From Neil Hefti's cheesily amusing theme for the Adam West TV show to Danny Elfman's early and improbably superb, iconic score (up there with Williams' Superman in my estimation) for Tim Burton's slightly superficial take and the schizophrenia of Elliot Goldenthal's entries, Batman has done well musically. Treading the fine line between light and dark, he is a more complex character than Superman and brooding, but heroic, is entirely appropriate. Hans Zimmer may be used to having a gaggle of minions fill in the gaps between "zee little tunes," James Newton Howard is a one man show and having them work together seems an intriguing prospect. While Howard rarely fails to impress, Zimmer's imagination seems to have been stalling since Gladiator and unfortunately, the mixture here shows neither composer in their finest light.
There is a school of thought which suggests that some kind of continuity with Elfman's or Goldenthal's might be appropriate, but I can live with this not being the case. However, the character's main identifier is little more than a memorable cadence - two notes and not a fat lot else. I would confess that it is surprisingly effective in the film itself and the epic shots of Batman atop some tower block and a thick, epic, couple of orchestral chords work in their simplicity, on disc it all seems a bit too simplistic. Here, more than ever, Zimmer's anthem has a Vangelis lilt to it - if Alexander had been menacing and dressed in leather, rather than effete, blond and Irish, I'm guessing his theme would sound something like the second half of Eptesicus. Like Vangelis' Titans anthem from Stone's disastrous epic, this is the kind of simplistic anthem that is somehow irresistible, although unlike Vangelis' music, melodically rather uninteresting.
It appears that Howard got the dramatic portions and Zimmer ramps up his keyboard for the action. The former sections are occasionally engaging, notably a fine, melancholy string melody, while the latter are slightly more interesting than much of Zimmer's recent action music, although this is rather relative. Unfortunately, between these modestly interesting passages, there are too many slack periods; gloomy, sustained notes that don't go anywhere and general non-musical ambiance gets dull, quickly. Artibeus offers some decently nightmarish horror which, while threatening to be rather obnoxious at times, builds the tension effectively. The final two tracks are perhaps the best and feature all of the best material - both the high points of Zimmer's stoic and heroic pounding, plus Howard's elegant strings. The two styles seem to waft from one to another, but in a blind test, I rather suspect few would spot Howard's contributions. Careful listening reveals the two styles quite easily, but to say they clash seems a bit strong - only by virtue of them not sounding like every other Zimmer adagio does Howard's restrained material make itself known. Zimmer's typical chord progressions and synth/orchestra action mix is certainly the more assertive of the two.
For my money, Zimmer has been musically treading water for some time and a Howard solo effort would likely have been far more interesting. Then again, a more typically dramatic score from Elliot Goldenthal, if he could have been tempted, would have bettered either composer. An interesting experiment, but neither composer displays their strengths; Zimmer leans too heavily on the tried and tested, while Howard simply loses out by getting all the quiet bits (even if they far and away the best passages and in a score of entirely that material, would likely result in a fine album). In one interview, Zimmer suggests that it was a necessity to have two composers as the film was too much for one to tackle alone, which is an insult to all those composers who are entirely capable of scoring fine films on their own. Howard Shore didn't need a team to write three Lord of the Rings scores, each one a bigger undertaking than this. Yes, there are some good moments here, but many longeurs and the pleasures are distinctly intermittent. See the film though, it rarely lets up and its pleasures are manifold.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 60:26