Many film scores are destined for glory or disappointment based on decisions made during spotting sessions, and in Silvestri's meetings with the filmmakers for Avengers: Infinity War, it was determined that the composer would not attempt to interpolate a significant number of the existing MCU musical themes into this score. For many listeners, this score loses much of its appeal right there, as what is the point of a true ensemble cast film without making at least a token effort to exploit the efforts of all thirteen composers involved with the franchise to form the ultimate "ensemble score?" Fans have complained for many years about the lack of thematic loyalty in these Marvel soundtracks, and composers have, in the late 2010's, been making more of an effort to cross-populate identities to rectify the problem. Silvestri's approach to Avengers: Infinity War is a massive step backwards in the musical arch of this whole concept, a tremendously frustrating, wasted opportunity. There exist several scenes in the film oriented, if even briefly, around one of the superheroes, and the composer could have at least adjusted his instrumentation to address these moments. Instead, Avengers: Infinity War is a completely competent and functional score benefitting from Silvestri's decades of experience in the genre, but a dissatisfying entry nonetheless. The score is unashamedly orchestral with occasional dashes of choral flavor, its symphonic stature as strong as ever for the composer. Listeners won't encounter as many vintage Silvestri mannerisms at work here (Ready Player One is the score for that), but there is still a comforting level of mastery and tonal accessibility in this music that makes it competently suitable for a film in which it excels at times in surpassing the sound effects track to have an actual impact. Unfortunately, the emotional weight of the music is rather lacking, especially in the last few, pivotal cues. Silvestri utilizes the right basic methodology for the villain's triumph in the end and the lamentation that follows, but he fails to instill the sense of convincing gravity into such situations. So while the action scenes are served well by the composer's usual mode of operation, the few emotional interludes of importance tend to underachieve. Even the action cues will strike some listeners as anonymous, as they don't frequently exhibit the composer's knack for rhythmic momentum to produce lengthy cues of entertaining engagement out of context.

While Avengers: Infinity War follows an acceptably conservative musical narrative, its lack of thematic continuation and development is critical. Silvestri coined two themes for The Avengers in 2012, a heroic fanfare and a militaristic march, and both are utilized faithfully in most of the right places here. The fanfare has become the dominant representation of the entire franchise, used throughout several of the films, notably by Michael Giacchino and Danny Elfman, in cameo moments to suggest the larger MCU at work in the background. It opens and closes the film in appropriate guises here, and its appearance at the end of "Forge" for an important arrival to the battlefield is impactful. The secondary march is best expressed early in "Help Arrives," a nicely full statement of the idea. Meanwhile, although Silvestri claims he did not address the concept of the Infinity Stones with a specific theme, he does seem to treat them with the same descending strings that he had applied as a Tesseract motif earlier. Meanwhile, the score's primary identity exists for the villain, Thanos, and the same idea encompasses all his various minions of darkness. Introduced in growling tones in "Travel Delays" and expanded to a sinister degree in "Undying Fidelity," this stomping and tragic, descending figures arguably reach their best development in the location transition at the end of "Even For You." The motif returns gloriously in "A Lot to Figure Out" and occupies "Infinity War" with appropriate grandeur. A more melodramatic punch with the Thanos theme in "Porch" would have been desired. Outside of these themes, there are allusions made at times to other characters, including a moment suggesting Silvestri's own Captain America motif, but the only significant theme by another composer to make an obvious appearance is Ludwig Göransson's Black Panther, fulfilling the desire of that composer to hear his theme announce a return to Wakanda, a vital setting in the film. (This cue is not on either album.) Of the themes not utilized by Silvestri, the biggest disappointments come with the production's abandonment of the identities for Doctor Strange, Thor, and Spider-Man, each having specific scenes in the film that could have greatly benefitted from a tasteful thematic cameo. As Danny Elfman proved in the DC Comics ensemble film Justice League the prior year, there are very subtle ways in which you can interpolate existing themes into a new cue without getting carried away. Certainly, Silvestri could have accomplished the same if the filmmakers had trusted him with the task.

Overall, it's difficult to criticize the general symphonic effectiveness of Avengers: Infinity War, as it will accomplish its purpose perfectly well for many listeners. But true MCU fans and film music collectors will be frustrated by the lack of loyalty to a franchise of music begging for some meaningful catharsis beyond cumulative bombastic thrills. Even as a standalone effort, this score may disappoint some collectors expecting to hear the less anonymous personality that guided the music for Ready Player One. In fact, in some of the conversational cues in the middle of Avengers: Infinity War, where subtle interpolations could have been intelligently applied at will, Silvestri manages to yield softer music that may seem downright dull. The memorably rambunctious Silvestri action mode heard in Predator, The Mummy Returns, and Van Helsing is absent from most of this score, creating a situation for film music collectors that will sound like a Silvestri auto-pilot effort. The score tends to drag on album, necessitating substantial trimming to extract the best moments; this comment points to the shorter, 72-minute presentation that was pressed on CD by Hollywood Records. A "Deluxe Edition" of 116 minutes was aimed at download audiences (including high resolution listeners), and its length is extremely tiresome but not without some rewards in its selections. The propulsive action of "Field Trip" is littered with references to Silvestri's prior identities, including the snippet from the Captain America theme at the end. A magnificent performance of the fanfare graces the conclusion of "One Way Ticket." Some more traditional Silvestri fantasy tones emerge in "Is He Always Like This?" The expanded presentation also features the lengthy "End Credits" arrangement of the Thanos material, exploring the idea's tones from "Even For You" even further. The relatively somber attitude of the "End Credits" picks up steam in the latter half to provide some optimistic fight that relies more heavily on Silvestri's usual percussion array, especially the metallic contributors, and the track concludes in epic fashion. Several other action cues are expanded, but the shorter album edits will suffice for those cues in most cases. Oddly, while the 72-minute album tends to test the patience even with its condensed presentation, there is necessary music on the expanded edition that needs to be combined with twenty minutes from the shorter product to form the best overall assembly of music from this score. The whole situation, both in film and on album, is a significant disappointment despite affording the film with sufficiently robust Silvestri tones. It's hard to shake the feeling that there was a potential five-star score lurking somewhere in these shadows.
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