When it comes to Hollywood’s most energetic composers, Brian Tyler is increasingly becoming the musician to beat for unleashing the fusion of orchestral action, rock rhythm and thematically emotional power that has blasted through multiplexes to the tune of a billions of dollars. An avowed fan of the ancient greats like Williams and Goldsmith, Tyler’s passion is all about meshing old and new school scoring techniques in a way that keeps his blockbuster soundtracks astoundingly vibrant. Indeed, few musicians quite do heroic action ramp-ups with the geek-out enthusiasm of Brian Tyler, especially when he gets to suit up with super teams – from the explosive payback of “The Expendables” to the jazzily propulsive sleight of hand for “Now You See Me’s” master illusionists, or hitting the half-shell ninja moves with the cowabunga enjoyment of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Among his musical super team smackdowns, perhaps no two franchises that Tyler has scored have the sheer, heroically propulsive power of “Furious 7” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” With Asian rhythms propelling “Tokyo Drift,” thrashing energy going through the drug running tunnels of “Fast & Furious” and Brazilian percussion racing with a vault in tow for “Fast Five,” Tyler makes his most meaningful entry into the non-stop sequels with “Furious 7,” putting poetic pedal to the rocking orchestral- metal to pay off the series’ most insane action yet. But no music in this high-octane film touches the heart like Tyler’s tribute to the tragic departure of Paul Walker from the series. Duty and sacrifice are also major characters in “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” though certainly with a spectacular sense of fun as Tyler follows up his Marvel cinematic Universe scores for “Iron Man 3” and “Thor: The Dark World” with a distinctive, symphonically smashing entry, seamlessly uniting with Danny Elfman and Alan Silvestri’s Avengers theme for a thrilling, muscular score whose robotic edge is in the nefarious master robot, and the eerie music that introduces his unfaithful protégé The Vision.
Now on a new episode of “On the Score,” Brian Tyler talks about playing the exhilarating, emotional music of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, whether they’re saving the day in tricked-out super cars or battling hordes of metal monsters with comic book flourish.
