Thursday , March 28 2024

Music Review: Michael Giacchino – ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’

Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino creates a super musical score, as the Spider-Man film series easily settles into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Giacchino’s score sets the tone, as several great characters converge throughout the two-hour and 13 minutes running time. There are also two bonus sequences during and after the entertaining and colorfully creative ending credits, which boosts the score’s running time to a healthy one hour and seven minutes. (Notes: Yours truly did see this movie before reviewing this score. Also, there were two hidden tracks not available on the physical CD.)

This 22-track score from Sony Classical / Sony Masterworks has great energy and emotion. The recommended soundtrack does not contain various additional songs that include performances by The Beat, Canned Heat, Flipbois, A Flock of Seagulls, Galactic, Icy Black, Kill the Giant, Rolling Stones, Spoon, Traffic, and Yello. The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” even gets two notable inclusions.

Giacchino (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Doctor Strange, The Incredibles) includes the very memorable originating animated television series theme song by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris on this soundtrack. This first track sets the fun, action-filled tone quickly while playing homage to this 1960s cartoon series theme song. It is a great start to a worthwhile, stout soundtrack that has a 68-minute running time.

The third track, “Academic Decommitment,” settles into a common theme that mirrors the film’s energy and appeal. It’s spright and even a bit jazzy, as the fifth track “On a Ned-To-Know Basis” impresses with contrast. The sixth song, “Drag Racing / An Old Van Rundown,” contains great brass arrangements to bolster the emotion more while still driving the action.

The eighth track, “No Vault of His Own,” returns to Spidey’s heroic themes. “Monumental Meltdown” has the most action in the most impressive way and is quickly followed by the two-part “A Boatload of Trouble” and then “Ferry Dust Up.”

Giacchino then switches gears without losing momentum with “Stark Raving Mad,” a song that features a great violin solo. My energy level and emotional investment never let up until the fifteenth track, “Pop Vulture,” which never really makes an impact after a little over three minutes. Then the soundtrack recovers with “Bussed a Move,” which is filled with great heroic Spidey theme movements. This is followed by “Lift Off,” as the soundtrack truly does not touch the ground again.

“Fly-By-Night Operation” is the best track that revisits the strong brass movements. The nineteenth track, “Vulture Clash,” continues the strong brass movements plus amazing percussion work. This soundtrack finishes well with a comprehensive “Suite” work.

Giacchino creates another stellar musical score where he holds his own compared to others in the film series (Danny Elfman, James Horner, Christopher Young, etc.). In the film, the crew and editors cause on odd sequence transition with Spidey moving through the neighborhood rooftops that starts with a light, almost comical tone which then turns serious too quickly.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is set in New York City, where a 15-year-old Peter Parker, well played by Tom Holland, experiences new heroics as the web slinging Spider-Man. He pits his strengths against The Vulture (a.k.a. Adrian Toomes), well played by Michael Keaton. Marisa Tomei plays Peter’s Aunt May, while Robert Downey, Jr. also stars as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Jon Favreau as Stark’s special assistant Happy Hogan. Jacob Batalon plays Peter’s best friend Ned, while Zendaya plays Michelle and Laura Harrier plays Liz.

This sixth film in the Spider-Man film series comes 15 years after the first, 2002’s Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire as Spidey, the friendly neighborhood superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. (Andrew Garfield was in this role in the two previous films.) The 21 year-old Holland gets a long time to grow into his role with at least three more appearances coming.

Tracklist:

1 “Spider-Man Television Theme”
2 “The World Is Changing”
3 “Academic Decommitment”
4 “High Tech Heist”
5 “On a Ned-To-Know Basis”
6 “Drag Racing / An Old Van Rundown”
7 “Webbed Surveillance”
8 “No Vault of His Own”
9 “Monumental Meltdown”
10 “The Baby Monitor Protocol”
11 “A Boatload of Trouble Part 1”
12 “A Boatload of Trouble Part 2”
13 “Ferry Dust Up”
14 “Stark Raving Mad”
15 “Pop Vulture”
16 “Bussed a Move”
17 “Lift Off”
18 “Fly-By-Night Operation”
19 “Vulture Clash”
20 “A Stark Contrast”
21 “No Frills Proto Cool!”
22 “Spider-Man: Homecoming Suite”

“The Queens Community Bank Jingle” (Hidden Track)
“The Real Reason Peter Quit the Band” (Hidden Track)

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