liked it, (my review can be read here), and I think it’s for that reason that I enjoy hearing the score – e.g. more than I would have a movie I wasn’t too fond of.

The score for Iron Man 2 was composed by John Debney and includes both classic and electric sounds, easily combined.  It contains (as is clearly evident right from the first track) a very classic comic-book adaptation feel.  It’s fun in the movie, as well as on its own.

When I say it’s a fun score, I mean that the music captures the same kind of tone Robert Downey Jr. gives to the character of Tony Stark.  A bit cocky and kind of sure of itself, but in a playful enough manner that you can’t really dislike it.

Besides its heavier rock sounds, this score slows down too – not often, but it does have its ebbs and flows.  I’d like to call attention to one of my personal favourite tracks on the disc – track 17.  There is a section half-way through, where it becomes a quiet, almost music box-esque piece.  It has such a variation from beginning to end, that while I enjoy the whole disc, it’s that 6 minutes of the entire CD that I think I may keep going back to.

While making their own mark, some of the riffs and rhythms here remind me of films such as Spiderman (Danny Elfman) and Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (Hans Zimmer), while keeping a similar feel to the original Iron Man, scored in 2008 by Ramin Djwadi (who recently scored the Clash of the Titans 2010 version).  This film marks Debney’s third time working with director Jon Favreau after Elf, and Zathura.

The score for Iron Man 2 was recorded at Abbey Road studios in London.  The entire score runs for approx. 1 hour, 12 minutes.