The Avengers (Alan Silvestri)

Final Musings: Fans expecting the Alan Silvestri of yesteryear will ultimately be leaving this score disappointed. While the score offers rather entertaining highlights in its peak, it falls more along the lines of a rather generic entry in the composer’s career. The score falls short with the main theme and the lack of inspiration consequently makes this score a wearisome listening experience. Regardless, it still stands above the drivel that accompanies most modern blockbusters these days and for that perhaps there ought to be some gratitude.

Marvel’s long term cinematic plan finally came to be fulfilled with 2012’s The Avengers. Over the course of many years, the popular comic book studio has worked hard to unleash productions of their most formidable heroes so that they may be gathered to make the penultimate blockbuster, making millions on the way of course. There were high expectations riding on this film, and it did not disappoint. Financially, the film already broke several records in its opening weekend, having surpassed even the final Harry Potter film with its opening weekend grossing. It also served as a strong entry in television director Josh Whedon’s career as it managed to please critics with its intelligent dialogue and charismatic crew.

Now the Marvel films have always been rather colourful in terms of musical style. The scores for these ventures have ranged from mundane Remote Control Production clones for the Iron Man franchise to the symphonic heights of the Spiderman films. Hired for this assignment was action veteran Alan Silvestri. In a world where the Hans Zimmer/Remote Control methodology seems to be forced upon the most respectable of composers, even in the superhero genre (as recently shown by Patrick Doyle’s Thor), Silvestri seems to be a man who can be counted on to provide a more traditional, orchestral score. His recent work for Captain America: The First Avenger proved that the composer was still capable of his rhythmic force and bold themes.

Considering the nature of the film, Silvestri approaches the film more with the stylistic flavour of his disappointing effort for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. So the unreasonable folks expecting the return to the soundscape of Back to the Future and Judge Dredd are bound to be disappointed. The score is exactly one might expect for a film like this. The snare-ripping action, the dissonance for suspense, and the brassy thematic statements common to Silvestri’s career are all there. Electronic accents are also heard throughout the score to attune to the setting and personality of the movie (as heard in moments like 1:36 in “Assemble”). Stylistically speaking, there isn’t anything new this score has to offer. But perhaps this thought is exactly what fans are looking for considering the radically changing trends in today’s film music. Read the rest of this entry »