Review Summary: BvS’ soundtrack is an amalgamation of old and new, black and blue: the sounds of evolution and triumph.
Whether you like the film or not,
Batman v Superman is an epic spectacle – two of the greatest superheroes sharing the screen for the first time duking it out in a live action setting, continuing the DC Extended Universe after
Man of Steel and acting as a conduit that triggers the birth of the iconic Justice League. That’s a lot to take in, and a movie of this magnitude needs epic music to accompany it.
Hans Zimmer has been the go-to guy for superhero soundtracks for the past decade. It’s safe to say that the man is burned out so naturally he’d want to bring in some fresh talent to collaborate with, as he did on
Batman Begins and
The Dark Knight with
James Newton Howard, and now joining forces with
Junkie XL for
Dawn of Justice.
It’s a good thing he outsourced because Zimmer himself admitted, “This one was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language,” and claiming it will be his final score for superhero movies. Thankfully, Zimmer didn’t need to develop an entirely new lexicon for
Batman v Superman. Many of the ideas are reused from
Man of Steel, expounded on and modified – the quieter motifs once again serve as Superman’s theme and the bombastic battle music resurfaces in the movie’s final act. This is in no way suggesting that the
BvS soundtrack is a rehash. On the contrary, it’s quite brilliant the way Zimmer revives some of these ideas. Lex Luthor’s theme for example takes ingredients from
MoS and deconstructs them in a way that compliments his eccentric puppeteer persona, using orchestral jabs to mimic his onscreen mannerisms and staccato octave-leaping piano notes juxtaposed with dissonant pizzicato strings to create an unsettling atmosphere for the equally unsettling character.
While Zimmer had most of the control on the Superman side of things, it’s
Junkie XL that brought to life the brand new elements introduced in
BvS, namely the music surrounding Ben Affleck’s Batman. It’s subtle to the point that it doesn’t distract you from what’s happening but powerful enough to denote that, hey, this is fucking Batman. It’s sprinkled throughout the score and the more it’s played the more it sticks with you, and it’s a marginal improvement over
Batman Begins’ titular theme which consisted of only a two-note motif. Here his theme is dynamic and modular, fitting the internal conflict Bruce Wayne faces between what is good and what he believes is right. Wonder Woman’s theme, hinted at around the halfway point but culminating fully on ‘Is She with You?’, is a true collaboration between the two composers. It features Zimmer’s traditional string tapestry layered over a driven tribal beat in 7/4, sure to get the blood pumping when WW finally hits the screen.
On a track-by-track basis, the obvious standouts would be the character themes; Luthor’s taking form in ‘The Red Capes Are Coming’ and ‘Problems Up Here’, Wonder Woman’s dominating ‘Is She with You?’, Superman’s quiet contrast in ‘Day of the Dead’, and Batman’s new theme first teased in ‘Their Way Here’ and ‘Do You Bleed?’ coming into full fruition on the soundtrack’s tail end, ‘Men Are Still Good (The Batman Suite)’. Much of the other tracks consist of ambience and barebones alterations on previous ideas, among other visual aids like the atonal noise in ‘Must There Be a Superman?’ for when the world is unsure of Superman’s true motives after an ambiguous terrorist attack. These tracks don’t share the same replay value as the character-based standouts and are primarily used to fill in gaps in the movie. In that vein they serve their purpose well, but from a purely musical standpoint it’s hard to see yourself listening to them on their own.
Batman v Superman isn’t quite an epic standalone soundtrack, but when paired with its accompanying film, it elevates certain scenes into the stratosphere with its healthy balance of renovated
MoS motifs integrated into fresh ones to illustrate that this is indeed a turning point in the DCEU. Batman and Superman have clashed and subsequently joined forces; other heroes are now known to exist in this world; there’s a new supervillain with a plan that transcends the movie itself. It’s the origin of the Justice League, a harbinger for bigger and better things to come: the sounds of evolution and triumph.
