The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 27, 2022

Years ago the inimitable Dick Cavett had a fantastic movie title based joke in one of his monologues, in the wake (no volcano tsunami pun intended) of the theatrical release of Krakatoa: East of Java. As trivia fans no doubt are aware, the title had the geographical relationship between Krakatoa and Java reversed, and Cavett's memorable joke was that they were renaming the film Krakatoa, Way, Way, Way, Way East of Java. Most people will associate Hans Zimmer's name with any number of films, but if some online data aggregators are to be believed, Zimmer actually got his start playing with a band named Krakatoa, though whether they were east or west of the island nation of Java is curiously unmentioned (that's a joke, folks). This appealing if maybe just slightly overproduced concert offers listeners a nice grab bag of suites from various (post Krakatoa) scores Zimmer has become famous for supplying to a laundry list of well remembered films.

This concert bears certain similarities Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague, though Zimmer himself doesn't participate. Instead Martin Gellner conducts the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra with a variety of soloists, in a performance that the back cover of this release touts offers new arrangements from Zimmer of some of his best remembered scores. The set list includes:

• The Dark Knight


• Mission Impossible

  Part I: Nyah

  
  

  Part II: Injection

• Rush

  Lost but Won

• Kung Fu Panda

  Oogway Ascends

• The Da Vinci Code

  Part I

  
  

  Part II

  
  

  Part III

  
  

  Part IV

• Sherlock Holmes Fantasy


• The Holiday


• Hannibal

  To Every Captive Soul

• The Lion King


• Gladiator

  Part III: Now We Are Free

The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The World of Hans Zimmer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Classical with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is a competent if occasionally slightly wonky looking concert presentation. A number of the shots from what look like a second balcony, shots which are often bathed in deep blues, don't match the detail levels that are often seen in close-ups, and some of the other darker material can have dustings of noise. Otherwise, though, aside from some intermittent combing artifacts on faster motions, this is a competently sharp and nicely detailed looking presentation. The palette pops agreeably, even if a lot of the production is swathed in blacks and blues.

The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The World of Hans Zimmer features Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. I have to say this is another live concert offering where I wasn't especially enthused about the Atmos track, at least in terms of providing more energy and spatial depth than the excellent DTS- HD Master Audio 5.1 track. That said, all three tracks boast exceptional fidelity, with a deeply burnished sound from the orchestra and all of the soloists, vocal and instrumental, well mixed and never buried by the orchestral masses.

The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Clips (HD; 37:35) are authored as one supplement, but it is possible to chapter skip through them:

  Hans Zimmer x Alan Walker: Time (Remix) (Music Video)

  
  

  Inception: Time (Music Video 1)

  
  

  Inception: Time (Music Video 2)

  
  

  The Da Vinci Code Pt. 4 (Music Video)

  
  

  Gladiator Pt. 3 "Now We Are Free" (Music Video)

  
  

  The Dark Knight (Music Video)

  
  

  The Lion King (Music Video)

The World of Hans Zimmer: Live at Hollywood in Vienna Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I found some of the presentational aspects of this concert a little humorous at times, as if some production "genius" thought Zimmer's often expansive music weren't quite enough to sustain interest, so why not add Flamenco dancing? That joking qualm aside, this offers some sumptuous arrangements of Zimmer's typically melodic and rhythmically propulsive music. Technical merits are generally solid, and The World of Hans Zimmer comes Recommended.