With the DVD/Blu-ray release of "The Dark Knight Rises"this week, I thought it would be a good time to review the soundtrack. I saw this movie on opening weekend, and was not blown away with it, a good movie but not the best in the trilogy (The Dark Knight set the bar VERY high) but on par with Batman Begins.
As with the previous Batman movies in the Christopher Nolan trilogy the music was scored by Hans Zimmer. I was very impressed with his first two entries and was hopeful for this as well. Zimmer has scored some of the most successful movies in the past fifteen years, including: Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and both Kung-fu Panda movies. His writing is varied but frantic and intense. He did an amazing job with the Kung-Fu Panda series adding an element of fun and rock alongside the traditional Chinese sounds.
I have a hard time summarizing the work of Zimmer because it is so varied and he has sustained success for such a long time. There are few film composers working today with his recent track record of working on successful movies. Even with box-office success comes a modest amount of awards, including eight Oscar nominations and one win (Lion King). There have been issues with the nomination process for Zimmer in the past, (see: The Dark Knight) but he still puts out quality work that will continue to be recognized by the academy.
I found this article about how some of this sound track came together.
I was hoping for an intense ride and was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of intense moments but the tracks that were chosen don't seem to follow the music that I remember from the movie. Let's take a look:
Track 1: A Storm is Coming 00:37
Track 2: On Thin Ice 02:55
For simplicity's sake I have combined the first two tracks as TR 1 is only 00:37 in length. The intro hints at an intense second track but that never comes together, it has some structural elements that we will hear throughout the score but none of that rhythmic drive that we are used to hearing (at least not yet). Great sorrowful feeling and you may notice the "The Dark Knight" theme being played but the supporting chords give a feeling of sadness instead of hope. This is a theme in the movie that is played here in the music.
Track 3: Gotham's Reckoning 04:08
This is the sound that I was expecting from the beginning. A simple rhythmic melody helped with light percussion that drives the song forward. This is the first of many uses of chanting throughout the soundtrack. A sudden change happens at 02:34 when the strings just play a rhythm on a polychord to give an almost percussion sound. The trumpet get a brief moment to up the intensity, and immediately the entire ensemble creeps up chromatically and dynamically. We end this track with our chant returning.
Track 4: Mind if I Cut In? 03:28
This track has a nice minimalist feel to it the three note melody that begins at 00:41 gets augmented and added to. The feel of the melody changes completely based on the accompaniment behind it. The track stays slow until, again, the background changes and the intensity gets ramped up for a bit. Then back to simple nice understated track.
Track 5: Underground Army 03:12
The low synth sound creates the drive at the beginning, as we get into the song you will notice the "Dark Knight" theme come in for the first time at 00:21. I felt like this track was disappointing no new themes or techniques used to make the music, seems more like part of the orchestration not the score.
Track 6: Born In Darkness 01:57
"Born" has a nice understated sorrow to it. A new theme is introduced at 00:08 that we will hear again. I was enjoying the contrast but as the song continued I didn't feel as if it lead anywhere.
Track 7: The Fire Rises 05:34
We have come back to the intense music that I was expecting for more of this soundtrack. I really enjoyed the moment at 00:15 and again at 00:25 the effect was very surprising. The addition of the low brass at 01:18 was fantastic! The swells kept the excitement building all the way to 01:30. We settle down for a bit until 04:11 when the intensity starts to build again, with a new part from the strings and trumpets. We get a half-time feel at 04:56 that drives this song to it's conclusion.
Track 8: Nothing Out There 02:51
We have another nice ballad here, with a great piano solo at 01:32. The piano is playing over the chords introduced in "Born In Darkness"
Track 9: Despair 03:15
Strings begin the pulse reinforced by a synth "wind?" sound. The "Dark Knight" theme appears often in this track but will take a loooong time to resolve (e.g. 01:08-01:30), the theme doesn't seem to "ring" like it usually will at other points in the soundtrack. I think this is a statement that reflects the characters in the movie and the unwillingness of Bruce Wayne to go back to being Batman. The new theme we heard in "Born in Darkness" is here but presented in a heroic manner not the remorseful one we heard earlier (02:27). My download (Google Play) had some trouble at 02:04,02:06 and 3 seconds of static at 02:22-02:25.
Track 10: Fear Will Find You 03:09
Intense, very frantic we hear a shuffle of "Gotham's Reckoning". The "Dark Knight" theme, the "chant", the ascending chromatics, and the trumpet part come at you within the first 45 seconds. The quarter note triplets make an interesting transition to the music that I came out of the theater singing (00:45-01:09). I thought that there would be more of this music and feel throughout the soundtrack. I like the low strings carrying things and if you listen VERY carefully you'll hear the "Dark Knight" theme at 01:38, and a few other times towards the end of the song.
Track 11: Why Do We Fall? 02:03
My first listen to this track I wasn't impressed but listening to it again I don't know why. It starts with low volume and energy and just cranks it up continuously. The "Dark Knight" theme makes it's first grand entrance.
Track 12: Death By Exile 00:24
I don't quite understand why this "song" was included. No melody, no pulse, if they wanted an introduction to the next song, just combine them.
Track 13: Imagine the Fire 07:26
Here we have a completely new song, very little seems to be borrowed from the songs before it. The violins are doing something new to drive the song (it puts me in mind of Mega Man). While the violas and cellos are keeping the pulse. New theme introduced at 01:25 in the horns. The heavy synth in the new section at 02:42, was a nice contrast. The middle part of the song had upload problems again, skipping like a scratched CD. A very subtle addition of the "chant" is back at 04:22. The last section of this song is transitioned to by using the sounds from "A Storm is Coming", I like the lows with the melody again in the last section. They give a nice power and when the high voices come back it really adds to the intensity. A brief quote from the "chant" closes this song.
Track 14: Necessary Evil 03:17
This song restates the theme from "The Fear will Find You" that I feel was played all over the last act of the movie. The legato section is very nice but I don't feel like it went anywhere.
Track 15: Rise 07:16
A very chaotic beginning with the "Dark Knight" theme entering almost immediately. For the first time in this entire soundtrack we hear a female voice at 01:03 singing on a neutral vowel. 03:09 Begins an ascending line that continues for over a minute, representing "Rise" quite well. The feeling of hope is very prominent throughout this song and for the first time resolves into a major chord at 06:31. At 06:36 the "Dark Knight" theme is heard for the final time. I find it very interesting that the entire soundtrack would end in almost silence.
TL;DR
I like this soundtrack the music has a great deal of range and is different from most of the other soundtracks in movies today. However, I don't feel that this album is the movie music "distilled". There was a higher percentage of slow, lyrical moments than were in the movie. The intensity of the movie did not match the CD. Zimmer played on his music from his previous Batman music and took it somewhere unexpected. Was is great? Yes. Was it what I expected? No. Would I buy it again? Not the entire soundtrack but some of the songs.
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