Monuments Men Trailer 2 Steals 'Inception' Music?

Hans Zimmer's Work May Have Been Reproduced 

The Monuments Men movie recently had its trailer released. It does have a rather interesting premise with a bunch of experts trying to recover art stolen by the Nazis. On a certain level, it resembles a milder, family friendly version of ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ I say this because both movies strike a similar tone, with the primary intention of screwing Hitler over. 

But then the latter half of the trailer took a different turn, trying to elevate the movie to

somewhat of an epic status through the use of the music and George Clooney’s speech. I wasn’t wholeheartedly convinced about the matter because something about the trailer music sounded wrong… or rather familiar.

I watched the trailer again, paying close attention to the music that builds up towards the end. By that time I was certain that this song was borrowed from another movie. Then it struck me that the song was ripped off ‘Inception’, where Hans Zimmer was responsible for the score. Firstly, I must say that I may be alone in harboring such an opinion. But if the song was borrowed, my impression of the movie has been already reduced to cinders. Clooney and company may have received permission to use the song, but it simply makes their product unoriginal, even if it is for a trailer.

The movie is one I’m considering watching, given the star studded line up. But my point here is a more general one regarding movie soundtracks. Increasingly, films try to feature sweeping, grand scores that somehow tries to lift the stakes. For the Monuments Men, this is appropriate since this band of disparate people led by Clooney is trying to save centuries worth of arts and culture. But the problem occurs when the music seems bland and generic. From one point of view, this is bound to happen because producers frequently go to a few key composers. The man in charge of The Monuments Men soundtrack is Alexandre Desplat, who has worked on even the Harry Potter films. Each composer has a certain trademark so inevitably, we seem to recognize that person’s score easily, because we’re familiar with his previous work. This gives the feeling of the work being borrowed, or reproduced.

This is why many people are unhappy with Hans Zimmer and his work on Man of Steel, despite my being a fan of his work on that outing. His mixture of classical music and electronica is instantly detectable. But in this case, I’m certain that The Monuments Men took Zimmer’s work from Inception for their trailer. They may have acquired the rights, but it still smears the goodwill of the movie because the music idea wasn’t theirs to begin with. That song is identifiable with another blockbuster hit, Inception, so naturally, people will be put off by this reproduction. Comments on the YouTube page also made references to this situation of piracy. It’s intellectual theft. This minor decision may have ultimately placed Clooney’s movie on the back foot.