Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy has earned much praise for the amount of realism that it was able to inject into the iconic character of Batman. Don't get me wrong, I grew up on Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, and these were both great takes on Batman lore. Batman Forever (sans Jim Carrey's overacting) is also an enjoyably watchable movie. Unfortunately, Joel Shumacher took the comic gimmick to ultimate extremes with Batman & Robin. Batman Begins thus served as a course correction.
In my opinion, Batman Begins is the best installment in the whole trilogy because it shows Nolan's most seamless uncluttered vision for the project. The Dark Knight might have wowed us with an incredible joker, but it also offered us a terrible Rachel Dawes whom I was overjoyed to see killed off in the same installment. The Dark Knight Rises was a travesty and a cash-grab, worst entry in the trilogy hands-down.
As I've mentioned on more than one occasion, the musical score of a movie is in itself a character within the movie. This score was a collaboration by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard with Zimmer taking care of scoring the action scenes and Howard scoring the emotional scenes. Initially Zimmer may have come under fire for not using elements of Danny Elfman's score for prior Batman movies, but I can't argue with the finished product.
There is something somewhat "industrial" about some of the music. The heroic theme "Molossus", which plays when Bruce suits up for action, is one such example of this; set to a rapidly pulsing drumbeat that sounds like the heart of a gigantic mechanical beast (that meshes well with the "Tumbler"), it also consists of quickfire strings that are used to convey a sense of urgency. Some tunes are also rather "airy": the very first track, "Vespertilio" mimics the sound of Batman unfurling his cape. The effect is used on other occasions to make us feel like we're in the depths of a cave, or within the recesses of "the Narrows", the seedy underbelly of Gotham.
"Nycteris" sounds like something from a James Bond-esque movie, and it should really because it matches up with a very "Q" type of moment when Lucius Fox leads Bruce Wayne through R&D, showing him the ins and outs of the armoury. Portions of some songs trail of into the most dissonant weird sections in order to mimic the effects of the Fear Toxin or as a representation of the villainous Scarecrow.
"Lasiurus", which is the last track, is probably what I would classify as Ra's Al Ghul's theme. It is a sombre piece that enlightens the moment in which Ra's teaches Bruce about the nature of criminals, and the League of Shadows. It perfectly signifies the heavy loss that is at the heart of this dark character, which becomes the driving force for his resolution to enforce balance by any means necessary.
The heart and soul of this movie is the elegiac Wayne Theme sprinkled in multiple songs but chiefly found in "Macrotus" and "Corynorhinus". Corynorhinus is remarkable for having the most beautiful intro of this particular theme; Macrotus, on the other hand, is the full examination of the theme. Starting off beautifully with a melodic string portion playing a very striking opening motif, then sinks into the theme proper, and at the midway point it slows down and acquires that "airy" tone I previously spoke off, perhaps harkening back to "the Narrows"; then with a lick very much reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings (Sauron-esque), it segues into the Adversity Theme - a booming brass section that conveys the very insurmountable weight of Gotham's problems, and the arduous task of trying to fix it. A choir boy's shrill voice then pierces the background, and provides a scaffold for the strings section to be built upon. The piano then leads us back into the beautiful Wayne Theme motif, joined in by strings and the brass, and buoyed by that haunting shrill voice. The song then slowly winds down as the brass section crescendos.
One piece that they failed to name (nor does it appear in the score) makes a very prominent appearance during the burning down of Wayne Manor at the 2:21 - 3:57 mark. (prior to that, you can definitely notice Lasiurus playing).
The same unnamed tune is also part of the final credits suite and is an action-oriented version of the Wayne Theme. It's a pity that they omitted it from the score, but fortunately you can still get it on Youtube.
As far as soundtracks in this trilogy went, this eclipsed all other entries, and is the most emotionally vibrant of them all. The Dark Knight's soundtrack is particularly unpleasant to listen to because the grating strings that are used for the Joker's theme are like nails on a chalkboard; they may be fine for adding suspense within the context of the movie, but the music cannot be enjoyed on its own; and as for the Dark Knight Rises, it's all Zimmer with none of Howard's redeeming qualities.
Take some time to listen to this wonderful soundtrack and bask in its beauty. I recommend starting with Corynorhinus, Macrotus and Lasiurus.
God Bless
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