Don't have much to say about this film other that it was very good. The acting, cinematography, special effects, and story were all some of the most professional work I've seen in the theaters, probably ever.

But who cares about that, let's talk about the music!

Who Wrote the Music?

To my biggest suprise, the film was scored by two of the biggest names in film music - Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. After watching the film and listening to its score I expected to see a "no-name" come up in the credits.

Why? The music itself was typical and subtle, not bad by any means but there was hardly anything about the compositions themselves that provided anything unique. I find that big name composers have their music mixed higher than usual, and the orchestrations tend to be a little more flamboyant. This wasn't the case in Dark Knight.

Now this isn't a bad thing, as I'm becoming more and more aware. This is very important: Film music is not about being "original." Unless you're doing an art film and you like to confuse people and aren't interested in telling a story.

The real brilliance of The Dark Knight's music was the way it was used. At the beginning, for example, there is little going on in the film, but underneath anxiously pulses the score which pushes the whole first section of the film forward in anticipation of seeing Batman. This is good film music. It undercurrents the anxiety that's otherwise absent from the scene.

In the action chase-scene underneath the highway: no music. I love it when composers do that. Then as soon as they come out onto the city streets thats when the music kicks in, helping to prolong the action sequence without making it feel like its constantly dragging on.

A Joint Success

Unlike Howard, Hans Zimmer has been around the block scoring many blockbuster hits. James Newton Howard on the other hand hasn't been met with as much success, despite his incredibly talented and unique compositions. Howard's film score are some of the most enjoyable I have ever listened to, but until The Dark Knight, he has only been able to land a few major blockbuster films.

I'm really interested in this Zimmer+Howard idea. They did it on Batman Begins and this joint composer idea isn't necessarily new, but I've been seeing more and more of some big names working together on the scores. The end result seems to be a smaller ego in the music, and an overall better service to the film and its story - which is exactly what The Dark Knight needed.



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