Zanobard Reviews

Son Lux’s Thunderbolts* score features a solid main theme that marks its memorability in a recurring motif, ostinato and orchestra playing through a fitting tonal mixture of spy-like espionage and dramatic heroism, but an abundance of short cues and a lack of other memorable themes make the rest of the album sadly less interesting.

Affixed to the end of Son Lux’s fifty four minute score here is a three and a half minute theme track for the titular Thunderbolts, and it’s there that this review shall begin. The cue opens with a repeating, rather tense strings motif, an ostinato with a touch of mystery and a spy-like, espionage-y feel to it (and an apt stylistic hint towards Alan Silvestri’s Avengers theme too) that then goes on to introduce and play alongside the main Thunderbolts theme; an eight note and uplifting motif playing on noble brass that together with its ostinato is actually fairly memorable overall. The tonal mixture of tension and nobility creates a mood that’s quite fitting for the team itself – being essentially Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad – and the overarching theme is established quite well orchestrally, building and swirling until finally reaching an emphatic crescendo at just past the two minute mark. From there, for the remainder of the track the music softens into a much gentler, more solemn piano-based approach, bringing the cue overall to a peaceful finish a minute later. All-in, not a bad start – the orchestration here is pretty decent and the theme itself is simple enough to be catchy, and can be picked up pretty much immediately on hearing it. So with the team motif now introduced, let’s see how it’s used in the score itself.

Wary electronics and strings open “There’s Something Wrong With Me”, with similarly ominous percussive elements taking up the background until the Thunderbolts ostinato starts to build slowly and moodily up until cue’s end. A frenetic pace then opens “I Needed That Face” with the Thunderbolts ostinato playing tensely on flurrying woodwinds, before the full team theme reprises in the subsequent “The Light Inside You Is Dim” on some rather mournful and reflective strings. The ever espionage-y ostinato then returns in “Last Assignment” in flurryingly tense form, with dramatic stabs of brass and imposing percussion elevating this moodily aggressive tone alongside the ostinato in “I’m Not Here For You” and “Countdown” for several minutes of nerve-wracking action. Echoes of the ostinato then play through “The Climb” alongside moody electronic ambience before imposing brassy rumbles become the centre of attention in “Preparing For Lethal” with the aforementioned repeating motif still echoing dramatically in the background. Wary espionage-y percussive and string ambience then settles for “Maybe We’ll All Get Out Of Here Alive”, with the ostinato intertwining throughout and a gentle echo of the actual theme on vocals towards the end.

Incredibly frantic strings open “First Flight” with the occasional dramatic pound of drums accompanying until the music starts to quieten and fade at just past the minute mark. “Limo Chase” then picks up the pace with roaring brass, distorted electonics and bursts of in-your-face strings before a particularly grandiose rendition of the Thunderbolts ostinato plays through “It’s Bucky!” with a couple of brief notes from the actual theme reprising at the end. Slow, thoughtful strings then occupy minute-long cues “To Be Chosen” and “For The Glory”, with the latter playing the Thunderbolts theme in an unusually solemn and heartfelt style. This doesn’t last for long though as both the theme and ostinato then return in much more grandiose form in the short “Left The Door Unlocked”. The orchestral pace quickens once again through the short “Penthouse Fight” with increasingly emphatic brass leading an action charge, before quiet and rather eerie electronics and strings then overtake in “It’s Not Robert You Need To Be Afraid Of”, introducing an almost horror-like element to this otherwise rather action and tension-centric spy-like score so far.

Speaking of so far though – I will say that Son Lux’s work here is a little… uncapturing. The main theme track is pretty decent but the actual score isn’t grabbing me as much, primarily as the appearances from the theme are pretty few and far between, with the ostinato instead doing most of the work, which gives the music a bit of an anonymous feel at times. Still, we’re not at the end yet.

Slow, sorrowful strings occupy “I Don’t See Your Mistakes”, with “No Use Fighting” continuing in a similar vein initially until the tone turns eerie at the thirty second mark, and the pace quickens with frenetic strings and moody brass for the track’s remainder. A pensive rendition of the main theme then plays in “Yelena’s Choice” before tense brass and high-pitched, horror-like strings bring the cue to a particularly worrisome crescendo. “Searching For Bob” features ominous electronic ambience throughout, with “The Attic” continuing similarly but with a touch of solemnity as downtrodden piano notes and strings join the fray. The horror then returns in “Show Us The Worst” with crashing distorted electronics, high-pitched strings and tense brassy bursts, though the Thunderbolts ostinato also returns in the back half to re-seed hope into the score. Things then quieten for the first half of “You Can’t Even Save Yourself” with eerie ambience lurking until then crashing imposingly back into centre stage for the back half alongside tense interspersions of the Thunderbolts ostinato. “Not Alone” then opens rather sorrowfully with strings that then build to a tremendous crescendo with the full might of the orchestra at its back, closing the album on a particularly bold note.

Overall, I’d say Son Lux’s score for Thunderbolts* is decent, but it’s not going to blow you away. The highlight is the excellent main theme, showcased throughout final and indeed Standout Cue “Thunderbolts*”; its a versatile and tensely heroic piece featuring both a main set of notes and a recurring ostinato that together make the overarching track quite memorable, with its tonal mixture of being both spy-like and rather grandiose also fitting well with the titular team. That though is kind of all there is to this score in terms of standout moments, at least for me. The album itself doesn’t actually use the main theme very much, instead relying more on the repeating espionage-y Avengers-hinting ostinato, and as a result the music lacks a bit of identity at times. The orchestral and electronic style is enjoyable, especially through the main theme track, but it also contributes to this lack of identity as does a lack of really detectable themes for other aspects of the film, with a recurring darkness in electronics (“Show Us The Worst” or “Searching For Bob”) being the only thing I could hear for The Void for example, the film’s villain. As such, all-in this score does remind me a lot of Ramin Djawadi’s work for Eternals – cool main theme, but not much else.

Score: 7/10

Standout Cue: Thunderbolts*

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