Hans Zimmer's TDKR Soundtrack

The 2012 superhero epic about Batman's struggle to overcome the terrorist leader Bane, as well as his own inner demons.
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I know the film is still many months away, but I am really excited about how Hans Zimmer will tie together the themes of the three films into this third collection of masterpieces.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/h ... ars-252183

In the above article, toward the end, it informs us that Zimmer will be creating "mostly knew" music for The Dark Knight Rises. Being a fan of the old Danny Elfman soundtrack for Batman '89, I would love for Zimmer to develop a theme for TDKR that resonates in my psyche as much as the Batman '89 score did.

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There surely will be a lot of new material, but I feel like 'mostly new material' is unlikely, or at least an inaccurate description of what the score will likely be. It will certainly sound akin to the previous two scores. Who knows what kind of new thematic material he creates for the film, but James already created a beautiful theme for Wayne, and Zimmer wrote a bombastic theme for Bats. Perhaps he tries to combine the two contrapuntally or have them culminate in one massive cue.

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i really liked the featurette with him for TDK. Some of those fragments of music sounded so dark, I was surprised they were not used.

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dont forget about that little movie called inception since then. zimmer's abilities from tdk and inception combined would allow for some really psyche-string pulling stuff. but at important times in the movie the original themes would be good to use, if not remixed - pirates of the carribean on stranger tides had one main theme song but used that with so many different pitches/ways and all of them were awesome

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I agree with Blass to a point... but at the same time, there was definitely new stuff in The Dark Knight score that you couldn't find anywhere in Batman Begins (i.e. Joker/Harvey themes). Since neither of those characters are returning, and we are meeting Selina, Bane and Miranda/? for the first time, I think we can expect new thematic additions.

There is a considerable difference between the soundtrack for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The score for BB was very subtle, and each track was named after a species of bat. There weren't really any melodies you could whistle or play with a single instrument that would be instantly identifiable as "from that Batman movie." When I say "identifiable" I mean to the extent that some of John Williams' more famous scores are instantly identifiable. I don't think that its necessarily a bad thing for there to be subtlety, because some might argue that over the top themes can overshadow the other film elements. I mean, take away the John Williams score from Star Wars, and you destroy the franchise. While the music from Batman Begins definitely adds to the experience, it doesn't define it necessarily.

With the Dark Knight, you have track names that actually hint at certain plot points. From the first track, "Why So Serious?" all the way to the end, we are treated to a harmonic fusion of classical and contemporary styles. I think Zimmer/Howard did an excellent job creating new themes for the Joker and Harvey. Combined with more developed themes for Bruce/Batman, as well as some sentimental moments involving Rachel, it is a very well rounded score that stands up there with the best of them.

Richard Wagner, the famous opera writer and composer from 19th century Germany, more or less created the concept of "the motif" with his Ring of the Nibelung opera cycle. John Williams and others in our time have captured that concept and developed it to a great deal. Everyone knows the basic Star Wars theme, for instance. But if you ever listen to the broader score for Star Wars, you find that each character or group of characters has a theme or motif that plays during their important scenes. This concept is executed masterfully at the end of Revenge of the Sith, which, although a mediocre film at best, presents us with one of the best examples of fusing different themes and motifs from across a greater body of work into one ensemble piece.

Hans Zimmer is a much more subtle composer than John Williams. However, I think that he uses the concept of the motif much more than John Newton Howard does in his work. So in TDKR, I am expecting the Batman/Bruce motifs to reach a zenith in their evolution. Further, I am expecting new motifs for Bane, Selina, and several of the other characters in the film. I am also expecting some minor recycling of the Joker/Harvey motifs from The Dark Knight.

I know most of you hate reading long posts. But musical analysis tends to be on the more collegiate end of the chat forum spectrum, so I expect a bit less pithiness when I read threads like these.

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bravo5 wrote:but at important times in the movie the original themes would be good to use, if not remixed - pirates of the carribean on stranger tides had one main theme song but used that with so many different pitches/ways and all of them were awesome
Yeah, absolutely. This little piece from Dead Man's Chest was a great remix of the original soundtrack.

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They're not remixes, they're variations on themes. Basically all sequels do it. The Dark Knight does it amazingly well. I assume you guys haven't noticed Harvey Dent's theme is a variation of a theme from Begins. Talk about subtlety.

Anyways, we know there will be new themes surrounding new characters. It's possible that they venture from the orchestral and sonic palette set up from the previous films, like how the Joker's theme did. But the film is going to sound fairly similar to the others, and the quote saying the score being "mostly new material" is likely just a line to build excitement for the score.

Also, I just want to note that track titles don't have anything to do with the creative process of writing the music. It's basically just marketing.

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I assume you guys haven't noticed Harvey Dent's theme is a variation of a theme from Begins.
I was just about to post that. I was thinking of the scenes where Bruce pulls Ducard up over the cliff or when Bruce gets ready to follow Rachel to Arkham and you see the shot of the Batsuit.

I'm most interested in how that chanting music from the website and teaser will figure into the film.

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When I saw this thread's title, I was super excited, thinking a sample of the score was online. Then I clicked on it..... And now I cry... :(

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taopaipai wrote:I was thinking of the scenes where Bruce pulls Ducard up over the cliff or when Bruce gets ready to follow Rachel to Arkham and you see the shot of the Batsuit.
Yup. I call it the 'becoming a hero' theme. It's a really powerful idea when you think about it. It plays at moments when Bruce is starting to act heroic in Begins. In Knight it doesn't play behind Bruce at all, but instead it plays behind Harvey Dent. Really gives a nice importance to Harvey before he turns and becomes Two Face. Awesome stuff.
taopaipai wrote: I'm most interested in how that chanting music from the website and teaser will figure into the film.
My guess is that it figures in with material surrounding Bane. Should be exciting to find out why though.

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