2012 (soundtrack)

2012 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2009 epic apocalyptic disaster film 2012 directed by Roland Emmerich, starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. The film score is composed by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander and released through RCA Records on November 10, 2009. Adam Lambert's original song "Time for Miracles" preceded as the single on October 20, 2009.

2012's original score is composed by the screenwriter-producer Harald Kloser in collaboration with Thomas Wander,^[1] who had previously collaborated with Emmerich in The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 10,000 BC (2008).^[2][3] Adam Lambert, a runner-up in the eighth season of American Idol, contributed a song titled "Time for Miracles", which was written by Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider.^[4] It was released as a single on October 20, 2009.^[5][6] The soundtrack which released on November 10, 2009, featured two more songs—"Fades Like a Photograph" by Filter and "It Ain't the End of the World" by George Segal and Blu Mankuma—alongside Kloser and Wander's score.^[7]

Thomas Glorieux of Maintitles wrote "When you hear 2012, you hear music that will work without a doubt in a movie, and it will be sufficient for the common populas. But we are not common, we are looking for something uncommon, something inspirational. We can't help but wonder what a Jerry Goldsmith, a Basil Poledouris or even a David Arnold could have given us, because anything from them would have been better in the end. While Roland Emmerich was giving it all his best in production design and special effects, the last thing we wanted was average effective music. Alas ... it is what we got!"^[8]

James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "while 2012 is more slickly orchestrated than a Zimmer score, it has absolutely no soul [...] If David Arnold were still alive, he’d be turning in his grave.  I’ve heard worse music and have probably given it higher ratings, but rarely have I heard anything so completely devoid of heart and feeling."^[9] Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "The problem with 2012 is the sheer lack of imagination; it’s just so predictable and so characterless as to be stupefying. It wants to be heroic, wants to be stirring, wants to be epic, but ends up sounding like a bad parody of itself."^[10]

Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks wrote "Listeners already familiar with The Day After Tomorrow will hear a reprise of significant chunks of that score's non-descript moments as well, though the increase in the magnificence factor in 2012, summarized by "The End is Only the Beginning," gives the latter score the upper hand in terms of its album presentation. Overall, this music is still dull given the genre's expectations and potential. It makes rather mediocre disaster scores from great composers (like Alan Silvestri's Volcano) seem like triumphs of character. At least it's superior Tyler Bates' take on the same idea."^[11] Jon O'Brien of AllMusic wrote "Alongside the 21 instrumental pieces, there are also three vocal numbers from American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert ("Time for Miracles"), alt-rock outfit Filter ("Fades Like a Photograph"), and George Segal and Blu Mankuma ("It Ain't the End of the World")."^[12] Todd McCarthy of Variety and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the score as "fair" and "predictable".^[13][14]

Credits adapted from liner notes:^[15]