Captain America Civil War

Captain America: Civil War - Henry Jackman

5/8/16
Updated: 5/11/16

Staring contest. Go!

What You Will Hear: Generic adventure cues and the Winter Soldier’s screeching.

Standout Tracks: Consequences, The Tunnel, Celestial Bodies, A New Recruit, Stepping Up, Standoff, Civil War, Larger Than Life, Catastrophe, Making Amends, Closure, Cap's Promise

Will You Be Humming Along? No themes to be found. ...Until you see the movie (at least in my case). There is a short descending cell of notes, perhaps representing the overall conflict.

Really effective in context.

There is also another short collection of notes - 3 up and 3 down - that is sometimes used peacefully and other times heroically.

The album this makes me want to dust off: San Andreas – Andrew Lockington

Will I come back to it? No. Nothing happens on this score. Oddly enough, this is probably due to the frenetic pace of the film itself. So much happens on screen that I can’t find one major musical moment of tenderness or conflict that stands on its own. The absence of a strong main theme is just as puzzling. As an individual listening experience, Captain America: Civil War is a non-stop ride without any big thrills.

So I went and saw the movie... and I left very confused. After my first few listens, I had heard no new character themes or any statements of previous material (outside good ol' Bucky). My biggest complaint was that nothing unified this score from start to finish. But, in the theatre, the new material held everything together nicely (see the themes above) and jumped right out at me. (See: Civil War @ 0:52 for an example.) How did I miss these moments? I guess I was searching for "Taking A Stand" from Winter Soldier... This isn't a masterpiece by any means, but just like Silvestri's Avengers, Henry Jackman's Civil War is a fun action score with a some very impressive moments. In the end, seeing the movie made me return to the score, and I am now enjoying it immensely.