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| Zimmer |
The Dark Knight Rises: (Hans Zimmer/Various)
Hesitation gripped director Christopher Nolan in regards to a third
installment in his rebooted Batman franchise of the 2000's. His
satisfaction with the wildly successful
The Dark Knight of 2008
and desire to avoid producing redundant sequels led him to very
carefully plan the process of developing a script for 2012's
The Dark
Knight Rises that would explore new territory and distinctly fresh
villains. With relentless viral and traditional promotion and the
stirring of Oscar talk for this, the reportedly final entry in the
lifespan of this resurrection of the franchise, anticipation could not
be greater. Set eight years after the events of the previous film,
The Dark Knight Rises forces an exiled Batman back into action
due to the combined events caused by two new adversaries: Catwoman and
Bane. The former and her alter ego, Selina Kyle, present Bruce Wayne
with expected complications to his love life and Bane, among the most
intelligent of brutes Batman has ever faced, is interested in causing
havoc through terrorist activities. A returning core of characters (and
their respective actors) ensures continuity, as do flashbacks that
return to elements in
Batman Begins to bring the trilogy to a
narrative close. Lost in all of the media hype and sensationalism
surrounding this franchise's second coming is the artistic merit of
Nolan's achievements, and a contributing factor to the frenzy is
undoubtedly Hans Zimmer's involvement as the concept's now most frequent
musical voice. Unfortunately for Zimmer, his actual speaking voice is so
prevalent in interviews that the soundtracks for these films have become
their own form of spectacle. Not since John Williams of the early 1980's
has a film composer become such a mainstream attraction, and Zimmer
indulges the attention by constantly unleashing his thought process and
sense of humor in interviews that don't always make much sense when
strung together. The role of media star threatens to diminish Zimmer's
ability to return someday to the balanced and original ideas with which
he first announced his presence to the scoring scene in the early
1990's. Others associated with his circle of influence tend to toil in
silence more often than not, including John Powell, who bleeds
creativity in relative obscurity despite sharing Zimmer's zany sense of
humor.
Compared to the year of hype generated by Zimmer (and the
studio on his behalf) for
The Dark Knight Rises, you hear
practically nothing from a veteran composer like James Horner, whose
superior music for
The Amazing Spider-Man is unfortunately
overshadowed by the clamor for Zimmer's wisdom. Usually, there is no
detriment to talking to the press, especially when so few composers
receive such attention. But Zimmer, in the process of intellectualizing
everything he does for his major assignments, somehow manages to make
contradictory and senseless statements all too often. He has declared in
recent years that he would retire after his next assignment (which did
not happen), develop franchise themes in radical ways (which has not
happened), and explore revolutionary new methods of applying music to
movies (which has not happened, either). One has to wonder if he is so
wrapped up in the hype surrounding his celebrity status that he has lost
touch with the reality of his musical output. He is precisely that: a
celebrity. Convincing his fans of his genius is one feat, but to read
the incessantly glowing praise from Nolan about the man's revolutionary
methodologies is both curious and frustrating to those who recognize
that beneath the glitz and glamour is a composer whose music has become
stagnant and underachieving. Zimmer's mouth is his worst enemy for
anyone interested in actually examining the merits of his structures and
instrumentation. More than a year prior to the debut of
The Dark
Knight Rises, he stated about the score, "The one thing I can tell
you is that it's going to be a lot more epic. Extraordinarily epic."
After finishing the score, he remarked, "We went in a completely
different direction for Bane," and "I do think that this movie leads to
a sort of resolution - that those same two notes [for Wayne] have
shifted and now provide an answer." The problem with these statements is
that they are technically false. Nearly everything Zimmer has stated
about this score is a gross exaggeration of what he actually
accomplished, predictably causing the usual eye-rolling from Zimmer
skeptics who regularly lament the difference between the composer's
spoken intentions and his underwhelming results. Fans of his will not
care; in fact, they will declare "intellectual" film music enthusiasts
to be party-poopers and continue blasting Zimmer's music to their balls'
content. In some ways, a simpler appreciation indeed could be healthier
for the soul.
There's something for everyone to appreciate and loathe in
The Dark Knight Rises, regardless of whether or not you've been
unlucky enough to attempt to understand Zimmer's professed reasoning for
his moves. The important facts about the score that are not in dispute
include the departure of James Newton Howard from co-compositional
duties, the continuation of the general sound and feel of the franchise
(as well as the basic themes), and the introduction of two new themes to
represent the arriving villains as appropriate. It's safe to assume that
few people will be happy about the album situation for the score, but
some points on that subject will be saved for the end of this review.
For many listeners, Howard's music for the prior two scores in the
franchise was key to providing the sentimental heart that was absent in
Zimmer's brooding material. Some even point to it as the highlight of
the franchise's music. This time, Howard begged out of the franchise,
publically stating that he didn't want to impede upon the relationship
that Zimmer and Nolan had solidified with
Inception. The
"bullshit meter" is pegging on that explanation, with the dreaded phrase
"creative differences" a more likely reason for Howard's wish to divest
himself from the equation. Zimmer really could have used Howard's softer
touch for
The Dark Knight Rises, with cues like "Mind if I Cut
In?" and "Nothing Out There" desperately needing better emotional
connectivity (and, in the case of the first cue, a solidly alluring
theme for Selina Kyle). Lorne Balfe and Zimmer's other ghostwriters
failed to pick up the slack. Also not disputed by many enthusiasts is
the fact that
The Dark Knight Rises really does reprise much of
what came before, even emulating
Pirates of the Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides in its technique of yanking exact cues from the prior
scores for new applications. Even if this usage does not bother you,
there will be issues with the fact that Zimmer doesn't really unleash
his themes in the fashion that impressed listeners at the end of primary
album for
The Dark Knight. Mostly,
The Dark Knight Rises
represents an extension of the same material without glorifying it
beyond the continued pounding of its dark muscularity. The two-note
theme for the protagonist returns, as does the longer-lined idea for the
concept that continues to remind of
The Da Vinci Code, though the
latter isn't as extensively conveyed as some might prefer, especially in
the "Rise" cue that otherwise does return to the boy soprano solos from
Batman Begins (albeit cut and pasted from "Corynorhinus").
The final fact about
The Dark Knight Rises that all
will agree upon is that Zimmer did take a stab at providing two new
themes in this work. The theme for Kyle/Catwoman in "Mind if I Cut In?"
is an intentionally ambiguous series of piano phrases highly reminiscent
of the softer portions of
The Peacemaker. The tepid application
of light tingling effects for this theme is vaguely exotic but Zimmer
does nothing else to infer any sense of romance into the character's
music. Conversely, the new theme for Bane is the score's highlight.
Despite totally neglecting the character's intelligence and instead
dwelling upon his imposing physical form, Zimmer does at least change
meter dramatically and use a chanting effect to represent the
larger-than-life chaos this man aspires to inflict. Introduced in
"Gotham's Reckoning," the theme persists in "The Fire Rises," "No Stone
Unturned," and others, easily recognizable because of its shift to a
dramatically different rhythmic meter than Zimmer is accustomed to
utilizing. Once you accept these aforementioned aspects of the score for
The Dark Knight Rises as commonly noted observations, where your
opinion resides on the rest of the project depends completely upon your
acceptance of Zimmer's methods and style. If you ignore the composer's
interviews and the lack of emotional and intellectual depth in the
simplicity of his music, then the work will stir all the same ominous
and brooding passion in you as its predecessors. Otherwise, the score is
going to present significant problems for those seeking to make sense
out of what Zimmer is doing with this franchise. The main theme is still
only two notes long, a rising minor third that does absolutely nothing
to convey the complexity of Bruce Wayne's existence. There is still no
dichotomy between minor and major key usage to denote this man's two
personas. Zimmer's promise in 2005 to flesh out this theme when Batman
matures is ignored. When he stated in 2011 that he now planned to make
this theme more epic than ever before, he must have meant the rather
brightly emphasized performances in "Despair" that finally hint at some
major-key heroics. The key of damn near every cue in the score remains,
as usual for Zimmer, D minor, a fact that is finally starting to gain
widespread recognition for the composer's ridiculous stubbornness. A
score that almost never changes key is one that is not capable of being
nimble in its response to changing emotions on screen, and if you wonder
why so much of his music seems to drone along in boringly derivative
fashion, then the key has much to do with this stagnation. Always using
the same key must make life easy for the army of ghostwriters,
though!
Then, of course, as long as you single out the thematic
simplicity and consistency of key, you also have to mention the lack of
diversity in instrumentation and tone, as well as the continued reliance
upon figures (like low string ostinatos) that remind as much now of
Steve Jablonsky's
Transformers music as their appropriate
heritage in this franchise. The totality of the dwelling in the bass
region has reached the point of laughability. Any veteran composer can
unleash horrifically rumbling, masculine force from the bass while also
employing concurrent appeal from the treble, a technique Zimmer still
chooses not to attempt. Again, this refusal to explore the full spectrum
greatly diminishes the composer's ability to address emotional range.
The boy soprano voice is electronically manipulated at the start and end
of the score for eerie reflections on the main theme, and there's the
"Corynorhinus" reprise as well. In addition, you have the
aforementioned, quiet piano cues. But as nice as it is to hear the boy's
voice and the piano (especially when it explores the longer Batman theme
in "Nothing Out There"), these contributions are swallowed up by
Zimmer's continued hesitance to leave the glory days of
Crimson
Tide and
The Peacemaker behind, especially after the
reception he enjoyed for
Inception. There are, of course, no
woodwinds in this score. The violins seem mixed far in the background.
Recall for a moment what Danny Elfman did to represent Catwoman with
violins in
Batman Returns. They do work. Zimmer's evolution of
music for the franchise, both in terms of tone and theme, is completely
nonexistent. Especially without Howard's portions, this music
accomplishes nothing new, the Batman theme still failing to truly
evolve. In "On Thin Ice," Zimmer torments listeners with the possibility
that this main theme will gain at least a third note (sending it in the
direction of John Barry's
Zulu, no less!), but this idea is
subsequently abandoned. The most promising aspect of this third score
was Zimmer's much-hyped sampling of chants from people around the world
(using the website UJAM) for use with Bane's theme. Unfortunately, while
the result is interesting, the composer doesn't feature these vocals in
such a way as to really make an impact on the score. They exist, and
they serve their purpose, but they are not as obvious as the obnoxious,
single-note theme for the Joker in the prior movie and the same results,
quite honestly, could have been generated in studio without all the
public relations fuss. Like most aspects of this score, the chants
represent the great promise but very little delivery from Zimmer. That
is, unless you want to hear regurgitation of the prior two scores.
In the end, you get your swooshing sound effects,
French horns in unison, omnipresent bass droning, and at least something
of a crescendo of harmonic satisfaction in the final cue, "Rise." As
such, Zimmer earned his pay. Don't be fooled into thinking that these
scores are the high art that the composer's interviews suggest, however.
The fanboys will feast on its loyalty while the intellectuals will
expose its many faults. Even worse, the album situation for
The Dark
Knight Rises emulates the extremely irritating release format as
Tron: Legacy in 2010. The standard 51-minute album's contents are
adequate but missing extensive portions of the score. Thus, Watertower
and Warner Brothers decided to release additional bonus tracks unique to
the digital release, others unique to the CD release, and one cue
exclusive to MovieTickets.com. All of these tracks are of decent length,
and together, about 84 minutes of music can be collected from the
various sources. Good luck trying to get them, however; the CD and
iTunes releases send you to Push Entertainment to get the tracks, and
once there, you have to provide your Facebook or Twitter accounts (or
create an all new one) to get your music. Never mind the fact that the
privacy policy link fails to load or that you could get spammed
extensively by these people. If you're on a Mac, you may not get the
content's applet to load even after you register (due to technical
errors). As for the bonus music itself, three of the six initially
available cues are simple remixes ("Bombers Over Ibiza," "The Shadows
Betray You," and "The End") while the others aren't radically different
from the rest of the score. The most important one to acquire is "No
Stone Unturned," with a continuation of the Bane theme, a super-heroic
brass anthem in middle, and somber atmospherics with hints of the main
theme at the end. Also to be considered are "Risen From Darkness" (the
fuller concept theme in pounding
The Peacemaker mode throughout)
and "All Out War" (more explicit ostinatos from the first score and some
shifts to the Bane meter). Not available is Zimmer's suggested use of
the boy soprano for the national anthem in the football game scene, a
pivotal point in the soundtrack. Between the extremely irritating
release format of the soundtrack on album, Zimmer's continued promises
of greatness that go unrealized in the finished product, and the
inexplicable hype that surrounds this franchise's music, you receive
music that is functional at best, mediocre most often, and insultingly
simplistic at worst. The composer needs to shut his yap, dump the
ghostwriters, shift to F major, conjure a fluid theme, and drop a
wicked oboe solo on us. Perhaps then he'd deserve an interview.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Presented on the Albums: *
- Overall: **
| Bias Check: |
For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.93
(in 101 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.94
(in 279,286 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes a long note from the director touting the greatness of
the composer, including applause for specific music not included on the album. The
packaging contains no actual photography from the film.
