[Closed] Recent Viewing Part II

How so? Explain.



I understand what you're saying, but what I'd like to know is why, if the Batman Begins soundtrack was so much the same as the The Dark Knight soundtrack, was there so much hype for the latter that was not present for the former? People I know, even friends from school who aren't normally score fans, rushed out to the store to get the TDK soundtrack, proclaiming, 'Because the movie had a great score!' Why, then, do they not respond similarly to films with better scores?

The TDK score is not a once-in-a-lifetime work of genius, yet so many I know acted like it was/is. Or, if they even just like the style of the TDK score, why didn't they respond as enthusiastically to the BB score, after initially seeing it years ago? In my mind, BB had so much of the same sound, even the same material, with entire chunks of music which later appeared in TDK, so why was this sequel score treated as being so different from and better than the first score?

I personally believe it was just the media hyping up the movie. Heath Ledger's legendary performance and death, the trailers and all the Internet buzz, no doubt caused people to want to get involved with every facet of the film, even the score. And when I talk to them about it, they can give me no logical reason why they prefer the TDK score over any other score, or why they for some reason even noticed this score in the film any more than any other score - and for the layman, a film's score is not supposed to distract your attention from the film. But of all scores, TDK had almost nothing on its side to distract them.

I'll grant you that it served the film excellently, and that's a plus in the score's favor. But how on Earth could people notice this score in the context of the film and be apparently blown away by it, but not at all be distracted or even affected by a loud, bombastic action/adventure or sci-fi score with a stunning and catchy main theme? It doesn't add up, at least not to me.

OK...?



And Batman Begins was loud too... But there was not nearly as much hype for that score.

Beside the destinct Joker music, I doubt that people who aren´t too familiar with the scores would be able to tell which track belongs to which score if mixed wildly together. They are so deeply connected, it´s impossible for me to say which one I would prefer. I love them both, I think a combined album with the highlights from both scores would sound as if it came from one and the same movie.

I'm not talking about your enjoyment of the score, per say, but rather, all the various people I've talked to who generally have nothing to do with film scores, not even the Batman Begins score, but for some reason went crazy over this one. It's not that they prefer The Dark Knight, I think, but rather, that it's the score to a cool film that had been getting a lot of media attention leading up to its release, and they just happened to think an overall rehash of the previous film's score (which they somehow didn't go crazy over, even with 80% to 90% of the same material?) was an incredible score... But someone could rip audio from the BB score and put it next to the TDK score, and I wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.

Basically, I believe half the reason most average people ran out to get this particular score, but not other, more noticeable scores, was because the film was as hyped up as it was. People go in and see a movie that will likely go down in history, and they want to have a piece of the action, and get the score. Not because it's necessarily truly a work of genius, but just because it's the score to a film they like. I don't think most of them even noticed the score much at all in the film, but they bought the album anyways and when they did, to them it became a masterpiece.

If only these same people would go out and purchase other scores, to lesser hyped films, which sometimes have better scores than TDK. The amount of media attention a film receives doesn't automatically mean it has the best score in the world. And when I see people who primarily listen only to popular music, that don't buy the BB score, but rush out to get the TDK score and act like it's a piece of heaven in audio form, I've got to wonder what's going on with today's culture...

Even if by some miracle the TDK score were a masterpiece, then the BB score would be just as much a masterpiece, because in the context of the films, they are virtually the same: they sound the same, stand out in the film just the same (which is not that much at all) fit their associated films just as well as each other, use entire chunks of the same music, etc. There is no logical reason for an average person to notice the TDK score any more than the BB score, for there is little way to tell them apart.

Steven...

To me, that pretty much is the definition of an improvement. But hey ho.



Okay, fine. The more powerfully played version of the old Gotham Theme from Batman Begins is one of the reasons I prefer The Dark Knight album. (Technically it is Dent's theme as it's used as his theme in the second movie. It just happens to be a pre-existing piece.)



Never really enjoyed the album that much any way, so it's doubtful I will.

I certainly appreciate the groundwork, and I like the ideas of course. But they improved and expanded upon those ideas in the second one to make a much more enjoyable album, thus why I enjoy the second one a lot more than the first. Simple. Not sure how many times that needs to be explained!

Dent theme is a new theme, the Gotham theme appears in the end of the Harvey Two Face piece, but there is still new material, also there are Coplandisms here and there, something unheard of in BB.

Listen to the trumpet and horn lines in Harvey Two Face

Yes, it is an expansion on the original, even the end fo the track DOES feature the Gotham theme. Or Bruce/Rachel love theme?

I'm glad we agree and you understand why Herrmann came to my mind

Part of the Dent theme (the brass part) does appear in BB on the track Myotis, played on strings.

Yeah.

the slow motif Tom?