It is hard to believe that we are only a week away from The Batman finally hitting theaters and one of the most exciting elements leading up to the release of the film has been director Matt Reeves and composer Michael Giacchino slowly teasing the musical score. If hearing the themes for Robert Pattinson’s Batman, Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman, and Paul Dano’s The Riddler was not enough to hold you over until the film comes out, Reeves has announced that the entire soundtrack is now available to listen to.

Reeves took to his Twitter to make the announcement telling fans to “turn the volume up” as all 29 tracks of the musical score have dropped. The first 3 character themes that were previously released set the stage for an extremely atmospheric experience that combined the emotionally thrilling feel of Hans Zimmer’s Dark Knight Trilogy score with the euphoric whimsy of Danny Elfman’s sound and mixes in Shirley Walker’s tragic vibe from The Animated Series for good measure. All the while sounding hauntingly unique in its own right and that killer combination bleeds into the rest of Giacchino‘s score. There are a lot of different elements at play here like eerie piano keys, an abundance of startling sounds almost as if Batman was dropped into a horror movie like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, some hints of jazz, and satisfyingly gothic undertones that have become synonymous with this brooding character.

Reeves and the great ensemble cast have talked about this film in the past like it was a pseudo horror movie, and it is great to hear the sound embracing that tone while still giving us what we have come to love from The Dark Knight. At least from a score perspective. Also, a lot of the tracks’ titles playfully tease certain story or character elements like “Mayoral Ducting,” “Penguin of Guilt,” “The Great Pumpkin Pie,” “Meow and You and Everyone You Know,” and “An Im-purr-fect Murder.” The latter two of which are obviously humorous puns involving Catwoman.

The best soundtracks can tell a story without the images to back them up and Giacchino’s emotionally well-balanced score is a fine example of that. There are so many questions surrounding this new Batman adventure, even with a week to go until the film’s release. For example, what is The Riddler’s endgame, or how is Bruce Wayne and his family connected to this puzzling adversary’s mission? However, the one definitive answer we do have at the moment is that Giacchino absolutely delivers with The Batman score. Giacchino had an insanely tough challenge given that this is the tenth Batman film in just over 30 years’ time and when it seemed like everything had been done regarding the character, the composer arguably gives his best score to date.

The Batman finally releases in theaters on March 4, 2022, and you can listen to the full soundtrack of this gritty comic book crime epic here.

via Collider