Yes, the same happened to me with Terminator Salvation. It surprised me when I read it was Danny Elfman. During the film I didn't notice about it.
I used to like Danny Elfman scores when I was a teenager, but the last one I really liked was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Since then, he's been lacking in his fantasy works.
With Hans Zimmer the problem is that now he doesn't care about melody, he is experimenting while repeating the same sound over and over. Years ago he was criticized for rehashing the same theme over and over, but at least there was a nice melody, nice chords... now all he does come across as noise to me, with some exceptions like Rango or Sherlock Holmes 2, that anyway can't hold a candle to his best works.
And yes, I agree with the Joker. Tim Burton's one was so much better. I don't know if it's because Nicholson was more capable of doing a compelling Joker than Ledger. I think it's Nolan's fault, Ledger did pretty well from what he was asked to do, I believe. It made me sad during the movie knowing that the actor had passed away. But the performance was OK, it wasn't glorious as most people says.
Another brilliant villain from the old Batman movies was the Penguin.
I remember that during the hype of Batman Begins / TDK, I decided to pick up the old films, and I didn't expect anything, but the first 2, especially the 2nd, really surprised me. They are excellent.
The 3rd and 4th film are laughable
And I loved Batman Begins and TDKR, but just not TDK.