Just saw the picture. The last 30 minutes of the picture manages to make some compellingly shot and edited footage and cool plot developments into a sheer and agonizing endurance test thanks to Zimmer's loud, grating, relentless monotony of sound. I reserve the term music for something else. Zimmer has done work I've enjoyed, but his Batman scores are deadening soulless things, and this one was the most unpleasant yet. He had me during the Bond-like opening on the plane, but I didn't know I'd have to hear the same motif for almost three hours. I know Zimmer has his supporters and I'll get slammed and that's fine. I'm not even going to respond. Just had to go on record that what he does with (and to) Dark Knight Rises has nothing to do with the purpose and potential of film music as I've come to understand it as an admirer of the form for 40 years. Rather, it represents a wasted opportunity. Nolan's script nods to the better nature of Gotham, a place worth fighting for. A more nuanced and expressive score could make you believe it. But there is no hope or humanity in what Zimmer is asked to provide. Just grinding, industrial sound. I hate the score and I hate the sensibility that produced it.
I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on Man of Steel, but now I'm dreading it all the more. Zimmer, Nolan, and Snyder, I fear, are conspiring to rob the culture's most optimistic hero of his soul.
Sadly, I'd agree with this. I don't automatically hate Zimmer, don't automatically hate repetitive scoring and actually quite like a lot of electronic music. But I hated this score so much. Half of it seemed to be the same synthesised drum loops over and over again with no variation! If it wasn't that it was the same string ostinato over and over again, and he still can't come up with anything better for Batman than two notes. Yeah there was okay music for Cat Woman but overall I got the impression Zimmer wrote the whole thing in an hour! I loathed it and find it worrying for the art of film music to be honest!
When I said that people should better prefer the Elfman efforts I meant that if people today would prefer big symphonic scores compared to big synth scores that are just enhanced by an orchestra,then film music of today would be a lot more interesting. Film music of today has little value compared to the works of pastlm composers that wrote symphonic music that could easily stand on its own and be compared to Elgar or Rachmaninov or Grieg. I mean some film composers of the past certainly deserve to be considered among the great symphonic composers of all time even if their music works more as ballet or theater suitethan a symphony or an oratorio. Of course that doesn't diminish its value. The film music of today and the composers that work today can't possibly be compared to Ravel or Holst and no film score of today can be compared to Sheherazade. Williams is an exception and let's not forget that many critics were offensive about War Horse. A magnificent classical piece that if he likedhe would make a magnificent 50 minute suite based on it. And the funny thing is that the same critics praised the artist for its classical brilliance. A work of art from the past with great music. A mediocre film IMHO with a decent score. Nothing more. it's like people today can't accept any real emotion in films and in music. They feel awkward by it. Concerning The Artist I have a bad opinion about it because the day before I saw The Artist I saw The General by Buster Keaton. No comparison between the the 2whatsoever. Most people forget about what they had.Idon't and unfortunatelly that happens in many circumstances in our life. Even the food is different compared to 25 years ago. People older than 35 know exactly what I mean. For the younger people I just want to share a memory. When I was 6 years old (1979) I remember playing in my room and smelling watermelon that my mother was cutting in the kitchen to bring me to eat (and we had a big house). Now as a father I cut the watermelon for my children and can't smell it even when I cut it. Can't imagine what a watermelon tasted 50 years ago. It must have been extraordinary. I can't believe I wrote that stuff. I mean from Dark Knight to watermelons. Anyway I'll just leave itforthe older people that read this board.
I suppose I might fit into the 'older people' category. My predilection is for orchestral scoring, but that may reflect my exposure over time to that particular idiom. However, my tastes do encompass other forms such as those shown by Tron Legacy, The Illusionist, Batman Begins and Dark Knight plus Walter/Wendy Carlos material. I did enjoy Zimmer's previous Batman scores but, as I said before, to me this effort was a mess of noise. Curiously, I found the film a bit of a mess, unlike the Dark Knight which I thought was excellent overall. TDKR was too bloated and lacked the tight narrative structure that a find Nolan is capable of.
Now on the watermelon front.... Well, I'm sitting Outside my villa above Sorrento, overlooking the Bay of Naples at the moment. I have just been to the local village supermarket whilst playing the (to my ears) remarkable rerecording of Conan the Destroyer by Tadlow(an unabashed plug I know). In the shop they Have some locally scourced melons to die for, their flavour as powerful as ever. So I suppose their flavour might be a product of climate and farming techniques? A bit like film music I suppose.
Now for some lunch of tomatoes, basil, anchovies and olive oil.......
He had me during the Bond-like opening on the plane, but I didn't know I'd have to hear the same motif for almost three hours.
I kept thinking of Mission Impossible and it took me right out of the film every time. I enjoyed the loudness of Inception, but this score was nothing but fatiguing.
In my opinion Zimmer's music from the Nokia trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has the best music from the final film and the best rendition of the Bane theme in it. The percussion and tempo are satisfyingly more aggressive and the motif is brought forward with those great Zimmer synth-brass samples! I love it! Shame that this music didn't make it onto the official score CD. But the internet saved the day!
Here is a rip of that music combined with the official "Gotham's Reckoning" track.
I listened to the entire CD today. When it was over I could only say to myself - 'that was really boring'.
Well the good news is that you now can choose to never listen to it again.
I'm much more anal than that. Found the score in the film to be much more interesting with a lot of stuff left off the album - so now I'm desperately trying to access the bonus stuff to see if it's more interesting. I bought the 3 bonus tracks from Itunes (including the 'remix' - blah) and can't figure out how to access the other bonus tracks you guys are talking about. My Canadian CD has no indication of any bonus material (???)
I've listened to this score a couple times so far, having bought it the day it came out but having waited to listen to it until I saw the movie just yesterday. It doesn't reach the overall quality and grandeur of Batman Begins in my opinion, but is a great score in its own right. The last track on the CD, "Rise," is one of my faves yet this year, and in fact, one of the best cues on any of the three Nolan Batman movies. Good stuff!
The best cue of the 3 Nolan Batman CDs is the last cue on The Dark Knight. That is one of my favorite cues of the last several years. Nothing on TDKR's CD comes close.
That said, the last cue of TDKR is the best of that CD.
Just got back from watching The Dark Knight Rises. While I felt the music worked fine (serviceable for the most part, with a few exceptional moments) I don't think I would ever want to listen to it on it's own.
I finally was able to see the film today and as I had not purchased the album yet all of the music was new to me. Holy moly, I loved this film, just really was emotionally engaged from start to finish, loved all the characters and their arcs (and familial connections), the plot, settings and action. Loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt's characters, as well as Miranda Tate and Selina Kyle (plus her theme). The score overall I found to be a winner for this series, though there are some scenes that probably didn't need as much scoring. Made me want to grab the album immediately. Also, despite this film's running time being longer than the previous, I never felt it. The pace was great, for me it never dragged. I really do happen to greatly enjoy all three films in this series.
I finally was able to see the film today and as I had not purchased the album yet all of the music was new to me. Holy moly, I loved this film, just really was emotionally engaged from start to finish, loved all the characters and their arcs (and familial connections), the plot, settings and action. Loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt's characters, as well as Miranda Tate and Selina Kyle (plus her theme). The score overall I found to be a winner for this series, though there are some scenes that probably didn't need as much scoring. Made me want to grab the album immediately. Also, despite this film's running time being longer than the previous, I never felt it. The pace was great, for me it never dragged. I really do happen to greatly enjoy all three films in this series.
Finally managed a couple of listens to the CD and various bonus tracks (yet to see the film) and this sounds fantastic. Far more thrilling and more melodic than the more background-y scores to Batman Begins and Dark Knight. Truly excellent work. Though you would have thought someone would have recognised at an early juncture that the chant does indeed - as has been widely observed - sound like "Fish Pasta" and changed it. It is a little distracting.
Finally managed a couple of listens to the CD and various bonus tracks (yet to see the film) and this sounds fantastic. Far more thrilling and more melodic than the more background-y scores to Batman Begins and Dark Knight. Truly excellent work. Though you would have thought someone would have recognised at an early juncture that the chant does indeed - as has been widely observed - sound like "Fish Pasta" and changed it. It is a little distracting.
+1 on your assessment of this score, although as far as the chant... the second word is clearly three syllables, "bas-a-rah", and so for more I don't hear "pasta".
Though you would have thought someone would have recognised at an early juncture that the chant does indeed - as has been widely observed - sound like "Fish Pasta" and changed it. It is a little distracting.
Except the chant translates from Moroccan Arabic "deshi basara" as "he rises" in the English language. Which involves the score in the story of the film, as both Bane rises from exile and hiding to finish the bidding of his tutor, and Bruce Wayne rises from his defeat to save himself and his city.
... so why would they change it because it might sound similar to "fish pasta" (it doesn't, Tom Servo details the phonetics above, even "deshi" features two syllables while "fish" only contains one)?
