Batman Begins (soundtrack)
| Batman Begins: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
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| Film score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard | ||||
| Released | June 14, 2005 | |||
| Recorded | December 26, 2004 - March 1, 2005 | |||
| Length | 60:26 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |||
| Batman soundtrack chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Filmtracks | |
| Movie Music UK | |
| SoundtrackNet | |
Batman Begins: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. It was released on June 15, 2005. The soundtrack drew from the film score, composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, as well as contributions by Ramin Djawadi, Lorne Balfe and Mel Wesson.
Director Christopher Nolan originally invited Zimmer to compose the film score, and Zimmer asked the director if he could invite Howard to compose as well, as they had always planned a composers collaboration. The two composers collaborated on separate themes for the "split personality" of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman. Zimmer and Howard began composing in Los Angeles and moved to London where they stayed for 12 weeks to complete most of their writing. Zimmer and Howard sought inspiration for shaping the score by making set visits to Batman Begins.
Zimmer wanted to avoid composing a film score that had been done before, so the score became an amalgamation of orchestra and electronic music. The film's ninety-piece orchestra was developed from members of various London orchestras, and Zimmer chose to use more than the normal number of cellos. Zimmer enlisted a choir boy to help reflect the music in the film's scene where Bruce Wayne's parents are killed. "He's singing a fairly pretty tune and then he gets stuck, it's like froze, arrested development", Zimmer said. Zimmer also attempted to add human dimension to Batman, whose behavior would typically be seen as "psychotic", through the music. Both composers collaborated to create 2 hours and 20 minutes worth of music for the film. Zimmer composed the action sequences, while Howard focused on the film's drama.
Reviews of the score were positive. Soundtrack.net, for example, in a review by Matt Scheller, said that "the music complements the visuals flawlessly." He called the main action track, Molossus, the best of the soundtrack: "Once this track starts, it never quits." He does admit that the album is heavy on Hans Zimmer's style rather than James Newton Howard's ("I would say 70% Zimmer, 30% Howard"), and that "Hans Zimmer/Media Ventures haters should probably skip this album. His score in the end is four stars out of five."
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Wikipedia