Why The Batman Music Is So Perfect For Pattinson's New Dark Knight
Warning! Contains SPOILERS for The Batman
In comparison to other superhero scores that came before it, Michael Giacchino's score for The Batman stands as a considerable improvement. Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's take on the famed Caped Crusader jettisons many elements of its predecessors, and the film's music is no exception. While this was undoubtedly a bold decision, there are a few key reasons as to why the score is ultimately superior.
When Giacchino was announced as the film's composer back in 2019, Batman's musical mythos had already been well established. Having followed Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman's takes on the Caped Crusader, which ranged from aggressively muscular and propulsive to mysteriously brooding and gothic, Giacchino had to prove himself against their past musical visions. As The Batman touches upon the character's more vulnerable side and the detective work that comes with it, many of these past musical stylings would come in handy for creating something far different and yet just as recognizable as what had come before.
As a result, his score for The Batman is not superior because it's intrinsically better than other current superhero scores. Rather, it succeeds because of what it learns from and how it builds off them. With a four-note phrase inspired heavily by Nirvana's "Something In The Way" that announces Batman's arrival with an imposing and threatening aura, a warped version of Ave Maria for Riddler as mentioned in an interview with Reeves (via Variety), and a melody for Catwoman reminiscent of the character's portrayal in The Dark Knight Rises, the score is multifaceted and deeply evocative. Everything from the chilling impact of the Joker's musical themes in The Dark Knight to the noirish and aggressive tendencies heard in Elfman's Batman scores for the Tim Burton films are considered in Giacchino's masterpiece. Even then, not everything stays for inspiration.
While Giacchino often keeps what has worked for past Batman films, with Catwoman's increasingly romantic and sensual melody and action sequences such as the car chase recalling Zimmer's Dark Knight scores, other times, he chooses to drop elements instead. Gone are the cartoonish instrumentations that came with Elfman's version (particularly those for the Joker), replaced with music fitting a crime drama or murder mystery. With this angle in mind, Giacchino's music serves as a celebration of the best of Batman without losing sight of the new interpretation it accompanies. For instance, during Batman and Riddler's conversation at the end of the film's second act in Arkham State Hospital, Riddler's theme slowly takes over, falling apart into fragmented fits as the latter loses whatever sanity he has left over a supposed rejection of their partnership by Batman, recalling Christian Bale's Batman having similar conversations with Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.
By the end of the film, as the third act with the flooding of Gotham and an arena brawl with Riddler's followers nears, Giacchino chooses to take things further in Zimmer's direction, saving statements of true heroism until the end unlike Elfman, who chose to blare his Batman theme from the very start. Yet, what comes next is far more orchestral and heroically grounded than either Zimmer or Elfman's identities. As Batman comes to terms with what his vengeance has wrought, the four-note motif slowly fades away. In its place, the new musical identity, having been hinted at in more intimate performances beforehand at Mayor Mitchell's funeral and Bruce/Batman's conversation with a hospitalized Alfred and one that will inevitably come into its own over the next two installments of Reeves' trilogy, flourishes. Much like Batman growing into his role of heroism and hope, Giacchino's score has grown beyond its inspirations to accompany its new Caped Crusader.
As The Batman's score ends quietly and reflectively with a solo piano variation on Catwoman's and both Batman themes, Michael Giacchino is able to prove to the audience that his score for the film is far more than a pastiche of the past. Instead, it takes what had worked from past interpretations of the character to create something even better. And only time will tell how that musical evolution continues for The Batman 2.