Search - Danny Elfman :: Batman: Original Motion Picture Score

Great soundtrack to a great movie

Joker | Michigan | 11/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Batman soundtrack by Danny Elfman is one of the best soundtracks to any movie, ever. There is not a weak track on the whole album. Anybody who has seen the movie remembers the familiar soundtrack. This music is powerful, haunting and gothic at the same time. This music really portrays the darkness of this great movie. This is Danny Elfman's best work, in my opinion. My favorite tracks are 1. The Batman Theme (a classic), 2. Kitchen, Surgery, Face-Off, 3. Flowers (eerie and emotional),

4. Clown Attack, 5. Descent Into Mystery, 6. Attack Of The Batwing (dramatic), and 7. Up The Cathedral (really dramatic).



This soundtrack is far superior to The Dark Knight soundtrack, which is repetitive. I highly recommend this soundtrack for fans of this great 1989 movie and for fans of dark classical music. For people who have never even seen the movie, you'll still enjoy this soundtrack."

Score One For Elfman

Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 01/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tim Burton had successfully worked with Danny Elfman on the music for Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. But those projects were like hitting a couple of home runs in a minor-league ballpark and then being asked to smack a grand slam out of Yankee Stadium when Burton pencilled Elfman into the starting lineup for this highly-anticipated film that was in the making for nearly a decade.



And Elfman delivered in the clutch.



The titles to the 21 tracks - clocking in at 54:45 - aptly depict the emotions that are conveyed by the music, which was arranged by Elfman, Steve Bartek and Shirley Walker and co-produced by Elfman and Bartek. The score is equally brooding and powerful, with the colors meticulously splashed on a gothic canvas, and remains a gem in the iconic franchise for the Caped Crusader."

One of the Best Scores Ever Written

elixxxer | Bay Area, CA | 01/08/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am sure you all hear this quite often, but I am quite the Batman fanatic. I have owned this original Batman score for many years and recently felt compelled to write a brief, perhaps even curt given the awesome subject matter, review.



I would like to personally punch Joel Schumacher in the face for nearly killing the franchise with the poor Batman Forver and atrociously awful Batman & Robin. Thankfully, Christopher Nolan stepped in to rescue the Caped Crusader, producing the best two entries of the lot yet. Unfortunately, the music has only continued to degrade since Elfman's original masterpiece (Goldenthal's was pretty good, but Zimmer's effort was mediocre at best). Some say Elfman's original Batman theme has been inspired by German composer Paul Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler. Personally, I find that association to be a bit of a stretch. But whether or not Elfman was inspired by Hindemith, Batman remains one of the most enduring themes in cinema history and is by far the most recognizable and well-written bit of a music for a comic book super hero. But the exceptional music does not end with the theme. Danny Elfman remains the only composer to exquisitely capture the duality of the trouble man: Bruce Wayne and Batman. The title theme captures this sense of angst and triumph well, but the score is littered with hints of this struggle (that Michael Keaton did a commendable job portraying visually). The late 80s and early 90s were the golden age for Elfman, Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice being two other notable classics, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not have access to this masterpiece. I'm neither a composer nor a professional musician of any sort, but I am a devout film score collector and Batman will forever be one of my absolute favorites."