Composed by Hans Zimmer
If Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight Rises is not quite as groundbreaking or awe-inspiring as his work (with James Newton Howard) on The Dark Knight, that is only because Rises, as a film, leaves the composer with a tad less room to experiment. But even as a slightly more conventional score, this is still Zimmer working at the top of his game, weaving an elaborate musical tapestry of mayhem, villainy, and small rays of hope on an intense, apocalyptic scale.
In context of the Dark Knight trilogy, Zimmer does beautiful work developing and resolving key themes from throughout the series; but as with the best sequel scores, I find the new material even more compelling. In particular, Bane’s theme – which prominently features a mysterious chant crowd-sourced from online participants – is terrifying, a relentless musical assault that serves as a perfect complement to Tom Hardy’s forceful performance. Zimmer develops the theme along the same lines that Nolan progresses the story: It gets increasingly frantic, splintered, powerful, and percussive as the film marches towards it bombastic conclusion. Zimmer absolutely outdoes himself on the grand action finale, combining nearly every musical trait he has ever displayed into one ruthless action score of hypnotic intensity. The Dark Knight Rises is not quite Zimmer’s finest hour, but it comes damn close, and that is something worth celebrating.
Composed by James Horner
I have always and will continue to love and respect the work Danny Elfman did for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. To my mind, the rousing central theme Elfman composed will always stand as the definitive piece of Spider-Man music.
But viewed purely as musical composition, James Horner’s score for The Amazing Spider-Man is superior, not only to Elfman’s work, but to most film music composed this year. Horner perfectly tapped into the emotions of the characters and the story, composing a stunning array of deeply felt themes and motifs that affect the listener on instinctual levels. Horner paces his score meticulously, gradually introducing the building blocks of the music and expanding upon each element as the film moves along. By the end, Horner has a dizzying range of distinctive musical components working in harmony, and the effect is emotionally overwhelming. This is some of the very best work the composer has ever done, and I am very excited to see this music develop as the rebooted franchise continues.
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