The Dark Knight (2008) (1 Viewer)

[Nick Martin]

Apparently Zimmer and Howard are old friends who wanted to work together for a long time. Zimmer was originally supposed to do Batman Begins by himself (though with Zimmer that means passing it off to his factory employees...about 3 or 4 of his clones copying his style and getting "additional music" credit) and he asked Howard to join him on it.

Despite evidence to the contrary (being the finished music itself) both composers claim that they literally blended their music together so there's no Zimmer section or a Howard melody, but they're completely incorrect because the scores have Zimmer's personality and style all over them, with Howard getting a couple of notes in here and there. Zimmer basically traded most of his no-name factory workers for a high profile one.

 

[MikeRS]

My favorite 'moment' in the film is actually just the transition from Joker's capture (ie:Gordon's resurrection) to the Jail scene establishing shot. Up until this point in the story, Heath had cast an almost mythic, scary shadow over the narrative. I was experiencing a great film about evil mindfucking a whole city. Loving it!

AND NOW HE WAS CAPTURED.

It was like the film had really just begun!

I was giddy.

(And the rest of the film just kept delivering)

 

[Holadem]

About the score:

Yes, The Bat's theme are the two sustained notes at the end of the trailer.

I agree that the score is all Zimmer as well. Not sure what Howard's contribution is, the thing has Zimmer written all over it.

Elfman's score is brilliant and I listen to it daily. But it also screams "fantasy", and might be at odds with the style of Nolan's flicks.

Can't say I was blown away by the score but I only saw the film once. It was on par with the first, which I found mostly forgettable -- Zimmer has done a lot better, several times (Transformer the latest.)

--
H

 

[Kevin Grey]

Thanks for the information on the score guys. I can't say I agree about it feeling overwhelmingly like it came from Zimmer. Both films' scores are relatively unique in that I don't think I would be able to guess who scored them without knowing in advance (something I can't say about most Zimmer and his stable of composer soundtracks) so, for me, the collaboration really works.

In fact, I don't think I knew who scored Begins before I saw it and I had to wait until the closing credits to find out and I was very surprised.

 

[Ben Osborne]

Other than BB and TDK, the last Zimmer score that I liked was Gladiator. I find BB and TDK to be of a higher caliber than most of Zimmer's scores, and I attribute that to the influence of Howard. There aren't that many moments in either score where Howard's influence is obvious, but he typically doesn't score movies of this type. That might be why the producers felt Zimmer was necessary. Still, two of the standouts on both scores-- "Eptesicus" from BB and "Harvey Two-Face" from TDK are primarily the work of James Newton Howard, I would guess.

 

[DavidPla]

I would always assume the softer, sweeter moments were from James Newton Howard. Like when he's thinking back about his father, the whole "You haven't given up on me" and as Ben pointed out the whole Harvey Dent/Two-Face scene at the end of the second movie.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Hehe. Gladiator's score by Mr. "Really-I've-Never-Even-Heard-of-Holst Zimmer."

 

[Nick Martin]

Steve Jablonsky, one of Zimmer's factory clones, scored Transformers.

What does that tell everyone here?

 

[Nick Martin]

Me too. That big string theme that introduced Gotham City as well as the near-ending of Begins with Wayne Manor being surveyed by Bruce, Alfred and Rachel sounded like Howard's contribution, and was THE highlight of that entire score.

 

[Brian Borst]

That's right. Both composers said that the action-related stuff is written by Zimmer and the emotional stuff is done by Howard. And that they would often switch the things they would write, so it would feel more as a whole. I personally don't have anything against Zimmer's scores (I thought the Pirates of the Caribbean films had excellent scores) but the Batman soundtracks are way better.

 

[TonyD]

Maybe Holadem was being sarcastic.

 

[Nick Martin]

The Pirates scores were compiled by about six people, all emulating Zimmer's sound. Zimmer himself took over for the last one I think, but all those others were still involved. A true group effort.

 

[DavidPla]

The last one was the best one. Seriously.. a really great score.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

The last one was the best by far (Jinx on DavidPla). And Zimmer did The Thin Red Line in 1998, which contains one of the singlest greatest tracks in film score history (Journey To The Line).

 

[Nick Martin]

I'll seek out this "Journey To The Line" track. I mean calling something one of the greatest tracks in film score history is something I'll just have to hear.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Don't take my word for it:


Back to Batman...anyone know how it has done this week (Monday and Tuesday)?

 

[Jason Roer]

$10,518,116 on Monday. Still waiting for Tuesday numbers.

Cheers,

Jason

 

[Steve_Tk]

10.5 On monday, up to ~325M

 

[nolesrule]

Looks like it made $9,629,366 on Tuesday, which moves it to $333,929,159.

That's good for 16 on the all-time domestic list. I'm thinking it'll pass both Spider-Man 3 and then Finding Nemo today, and then The Two Towers tomorrow and into the Top 10 by the end of the weekend.

 

[Tim Glover]

Kevin I feel as you do...I feel it's more Howard than Zimmer.