The Dark Knight **1/2

HANS ZIMMER / JAMES NEWTON HOWARD...ET AL

Warner Sunset/Warner Bros. 511101-2

14 tracks – 73:37

You would need to be living under a very big rock to miss the conversation about Christopher Nolan’s little sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight.  Once again Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard return to co-composer the score for the film and a host of “additional music by” folks are along for the ride.  Like much film music criticism, we often get the score disc before the film has arrived in theaters.  What that does is give us a chance to hear the score on its own merits apart from the film.  While the Zimmer/Howard Batman theme returns here as a glue to the proceedings, this is one disc that needed perhaps to be pared down a bit the way scores were released several years ago since variety is not necessarily the spice of this score.

Unlike the odd bat titles for the last score release, this one has more narrative title hints.  The music of “Why So Serious?” has a constant rhythmic underpinning with strings (mostly in long pedal points or in crescendo/decrescendo sound arcs) and acid rock guitar riffs that no doubt compete with much of the special effects in the film.  If nothing else the track will give your audio system a real work out as some segments are so low in the bass range that they are felt more than heard.  At some nine minutes, this track more than overstays its welcome.  This bleeds into the second track, “I’m Not a Hero,” which continues the minimalist pulse (which works well in this texture) and the hints of the Batman theme from Batman Begins.  Most of the time the patterns are grouped in sets of four often shifting subtly.  Sound design elements are also present throughout utilized here more like another color of the orchestra, though like much phone-a-friend film music this is not terribly interesting.  Percussionists will no doubt find the incessant drumming throughout the score fascinating as it dominates.  The action sequences have more of a Zimmer-esque quality to them.  When the orchestral colors appear the disc becomes mildly more interesting but much of these large action sequences seem to be composed in sound blocks with little inner instrumental interest.

In “Harvey Two Face” a new thematic idea appears cast with strings and a piano idea that sounds more like something from Howard’s contribution.  This is soon overtaken by the pounding and low bass sound and sampling with acoustic instruments that at one point sounds like a thematic idea that could have come from the pen of Howard Shore.  The Batman theme returns at the end of this track making it the most interesting musically demonstrating that these are both composers that can shape music over extended sequences and create engaging music, at least on CD.  “Aggressive Expansion” follows returning us to the driving rhythms and hints of the Batman theme again.  It is an apt title that could be applied to much of the score in comparison to the previous one.  When the nervous string energy appears underneath thematic fragments, or underlying the appearance of themes, the score is at its strongest and most interesting.  The midpoint of the disc, “Like a Dog Chasing Cars,” allows us finally to hear a fuller version of the Batman theme in all its Zimmer-esque glory.  Within the five-minute playing time, this track manages to show off the newer guitar-influenced dynamic shifts and some of the drumming ideas allowing an aural overview of the other scores’s focus with the newer orchestral ideas added here.  The final title track is a 16-minute overview of the score providing occasional tender approaches to the Batman theme which then grow into more heroically scored segments.  It makes for an apt conclusion to a somewhat overlong disc.

Overall, The Dark Knight is either an exhausting or exhilarating piece of movie scoring depending on your personal taste.  Some tracks are self-contained, but as has been the case with several of Zimmer’s scores, many segue immediately into the next track.  It does play well as an extension/continuation of the previous film’s score which is perhaps a better way to experience the music more fully as knowledge of the first score will improve one’s enjoyment of The Dark Knight.

As we saw earlier in the year with Ironman, it is becoming increasingly difficult for composers to provide scores that can do much other than ratchet up the volume and bleed our ears dry in the theater.  Sequenced samples, drum loops and occasional small motivic ideas are the rule.  In The Dark Knight even two of Hollywood’s A-list composers have little chance to develop real themes for characters.  The difference is that when they do we get some strong thematic content that lifts the score above the generic if only for a moment.  The label has a website for the score as well:  www.TheDarkKnightScore.com.

To say that 2007 felt lackluster will depend on a couple of things.  First, it will matter how old you were.  Second, it depended on just how bored you might have been.  There were a few surprises but in the long run nothing really all that exciting.  That does not mean films did not do well at the box office (it helps that ticket prices made several increases over the summer and into the fall in many theaters).  On to some picks for scores that stand out in the (again somewhat limited) crowd.

Brian Tyler continues to vie with Marco Beltrami for best reincarnation of Jerry Goldsmith, created an intriguing score stretching ideas of sound design in Bug.  It was a download only (which makes no sense in its resulting restricted audio).  I'm not really counting this one on a technicality.

1. I have not been a Hans Zimmer fan, but he provided two scores for summer films that were awesome CDs and worked well in their respective films.  The first out of the gate was POC3.  This was a fitting conclusion to this trilogy and showed off some of the newer directions in Zimmer's scoring style: more orchestra and a better integrated synth sound (made possible by better sampling), thematic development and motivic expansion, and a well-paced CD.  The second fine summer score was for The Simpson's Movie.  It was a bit of a surprise not to see Danny Elfman on board for this, or even Alf Clausen, but Zimmer acquited himself admirably including much of the style of the television show, lifting up the music to a blockbuster-type sound, and hitting the comedy in wonderful ways. 
2. Beltrami had a chance to right a great action score for Live Free or Die Hard and he delivered a score that worked perfectly in the film.  Too often we see sound design type ambient scoring for these action films lately, but Beltrami, working in a hybrid style, really helped ratchet up the tension in all the right places making this a far better action movie than expected.  (Cynics of the first Die Hard who avoided this film in the theater have a chance to rediscover it on DVD.) 
3. As with the first quarter, one score stands out above the others.  Giacchino's Ratatouille works so well in the film that it carries you along with the sheer energy and striking sound of its thematic writing.  There is a lot to admire here including the outstanding flute playing (showing just how awesome Hollywood musicians are) and even a new song that sounds like a classic, "Le Festin."

So there are 4 (5 with Bug) that kind of stand out over the summer.  Nicholas Hopper's score for the latest Harry Potter film actually was not horrible and even had a couple of delightful new themes to add to the mix, and the music within the film was more recessed and unobtrusive.  But the big finale, which seemed almost anticlimactic, just did not work well and the music did not help much.  This is one of those movies that probably should be re-turned to a "complete" director's cut.  He is on for the next installment so we will need to see how that goes.   

There will be a couple of days now to catch up elsewhere.  Next installments will hopefully cover the Fall and end of year releases (since some are still to show up on CD yet).