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Review of Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire a modest improvement over Henry Jackman's prior entry in the franchise, this score dropping much of the synthetic edge for a beefier orchestral presence.

Avoid it... if you understandably expect to hear satisfying thematic continuity in the franchise, Jackman still writing anonymous new themes as if no other composer has ever established superior alternatives for the same characters before.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Captain America: Civil War: (Henry Jackman) What does it mean for a franchise when negotiations with actors become the most important aspect of its ongoing production? The quantity of Marvel Universe characters intertwined in the series of films inspired by the classic comic books ballooned to ridiculous levels by the latter half of the 2010's, development of each one unsatisfyingly minimal and meaningless. But who cares about any of that when more action figures can be cranked out in the also ever-expanding merchandising realm? This whole Marvel phenomenon is commercially tasteless from an artistic viewpoint, but credit filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo for infusing enough integrity in their products to keep audiences, including critics, happy and eager to continue opening those wallets. In 2016's Captain America: Civil War, the franchise seeks to wrap up the original Captain America trilogy while expanding upon a slew of additional characters that are positioned to join the titular hero in even more fanboy bait over subsequent years. In this particular entry, with both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron establishing the timeline, the heroes are split by United Nations action to regulate them, all the while the terrorist organization Hydra continues causing problems as per usual. At a time when audiences were treated to seeing Batman and Superman clash on the big screen, it's only natural to see more division in the fashion that the world unfortunately seems to desire. Yesterday's divorce court television is today's "end of the world" superhero face-offs. With both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War performing extremely well at the box office, expect the Russos to return for more Marvel adventures, a move that solidifies composer Henry Jackman's place in the franchise. While Jackman has proven himself highly capable in several genres through the years, his superhero music in the X-Men and Captain America areas has not matched that of Brian Tyler, Patrick Doyle, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, or Christophe Beck. Some cynical listeners attribute this comparatively poor result from Jackman to the "Remote Control Effect," with Jackman's scores emanating from and, as some would say, suffering the consequences of the derivative influence of Hans Zimmer procedures. Jackman's score for The Winter Soldier was widely derided for its abrasiveness and lack of loyalty to Silvestri's franchise theme. In Civil War, the result is slightly better but still a disloyal mess of scatterbrained ideas.

The tone of the music in Captain America: Civil War differs from that of The Winter Soldier in that the emphasis rests more on truly authentic-sounding orchestral elements, despite the composer's statements that the industrial elements of the preceding work would be a guidepost. There was turnover in the assistant composers (affectionately known as ghostwriters at this site) between the two works, which could explain some differences. The electronically hideous material for Winter Soldier returns in the first cue but, fortunately, the organic elements prevail for much of the remainder of the work. In fact, that character's thematic translation to strings in "Adagio" is a bit bizarre in its resemblance of Ennio Morricone's The Thing. Captain America's theme, albeit Jackman's version and not Silvestri's, does return, highlighted by the score's pinnacle in "Cap's Promise," and, like the previous score, expect Silvestri's snare-slapping style (a la Judge Dredd, really) does inform these performances for basic continuity. Other than minor nods to prior Iron Man and Avengers motifs, expect nothing to satisfy you thematically the way Tyler and Elfman did in Age of Ultron. On the other hand, Jackman does conjure a variety of new themes for this score, the most cohesive of which existing for the film as a whole (the "Civil War" theme is a descending series of phrases summarized wholly in the cue of that name and thereafter) and for Spider-Man (whose idea in "A New Recruit" and "Larger Than Life," among others, vaguely resembles the strings of Elfman and brass of Zimmer). A new theme for Iron Man, as if one was needed, seems to develop in "Making Amends." There are also minor motifs for Black Panther and Zemo that have little overall impact. The issue with Civil War is that none of this material comes together in a truly cohesive way, yielding minimal summary personality outside of its individual components. Whereas Age of Ultron was a distinctive score (largely due to Elfman's contributions), Civil War is strictly procedural and businesslike, with little passion in its instrumentation or recording. If The Winter Soldier was minimally acceptable because it bored you rather than being as obnoxious as it could have been, then Civil War will bore you just a little less while dispensing with most of the synthetic detriments of the predecessor. There remains nothing memorable from a score like this one, its new themes mundane, its orchestrations lacking intrigue, and its disposal of existing franchise themes nonsensical and dissatisfying. While a modest improvement within Jackman's sphere and thus barely earning a third star, Civil War is hapless, soulless music devoid of loyalty, mission, or aspiration.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 69:05

• 1. Siberian Overture (2:56) • 2. Lagos (2:10) • 3. Consequences (2:22) • 4. Ancestral Call (2:37) • 5. Zemo (3:09) • 6. The Tunnel (3:51) • 7. Celestial Bodies (1:44) • 8. Boot Up (5:16) • 9. New Recruit (1:47) • 10. Empowered (1:59) • 11. Standoff (4:01)

• 12. Civil War (4:26) • 13. Larger Than Life (3:40) • 14. Catastrophe (2:36) • 15. Revealed (5:38) • 16. Making Amends (1:34) • 17. Fracture (4:00) • 18. Clash (3:54) • 19. Closure (5:32) • 20. Cap's Promise (3:46) • 21. Bonus: Adagio (2:18)

NOTES & QUOTES:

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