
"That’s literally true of the movie’s soundtrack, which cannibalizes that seminal synth-and-sax Vangelis score for stray blasts of familiar melody, then nearly drowns them underneath the rumble of one of Hans Zimmer’s assaults on the speakers"
"haunting soundtrack from Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch"
"Wallfisch’s low, ominous score works in congress with a stunning sound design"
"Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer’s moody synth score riffs heavily on Vangelis’ original"
"The notes that aren’t hit with as much success are the ones created by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, late replacements for Villeneuve mainstay Johann Johannsson. Boy, do they try, though. The hints of Vangelis’ classic score are there, but blunted by the necessities of modern film music. A chase scene in the third act contains music so out-of-place and generic that one might be fooled into thinking they forgot to replace the temp track."
"Meanwhile, little echoes of Vangelis’s unforgettable 1982 soundtrack are drowned out by the BRRAAAAAAHHHM of Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s score. It’s everything, and more, and too much, and somehow not enough."
"And sonically, composers Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch lean heavily on Vangelis’ original 1982 score for inspiration, but 2049 is refreshingly light on incidental music, mostly allowing the booming, immersive sound design to take center stage. (One scene, in which two characters stalk each other amongst a malfunctioning hologram of Vegas lounge acts that barely plays music, is darkly haunting.)"
"As for the all-important music, Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer’s oppressive, percussive, synth-heavy score is unflinchingly loyal to the spirit of Vangelis, and makes admirable use of pin-drop silence. But, it has to be said, it never comes close to the transcendental heights of the original; atonal rather than thematic, supporting rather than elevating the material."
"In the event, the pair's work here is in a more impressionistic, experimental, wall-of-sound mode than is customary from the Zimmer factory and, in the event, is extremely effective and mood-enhancing."
"largely electronic musical score by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer provides a kind of aural neon: gaunt, harsh, angular, like the noise of machinery"
"aided by Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer’s atmospheric score, which features a few nice synth jazz stretches, but leans more on bass-vibrating Dolby flatulence than what might typically be called music."
"Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch is dark and atmospheric, channeling the Vangelis original with modern power."