Film Score Friday - Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight Rises

So in light of the recent release of the final part of the The Dark Knight trilogy I've decided Hans Zimmer's last outing with the Batman is a fitting entry for this weeks Film Score Friday.

If you haven't seen 'The Dark Knight Rises', you are really missing out.

Here's the trailer for the film if by some magic you haven't seen it:



The film itself really ties the whole series together well, and in my personal opinion is just as good as 'The Dark Knight'. The Joker made 'The Dark Knight' incredible, that's no secret, but this film is incredible as a whole, and Bane is almost just as good a villain as the Joker was. I also really enjoyed the ties this film had to 'Batman Begins', which helps boost that rounding out of the whole trilogy.

As for the soundtrack this is the first time in the trilogy that the film features one composer. The past two have been a collaboration between Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, but after Zimmers' almost career defining work on 'Inception', Howard felt that the bond between Zimmer and Christopher Nolan had grown so much that he felt like a third wheel in the process, so he let Zimmer take the helm.

In my personal opinion Zimmer created the best score in the trilogy, but he does owe a lot to Howard. The thing that made the soundtrack to 'The Dark Knight' so powerful was the focus on theme. The two composers crafted a theme for the Joker that played in some form whenever he was on the screen, which was a continuous unsettling high pitched note on a cello that really put you on edge waiting for the sound to snap or explode which fit his character so well. the dark Knight continues this idea. Bane's theme however is much more noticeable and seems to be getting far more attention. Zimmer took to the internet and got people to record themselves chanting 'Deh-Shay Deh-Shay Bah-Sah-Rah!' and the he layered the chants and fit them into the score. The result is a fantastic primitive sounding chant that matches Banes sheer brutality and his intimidating size. It's a fantastic elemnet and it works very well in the film.

Another thing Zimmer continued is the overall Batman theme, which is a grand two note build that you hear in the end of the trailer above. It's awesome and put to some awe inspiring scenes in the film. It was in 'The Dark Knight' score a few times, but it's used on a larger scale in this film, and better executed in this instance.

It's because of these elements that I find the score to be both fantastic in conjunction with the film itself, which on it's own is awesome, but it's great to listen to all on it's own. Between this trilogy and the score to 'Inception', Zimmer is only solidifying himself as one of my favorite modern composers.

If you have Spotify, you can stream the score here and now!

Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight Rises