While Marvel Studios are generally praised for pretty much everything they put out, one place where they tend to get a little flack is in the music department. Doctor Strange may be trying to combat that perception by doing something very different. Marvel has released the end credits theme to Doctor Strange and if there's one thing we can say, it's that it sounds different. While this is the music from the end of the film, we promise there are no spoilers here, at least as far as we can tell.
From the very first notes, this music sounds like something very different. Most Marvel movie themes give you sweeping orchestral arrangements to make you think about these great and powerful heroes. This one opens with a slow guitar jam. It's significantly more laid back than you'd expect. It certainly builds to a crescendo at one point, as you'd expect any music trying to evoke heroism would do, but the tone never changes. The best thing I can say about the music is that I've been playing it multiple times as I write this, and I'm not tired of it yet.
Marvel films have used a variety of different composers to put together their scores. The great Alan Silvestri did the score for Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers while recent movies have been handled by Henry Jackman or Christophe Beck. Doctor Strange marks the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of Michael Giacchino. Giacchino has been a high demand composer in recent years handling the scores for the likes of Star Trek Beyond, Jurassic World, and Zootopia. He previously won an Academy Award for his score for Pixar's Up.
It would make some sense that if Marvel was going to try and go in a different direction with their music, they'd pick Doctor Strange as the place to do that. Ever since this project was announced the studio has tried to set it apart from the rest of the MCU in a lot of ways. It's the first film to introduce concepts of magic and other worlds. What better way to hint to the viewer that they're seeing something very different than to overlay the scene with music that sounds different than what they'd expect to hear.
Of course, different doesn't necessarily mean good. Not everybody at CinemaBlend is completely sold on this music quite yet. It may require the movie to put it all into context. While we're sure we'll be hearing aspects of this piece of music throughout the film, there's plenty more that we have yet to hear.
What do you think of this music? Is it right for Doctor Strange? Is this change the right thing for Marel or would you have preferred something a bit more in line with their previous efforts? Let us know in the comments.
