The soundtrack to the new Batmanfilm meet with approval.

HANS ZIMMER & JAMES NEWTON HOWARD

The Dark Knight

Warner Bros

****

The Dark Knightreunites heavyweight Hollywood composers Hans Zimmer ( Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean) and James Newton Howard ( The Village, Michael Clayton) after the extraordinary success of their historic first collaboration, Batman Begins, in 2005 - the last time two legendary composers co-wrote a film score was Alfred Newman and Bernard Herrmann on The Egyptianin 1950.

The Dark Knightis by far the better and more dynamic collaboration - it brings out the best in Zimmer and Howard to create an original and epic score. They deliver an abrasive and adrenaline-charged action score (driving percussion and propulsive electric strings) with an unusual emotional urgency and complexity (delicate piano and brooding electronica) that is at once dramatic, exhilarating and affecting.

[ www.thedarkknightscore.comOpens in new window ]

JOCELYN CLARKE

Download Tracks: Why So Serious, A Dark Knight