The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1 Score Review

Title: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1

Composer: Christopher Drake

Length: 58 Minutes

Track Count: 22 Tracks

Year Of Release: 2013

Hello! One of my most anticipated scores of the year was released on Spotify a couple of days ago, so I thought it 100% necessary to check it out! The Dark Knight Returns is an animated DC Batman film, based upon the comic book of the same name, and it has been split into 2 parts. Christopher Drake is the man assigned to put music to film for both installments, to my pure delight! He's the man behind the Arkham Origins score, Injustice: Gods Among Us and Under The Red Hood scores, all wonderful. He knows how to make a very themed score, as well as create grand, awe-filled music, which is perfect for this type of film. I noticed within the film how well the music was working, and how distinguishable his style is, which is awesome! So, without further ado, let's mark this one!

Gotham City, 1986 is our starting piece. Drake pumps some heavy music here, but it certainly isn't irritable. It's not the best piece, as there isn't really much of value here. As we move on, synth becomes a much bigger part of the music. Drake fortunately knows how to work it to his advantage, so it's in good taste. Skipping over a piece, we arrive at Both Sides Match. This piece immediately reminds me of The Dark Knight score, a few cues within. It's short, but bold and very good. Mark Of Zorro/Time Has Come is one of the strangest pieces I think I've ever heard! It's got an assortment of strange, foreign sounds, and some big jumps in pace and volume. The tone consistently switches around, before settling within the final minute. 

The Dark Knight Returns is the piece at which everything comes together. It's full of booming, awesome action sets. Unfortunately, they're riddled with some dull synth here and there. It's a big mixed bag, to be honest. We also have some nice funky rhythms lying within, and they're pretty cool. The ending shows off the theme properly for the first time, for small period. The theme is given a bit longer to sit within These Men Are Mine, even if it's only for a short time. The rest of the piece is quite lackluster, boring and repetitive, so I wouldn't look at it again. Sightings is more orchestral based, if only a little more, as is The Signal. The Signal has a darker tone to it, that I really enjoyed. 

Harvey is one of the pieces that really sums up Christopher Drake's style, all in one. It has it's fair assortment of foreign sounds, it's loud and powerful brass, along with some pretty awesome, fast paced synth. There's some intense, key moments here towards the end, which really steal the show for me. For an action cue, it's on par with some of the best of the year. It's pretty much a 6:14 minute suite of brilliant music!  Drake turns down into some dark alleys for his next few pieces, most with I Believe You/Robin's Run, which is stacked with some heavy, powerful music for the first half of it's running time. It goes a little softer as it nears it's ending. 

Mutants... Surrender Now, Or Be Destroyed is the longest piece on the score, sitting at 7:42 minutes. It's got some really intoxicating, funky, awesome beats, which I'm sure I won't be able to get out of my head any time soon! The theme also makes a stand here, the first proper showcase, and it's absolutely glorious! One of the better Christopher Drake themes I've heard, in recent time! Carrie Kelly... Robin is one of the more touching pieces of the score. It's quiet to begin with, but it slowly builds to a nice finish, which I enjoy. Nearing the end of the score, the scale of the pieces, the atmosphere, is more grand and dark. It's nice to see, honestly. Mayor For Dinner, on the other hand, overloads on these points a little too much. It's repetitive, dull and uninteresting, unfortunately. 

I'm Counting On You Jim... One Last Time is a good all rounded piece. We have some pretty awesome percussion towards the beginning, and some well used synth, lying all round. It does drag on a little towards the end, to my dismay. Drake has been getting the longer pieces so right, that this is a bit of a disappointment. It's An Operating Table. And I'm The Surgeon is a big improvement to the last piece, with some catchier rhythms, and heavier percussion sets. It's pretty awesome! Our final piece, The Dark Knight Triumphant/End Titles has both some heart, and some real power woven in. It feels like another showcase suite, and I'm very ok with that! The whole score has delivered some fine moments, and a lot of them are revisited here. 

Conclusion:

This is certainly one of Drake's best scores in a while. Taking a lot of cues from Arkham Origins, he creates something expected, but still damn awesome! This is a mixed bag here. Some of the pieces are quite low in quality, and others really steal the show. It must be commented on how he can keep an audiences interest, even within a huge 7 minute piece. He's one of the best in the business at that, alongside Hans Zimmer and James Horner, both wonderful at creating long, yet complex and beautiful pieces. This score is certainly one I can see myself coming back to in the near future, which is obviously a good sign! Impressive by Drake, to say the least. 

Individual Piece Scores:

Gotham City, 1986-78

Slice And Dice/Never Again-70

Both Sides Match-92

Mark Of Zorro/Time Has Come-84

The Dark Knight Returns-75

These Men Are Mine-58

Sightings-86

The Signal-100

Harvey-100*

Liquor Store Shootout-54

I Believe You/Robin's Run-80

I'm Your Worst Nightmare-50

Eyes Slideways!-91

The General-70

Mutants... Surrender Now, Or Be Destroyed-100*

Carrie Kelly... Robin-95

You're Never Finished With Me-87

Robin's Legacy-80

Mayor For Dinner-54

I'm Counting On You Jim... One Last Time-73

It's An Operating Table. And I'm The Surgeon-100

The Dark Knight Triumphant/End Titles-100*

Junkie Score: 80.77

Thanks for reading! Check out some of these links to social networks/music streaming sites/movie related sites/etc...

Google+ 

My Spotify Account

IMDb Account

Batman: Arkham Origins Video Game Score Review

Title: Batman: Arkham Origins

Composer: Christopher Drake

Year Of Release: 2013

Score Themes: Darkness, madness, heroic

Game Synopsis: Years before the Arkham incidents, the neophyte Dark Knight finds himself the target of an open contract courtesy of Black Mask that draws the likes of Deathstroke, Deadshot, and Bane.

Hello! I'm very excited to review the score for Batman: Arkham Origins! Batman is one of my favourite heroes in the comic book world, and scores relating to Batman usually turn out in fairly good shape! Take Hans Zimmers wonderful Dark Knight trilogy, one of my favourite score trilogies! This time, Christopher Drake has been recruited to tackle the next installment into the Arkham setting, and he has to handle a younger and less experienced Batman. Christopher Drake has done some magnificent scores in the past, most noticeably the score for The Dark Knight Returns Parts 1 and 2!  So, it's no surprise that this is one of my more anticipated scores of the year, so lets see if it delivers!

Arkham Origins Main Theme starts us off, and it sounds a little like Zimmer's work for The Dark Knight trilogy. There is a heavy emphasis on strings and brass throughout the entire piece. It certainly sounds like a Batman theme, and one of the better ones out there! Not many negatives within the piece, to be honest! The Night Before Christmas is a haunting and harrowing piece. It has a distinct reliance on the percussion here, and it brings worth sounds which perfectly replicate the Christmas kind of feel. Black Mask Escapes is faster and more dangerous than it's predecessor. There are some brilliant riffs lying all through this piece, but the piece lasts for a mere 0:47 seconds, so we don't get much! Killer Croc is something of a longer version of Black Mask Escapes, with a little higher intensity and pace, which really has a big effect! There are various edgy and distressing riffs that fire all throughout the piece, and it makes for an interesting ride. Christopher Drake never lets any come off as lazy or 1 dimensional. There are so many aspects to this piece, and whilst it is filled to the brim with constant, original riffs, it never feels too overwhelming.

Croc Arrest has much more of a distinct theme to it than our last Killer Croc themed piece had. It's short, but awesome, as is our next piece, Batwing Storm Damage, which only lasts 0:39 seconds! It's a strong piece in the brass and percussion areas, but it doesn't do much in it's running time, for obvious reasons. Assassins is one of the more infectious pieces in the score so far. It's got some heavy percussion, and some really powerful brass. It goes to so many places in it's running time, and not a second is wasted! Weapons Deal is a softer, Christmasier piece. It's short, but it manages to capture some aggression and the feel of Christmas. The Final Offer starts off with either a heavy synth riff, or a single note being played over and over again on an electric pedal guitar. Either way, it's a slightly irritating piece due to this continuous riff. It's not stacked with much, and it is one of the more dull pieces on the score so far. The piece Deathstroke, in my opinion, perfectly replicates Deathstroke himself in music. It's fast, it has a heap of aggression and grunt and it never relaxes. All these points are so perfectly captured! An uneven beat makes for an impressive first few minutes. The strings and brass, once again, are a main focal point in this piece. The piece surprisingly never feels like it drags on for too long, despite the fact that the same rhythm and beats are used for fairly long durations.

Winter Comes To Gotham returns to the Christmas vibes. It's slow and manipulative, and it almost reminds me of some 80's horror film! More recently, Marco Beltrami's Carrie score, as a matter of fact. It's a dark piece, that keeps your interest the whole way through! Carols Of The Bells doesn't feel like it has a specific mood to it, which is a little confusing. It's light and bubbly, mixed with a dark overshadowing of brass. It feels so much like The Joker, so unpredictable and strange! G.C.P.D returns to the heavy brass and percussion we got in Deathstroke, to create a faster and more infectious beat to begin with. This piece in particular feels so much like Zimmer's Dark Knight. The amount of power in the percussion is insane towards the end! Can't You Just Play Along? is incredibly dark and unfocused in it's direction. You don't know where anything is going, what's happening until it happens. It's quite exciting, to be honest! It's thrilling climax is perfect for the kind of piece Drake wanted to create. Merchant Bank Escape is a fast and direct piece and doesn't take it's time on finishing up and ending with a bang! Copperhead is slower, more methodical, more dangerous. It constantly reinvigorates itself, recreates itself, with a stop start kind of format that I usually hate, that strangely works here! Hallucinations is a piece which screams madness! You can almost hear The Joker laughing as the piece ramps up! It's edgy, twisted and demented. Every second of it's 2:57 are so incredibly intense, so brutal, that the piece will leave you physically drained.

Snake In A Box is a charming yet mischievous piece. I feel like it ends much too quickly, with a running time of 0:40 seconds. Night Patrol has an heroic tone to it, mixed with an edgy and fierce riff that plays the entire way through. Regent Hotel uses most of it's playing time to build to a less than appealing climax. The piece doesn't offer too much, unfortunately. Bane plays to the effect of Bane, like I expected. It's heavy and powerful, and sets itself to an almost marching beat, which I personally loved! As of this point, Drake has managed to perfectly recreate most of the main characters into music! Why Would You Save... Me? is a mixed bag. There are some key moments which are done to perfection, mixed with some moments where the tone is really undefined. The Thieving Magpie is such a strange piece in the context of this score! It's so chirpy and wonderful! If I hadn't have seen the cutscene this piece is included in, I would've been completely lost! If this doesn't bring a smile to your face, there is something truly wrong with you! It's a great composition by Drake that will stick to your memory for sure!

The Bridge is not nearly as exciting than many of it's previous pieces, and it's full of an uninteresting melody, to my dismay. Firefly is the longest piece on the score, clocking in at 6:00, and showcases some of the more intricate and powerful riffs and melodies within the score. Despite it's length in comparison to a lot of the other pieces, it continually stays fresh and very energetic, to my delight! It runs the line between darkness and heroic, with some aggressive and brutal riffs, mixed in with some strong Batman themes. It's climax is one of the better riffs this score has to offer! I won't state the full name, just I Have Left, is a short piece full of some saddening and touching moments. Like a lot of the rest of the score, I don't know the tone of the piece, and it's hard whether to say it's dark or quite the opposite. Allies is an incredibly sad and sombre piece. It manages to hit the emotional mark quite well, and it's got some heart wrenching moments, to be brutally honest. It ends with a big change in tone and pace, and turns itself into a dark and brooding piece in a matter of seconds. Electric Chair is much like a lot of The Joker's themes. Edgy, raspy and dark. The underlying theme to this whole score, darkness. It's a little slow, but it's got enough smart and interesting riffs to keep you invested. One Of Us Will Die sounds like Bane, Batman and The Joker, all in one piece, and that it should be! The cutscene this piece is titled after includes all three of those characters. It's threatening, edgy and almost brooding.

Shadow Of The Bat is quite obviously The Batman's theme. It's fast, cunning and sane. It's the very opposite of The Joker! You sense there is a complete sense of control in the music, that Drake is certain for what is to come next, unlike The Joker's themes, at which were unpredictable and random! Arkham Origins End Titles is a very smooth and dark piece, that perfectly sums up the experience that has been the Arkham Origins score! It's heroic and brutal, which makes for a perfect ending! But, we're not finished yet. Arkham Origins Suite is pretty much a showcase of some of the best riffs from the score, and this makes for a very interesting piece. Drake mixes so many melodies and riffs into an almost perfect standard! It's ending is sublime, and I'm glad to say I really do approve this score!

Conclusion:
Christopher Drake has knocked it out of the park here! There are a couple of points in which the score turns a little dull and silly, but these are clearly overshadowed by the dark tone and incredibly fast and aggressive power that this score showcases. It's one of Drake's best scores on it's own terms, and I can say for sure that this score plays into the game incredibly well. It's an hour and 4 minutes well spent, in my opinion. If you're a fan of superhero scores, this will certainly be to your liking!

Highlights:
Arkham Origins Main Title*
Killer Croc
Assassins*
Deathstroke
Hallucinations*
The Thieving Magpie*
Firefly*
Allies
Arkham Origins End Titles*
Arkham Origins Suite*

Individual Piece Scores:
Arkham Origins Main Title-100*
The Night Before Christmas-95
Black Mask Escapes-80
Killer Croc-98
Croc Arrest-90
Batwing Storm Damage-79
Assassins-100*
Weapons Deal-87
The Final Offer-73
Deathstroke-100
Winter Comes To Gotham-97
Carols Of The Bells (Jokers Theme)-86
G.C.P.D-94
Can't You Just Play Along?-90
Merchant Bank Escape-82
Copperhead-91
Hallucinations-100*
Snake In A Box-78
Night Patrol-83
Regent Hotel-75
Bane-96
Why Would You Save.... Me?-80
The Thieving Magpie-100*
The Bridge-70
Firefly-100*
I Have Left Enough Life In Him For Some Final Words... If You Hurry-80
Allies-99
Electric Chair-87
One Of Us Will Die-90
Shadow Of The Bat-95
Arkham Origins End Titles-100*
Arkham Origins Suite-100*

Junkie Score: 89.84

Google+
My Spotify Account