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Two Scores, Two Blockbusters

I love movie soundtracks. From pure musical scores to inspired by albums, at least half of my entire music collection is made up of movie, stage, and television soundtracks. The reasons are simple, most scores tell a complete musical tale from start to finish and so I can again relive the emotional quality of a film. While inspired by soundtracks tend to be more akin to greatest hits albums and so they allow me to enjoy a tune without wading through 12 other crappy songs from a flavor of the month band. I know that may be a little cheap and shallow on my end, but at least I can accept that. With the summer movie season barely started I already have two fantastic scores to listen. One breathing new life into a dead franchise, the other reminding me why I fell in love with scores in the first place...

Batman Begins and Star Wars - Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

Batman Begins - Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - Warner Home Video

Like so many Batman fans, the music of Danny Elfman cast a long shadow over all things Gotham. Even during the various incarnations of Batman in animated format you could hear inspiration from Elfman. This was not necessarily a bad thing. The score that Elfman created was epic and iconic. Much like Alexander Courage’s work with Star Trek, Elfman’s Batman score created the bar with which all other Batman (and possibly comic book film) composers had to rise to.

Thankfully, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are more then up to the task. Like the film franchise itself, Zimmer and Howard decided to take Batman in a completely different direction, musically. Gone are the over the top brass declaring the arrival of the Caped Crusader. Where Elfman musically embraced Batman’s comic book roots, Zimmer and Howard firmly ground Bruce Wayne real world tones. That is not to say that Zimmer and Howard do not go epic with their scoring. Far from it. The score to Batman Begins is almost Wagnerian in its attempt to musically tell a tale of tragedy, anger, and finally redemption. Like the film, the score to Batman Begins is simply the beginning of Bruce Wayne’s and Gotham’s rise from the abyss of despair to justice and equality.

Like all good scores, Batman Begins is very much a companion piece to the film and is far more enjoyable once the movie has been seen. With each track I am able to visualize moments from the film and again enjoy the various arcs that Nolan and Goyer created. Where Elfman created the iconic sound of Batman, Zimmer and Howard composed the music for an entire world. A world of darkness and hope. I give Batman Begins...

4 out of 5 Critical Hits.

Star Wars - Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith - John Williams - Sony

There can be little argument that John Williams resurrected the modern film score. With his iconic work in Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, and Indiana Jones Williams breathed new life into a musical form that was quickly fading from the American film landscape. My own obsession with film scores can be traced back to John Williams and a still pristine vinyl copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is fitting that Williams is there at the end of the theatrical saga of Star Wars. Like the rest of the trilogy, the score to Revenge of the Sith is by far the strongest. It is clear that Williams had a larger emotional palate to work with in this final installment. As expected, Williams does not deviate from the iconic sounds of the galaxy far, far away. Perhaps the reason this score works so much better then the Menace or Clones is the fact that Sith has such a strong connection with the original trilogy. In Sith we hear familiar themes and elements missing from the previous two film scores. In fact, with exception of the fantastically bombastic Duel of the Fates, little from the first two films is memorable.

Revenge of the Sith is very much the musical journey we have come to expect from a Star Wars movie. Action and adventure are perfectly captured in all their pulp glory with tracks like Battle of Heroes and Anakin vs. Obi Wan (even if that track has a hint of sadness). We feel the evil within the very un Williams like track: Palpatine’s Teachings. Where as Padme’s Ruminations is the closest Williams has ever come to heartbreaking music within the Star Wars universe. Enter Lord Vader evokes just the right amount of darkness to remind us that this boy does indeed become the most hated villain in the modern literary world. Yet, Williams gives us hope with the track, The Birth of the Twins and A New Hope. Even now I can see Owen and Beru holding the infantile Luke Skywalker as the twin sun of Tatooine set.

The soundtrack is far from perfect, although I can not fault Williams for all of it. The work of John Williams has become so iconic that it is hard to improve upon it. Every bit of Star Wars music I hear I can not help but be held against the perfection that is the Empire Strike Back score. It has even become difficult to judge any work that Williams does for film. His work has woven it’s way into the musical fabric of American cinema so much that themes become redundant in other films. Hence my belief that the droid army music from Phantom is just left over Nazi themes from Raiders. Or, while in line for Sith I overheard two girls state that the new Star Wars music sounds like Harry Potter,as I thought the exact opposite after viewing the Potter films. (Perhaps that is what happens when someone pens music for such a similar mythical arc). My other complaint I plant squarely in Sony and Lucasfilm’s lap. Please, stop releasing “half-tracks”. I will pay the full price for a complete soundtrack right out the gate. Don’t release what you consider to be a best of only to release a two CD set months later. All that does is force me to download missing tracks and building my own damn score. While the best of the “new” trilogy, this is by no means Williams best work overall. If you enjoy loud classical themes give it a listen, if you are a Star Wars fan, well, you have it already!

3.5 out of 5 Critical Hits.