Top 10 Scores of the 00’s

Review by Todd Plucknett

Posted - 10/10/09

Go to Top 10 Scores

The ‘00s has been a very strong decade for original scores. It has featured everything from the pounding, emotional scores of films like The Hours to the haunting music from Pan’s Labyrinth to the simplest strumming of a guitar in Brokeback Mountain. All three are among the best scores of the past 10 years. A truly great score for me is one that I am going to remember. Not necessarily one that I will be humming several hours after the film, but one that makes an impact so strong that it brings to mind moments in the film where the music was used just flawlessly. These 10 scores are the closest I can come to a top 10 of the decade:

Honorable Mention: The Hours, Catch Me If You Can, All the Pretty Horses, The Aviator, 25^th Hour

10. The One (Trevor Rabin, 2001). This may be a guilty pleasure inclusion on this list, but the score is just so cool. Not only is the soundtrack packed with awesome hard rock songs, but the music composition is just perfect for the atmosphere. I have listened to it so many times, and it never gets old. It is so rare to hear a score that is something beyond the typical film score instruments. It is just a great piece of music, and given the fact that this was formerly one of my favorite action films, I have very little shame for including it on this list.

9. Spirited Away (Joe Hisaishi, 2002). This is just a simple and sweet score from one of the best animated films in existence. It is a piece of music that will stick with you. Listening to the score again recently reminded me how much I loved it. If there was one word that could be used to describe it, it would be “beautiful”. It is one of the most enchanting scores of the decade.

8. There Will Be Blood (Jonny Greenwood, 2007). This is one of those scores that you either love or hate. Roeper said that he despised it, yet it was an award-winner that obviously won a lot of people over. I was one of them. Jonny Greenwood’s screaming and searing score was clearly one of the best of 2007. It totally sets the mood for Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic masterpiece. I love it.

7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, 2007). In what may be the most underrated film of the decade, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis created one of the best scores in recent memory. It is one that will haunt you, much like the film itself. In every intimate moment in the film, there is a piece of this magical score. There really is nothing like it out there. The fact that the Academy ignored it is nothing short of a tragedy.

6. Pan’s Labyrinth (Javier Navarette, 2006). This is one of those score that will be stuck in your head forever. At any moment, I could recite from memory that haunting lullaby that soars over the entire film. It is a gorgeous piece of music, and it is one that has already established itself as being a classic.

5. Brokeback Mountain (Gustavo Santaolalla, 2005). This is a score that is completely unforgettable. The simplest of music can so easily get beneath your skin and completely draw in the audience to one of the quietest, most gut-wrenching dramas to come around this decade. Gustavo Santaolalla’s score is a masterpiece.

4. Far from Heaven (Elmer Bernstein, 2002). The music for Far from Heaven could not have been any better. It flawlessly encompasses the atmosphere of the 1950s melodrama films that the film pays homage to. Like the film itself, the score is indeed perfect. It is simply one of my favorite scores in one of my favorite films.

3. Requiem for a Dream (Clint Mansell, 2000). One of the great snubs of the decade was Clint Mansell’s groundbreaking score for Requiem for a Dream failing to get nominated for anything. It is a piece of music that is so flawlessly-written, so perfectly composed that it can be heard almost anywhere in any venue. Several other films have even used it. It is as iconic of a score that I have ever come across.

2. The Painted Veil (Alexandre Desplat, 2006). It is a tragedy that more people haven’t seen The Painted Veil. Not only because it is a phenomenal film, but because Alexandre Desplat’s score is magnificent. It is sometime subtle. It sometimes pounds at your heart. Either way, every single note is stunning. It is as flawless of a score as I have ever heard and the masterwork of perhaps my favorite composer.

1. Into the Wild (Eddie Vedder, Michael Brook, Kaki King, 2007). This is possibly my favorite music of the past two decades, actually. It is not just the fact that I am a diehard Pearl Jam fan, and that I must support my hero lead singer of the band. It is because the music is incredible. Every lyric, every note just deepens the emotion that I feel watching the film. I have listened through the songs so many times that I have lost count. If it weren’t for the simple guitar strums, the passion of the composers, and Eddie Vedder’s faultless, sultry voice, Into the Wild would not have had anywhere near the depth and impact. It is a score that in a lot of ways carries the film. And it carries it to being the best film of 2007, and one of the best of the decade. That is what a truly great score is.