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For enthusiasts of Toprak's solid music for documentaries and dramas in the 2010's, her successful campaign to land Captain Marvel was ample reason to celebrate. Her career had included action and, of course, a stint as one of Hans Zimmer's army of Media Ventures assistants in the late 1990's. She even contributed additional material to Danny Elfman's score for Justice League, so her hiring was not without merit on the substance. Sadly, rumors arose shortly after the release of Captain Marvel that claimed the directors and/or producers were dissatisfied with Toprak's score during its recording and demanded several edits. That alone is not unusual, though the same rumors indicated that veteran blockbuster composer Michael Giacchino, a distinctly male colleague who happened to be working within the franchise on another Spider-Man project at the time, was asked to assist Toprak in rewriting some cues. The exact extent of Giacchino's involvement remains unknown, though he claims that his contributions were as a consultant only. Nevertheless, the score is disappointingly sullied to a minor degree by the otherwise not-too-uncommon scenario of post-production chaos. Certainly, nothing in the score for Captain Marvel sounds like Giacchino music, and, aside from a quick reference to Alan Silvestri's franchise theme near the end of the work, everything you hear from Toprak is fairly consistent with her previous styles. The general ambience of the score is beefed up to suffice for the modern superhero genre, string ostinatos and low brass muscularity on fine display as expected. The composer doesn't shy away from emphasizing a wide range of instrumentation in her work, the woodwinds never forgotten, even in the score's most bombastic passages. Varied percussion, sparingly applied solo female voice, synthetic layering, and an electric guitar are all conveyed. The solo voice in "Waking Up" and "Photos of Us" is a keen connection to humanity and soul in the work, one arguably underplayed in the entire scheme. Fuller choral contributions, as at the conclusion of the thematic arrangement in "Captain Marvel," sound inauthentic and are sadly missing as a force of fantasy in key passages. Toprak's old-school analog synthetics, a blend of Mark Mothersbaugh's Thor: Ragnarok and (mostly) Rupert Gregson-Williams' Aquaman are meant to represent the alien species at play in the plot, and the result is only marginally effective and sometimes obnoxious as mixed, such as at the end of "More Problems."

Not much attempt to interface with the style of the songs is made by Toprak in Captain Marvel, though the electric guitar insertions for the Fury character are a delight, carrying parts of "Hot Pursuit" and "Lost the Target" with style. Thematically, the score is both a success and a failure, depending on how you look at it. Toprak's main theme for Danvers/Captain Marvel checks most of the boxes in that it is sufficiently heroic and malleable. The latter is important, because the idea can be reduced to its first two notes for quick reference as needed. It is boiled down to solo cello and other more dramatic incarnations in "Learning the Truth" and "High Score." Its many brawny renditions in the latter half of the score are a great asset to the action material, culminating in the obligatory, triangle-rattling and cymbal-crashing send-off in "This Isn't Goodbye." Even when not expressing this frequently-referenced theme, the action cues remain easily accessible and remarkably dense. In fact, the entirety of the score, and especially the suite of action cues at the climax, is tonally digestible aside from a few of the electronic accents. Therein, however, lies the score's greatest weakness: its anonymity. If you totally remove this score from all regard for its context, it could exist as a safe, blanket action thriller akin to Brian Tyler on autopilot. There is very little distinct character to this music's execution, the performances fine but not eliciting any flair or pizzazz at any moment. The work's main theme is enjoyable but not as immediately memorable as hoped. Toprak's secondary themes for the two alien species are applied repeatedly but blend into the surrounding material to such an extent that they never enunciate their presence for the average listener. In the end, Captain Marvel is highly capable and, at times, inspiring sonic wallpaper. But it's still sonic wallpaper, supplying the project with the music it needed without setting any new standard by which the larger universe of films could grow. The fantasy element is especially lost in the mix, very little sense of wonderment exuded by an otherwise dramatic and action-based stance. The score plays almost like one would expect if the composer was playing his or her role extremely conservatively as to appease basic expectations as a foremost concern. More than just the result of a predictable outcome in writing, the recording for Captain Marvel is mechanically proficient but lacking in distinction, the symphonic group orchestrated in a way as to diminish individual excellence from any particular contributor. That leaves listeners to be content with a general sense of propulsion and excitement inevitable with a recording of this size. The underlying composition remains undoubtedly competent and occasionally quite impressive, even if somewhat forgettable.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 67:27