Originally, I thought it'd be enough to just post one of Alan Silvestri's music clips from Avengers: Endgame available on MarvelVEVO's youtube account, complete with the blurb I've just made the title of this post. In hindsight, that hardly captures the fact that this man is an industry legend, and his body of work is far, far more than just what he's done for the world's favorite team of superheroes.
I then thought to make this a piece of the musical journey of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in truth there have already been a number of video essays on the topic, alternately attacking and defending the MCU's music themes, which would make my written essay feel a little redundant. Also, the fact that Marvel now bears the distinction of having come up with the first, and so far, only superhero theme to have won an Oscar has pretty much put paid to the contention that no memorable music comes out of a Marvel movie.
So I then thought back to Alan Silvestri, composer of some of the most iconic movie music of my generation, and realized that to date, despite being in the business for four decades and composing some truly outstanding scores, he has yet to win an Academy Award and has only ever been nominated twice. He's kind of like the Roger Deakins of film composers, and even cinematographer Deakins finally broke his Oscar duck two years ago with Blade Runner 2049.
So for my final post before I finally move on from singing the praises of Avengers: Endgame, I've decided to make an impassioned plea to the people who hand out the Oscars to finally give Alan Silvestri his due and give him an Academy Award for Avengers: Endgame. I know it's the online equivalent of basically shouting at the sky and asking it to rain, but given that the music of Endgame was one of the most outstanding aspects of the film, one which was already outstanding in many other ways, I really have to sing one last paean about this movie or more specifically, its composer.
Obviously if the Academy, by some outside chance, chooses to recognize Silvestri’s work it can only be for Avengers: Endgame and not anything he’s done before it, but it’s my fervent hope that they recognize that this man is a cinematic treasure, and that the soaring work he has done for Anthony and Joe Russo’s magnum opus is emblematic of a generations-spanning career spent crafting some of the most memorable movie music of all time. By itself, the Back to the Future theme completely stands out as work that has stood the test of time, but when one throws in Forrest Gump, Predator, A Night at the Museum, Captain America: The First Avenger and even the very first Avengers movie there is no denying the impression this man has made on the pop culture landscape. That Steven Spielberg chose Silvestri as a stand-in for the legendary John Williams when he directed last year's Ready Player One should speak volumes of Silvestri's talent and stature in the industry.
More than that, though, the music for Avengers: Endgame is far more than just a trotting out of the now-iconic theme of the franchise a la Hedwig’s theme from the Harry Potter films, James Bond’s theme or even the Skywalker theme from Star Wars. Here, Silvestri calls upon his four decades of experience in crafting emotional cinematic journeys in helping bring the original team of Avengers, or at least most of them, to the end of theirs. The musical accompaniment to the various scenes really helps establish that, unlike most of the previous films that were tailor-made to set up the next installment of the franchise, this film marks the end of the road for some of the characters. There’s gravitas that wasn’t quite there before, especially considering that, relative to all of the films that have come before this, Endgame actually has the least action proportionate to its mammoth running time, or perhaps even the least action of all. This is a film that spends a surprisingly long amount of time dealing with the grief brought about by loss, and a surprisingly little amount of time on the slug-fests that everyone has come to expect from movies like this, and as a result, Silvestri had to step up quite a bit; he couldn't let the action do most of the storytelling, as it did in the first Avengers film and even Infinity War. I'd argue that his score for Endgame, with highs and lows, soaring orchestral moments and even quiet jazz moments, was instrumental (pardon the pun) to keeping audiences accustomed to seeing their heroes in near-constant motion engaged, even through the moments in the three-hour movie (and there were plenty of them) in which they were just sitting around talking. In itself, that was a feat I think should at least capture the Academy's attention.
Of course, the Academy is hardly likely to award a more "conventional" Marvel movie with recognition like this so soon after it showered Black Panther with a brace of awards, including one for music, but one can always hope.
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