Our Rating: 4
SoundtrackNet Critic: 3.5
SoundtrackNet Users: 4.5
Music by: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
Okay, I'll be frank. I'm sick and tired of Zimmer and movie soundtracks-after a while every score starts to sound the same. Having said that, the only reason why I heard this soundtrack was because I thought that the soundtrack might give some clues about the movie. I mean, I've been waiting for this flick for a really long time, and with so little information available about it, I had to resort to trawling the soundtrack for clues about the movie!The soundtrack begins on a really irritating note with Why So Serious? which, obviously, contains Joker's theme. Not a very good start to the whole listening experience, but towards the end of the track, we hear the Joker's theme as a counter-weight to the two-note Batman motif. The brass swells up and you expect the Batman motif to be played, but the second (descending) note in this motif is a different note, thus establishing (musically) the fact that Joker and Batman are same in a lot of ways, but still different, two sides of the same coin...
I'm Not a Hero introduces us to the theme that Zimmer and Howard wrote for the previous movie, but didn't use it then. There's nothing heroic about the theme, it's more about Batman introspecting and generally feeling burdened with the task at hand. Infact, much of the score is all based on the same thought, with just the last 3-4 tracks establishing Batman as lashing out against the chaos around him and trying valiantly to bring order back to Gotham city. I'm Not a Hero also contains some reprises from Batman Begins, tracks which were used in the movie, but not included on the album. These reprises, though pleasing to hear, reek a bit too much of techno beats. Infact, that is one major grouse I have against Zimmer and Howard-the reprises all have David Arnold-isque techno beats.
Harvey Two-Face, as the name suggests, is the suite for Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. Just like the Joker theme was the counter-weight of the Batman theme, Dent's theme is the counter-weight of Bruce Wayne's theme from Batman Begins. Infact, both start of in the same way, but while Dent's theme becomes optimistic after that, Wayne's theme plunges into pity, remorse and introspection. This suite greatly fleshes out Dent's character-it embodies optimism, the 'whiteness' of Dent, and his sense of purpose, and is carried on in Blood on My Hands.
Aggressive Expansion starts off with a really pleasing reprise of the orchestral swell from Barbastella. Again, the orchestra pounds away the Batman theme in full glory. It then adds on more reprises, often adding more weight to the themes. The reprises continue with Always a Catch, which has Nycteris in an almost unaltered form.
Like a Dog Chasing Cars, And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad, Agent of Chaos, Introduce a Little Anarchy and Watch the World Burn, though not action cues in the traditional percussion pounding way, can be nothing but those. These epically performed tracks exude the sense that Batman is trying to bring order to the anarchy unleashed by the Joker. These tracks contain bits of Molossus, the new Batman theme (performed valiantly/heroically) and the Joker theme, all inter-mixed in real foot tapping fashion, and if these tracks are anything to go by, the movie's going to be really really epic in scale!
A Dark Knight is the longest track of the disc, clocking in at more than 16 minutes. It isn't fast enough to be an action cue, and I can't see any way how there can be a 16 minute track for introspective scenes. So, the only conclusion I can draw is that something really special is going to happen in the finale of the movie. The track also suggests thus, swinging between heroic and introspective with utmost ease. The 16 minutes fly by and the album is wrapped up on a nice note with the two note pounding Batman theme, followed by a really muted rendition of the Joker theme.All in all, this album is something really grand and entertaining. What is interesting to see is that while the Batman theme has many variations, right from introspective to tragic to valiant to down right heroic, the Joker theme is always played just the way it's fist heard right at the beginning. The weird little theme, though irritating at first, really captures the essence of the Joker very well. All the tracks are worth mention and this album, like the movie, is something really special....
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