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| Shapiro |
Tropic Thunder: (Theodore Shapiro) Can you measure
the success of a comedy movie based upon the number of advocacy groups
that come together at the premiere to protest its insensitivity towards
disadvantaged segments of the population? If so, then Ben Stiller's
Tropic Thunder has to be considered a smash hit. Groups
representing African Americans and those with physical and mental
disabilities were horrified by the 2008 film and its unique marketing
blitz. The concept was nurtured by Stiller for decades, and he would
eventually write, direct, produce, and star in the film (to varying
degrees in each case). It pokes fun at the Hollywood production process
of major blockbuster action films, often with ridiculous parody logic
and elements of the filmmaking process blown out of proportion. Stiller,
Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr. are among those playing the
stereotypes of modern action stars, and when they are collected to film
the largest Vietnam War adventure film of all time, the unruly actors
cause headaches and even death for their crewmates. They get dropped
into an area of Vietnam for the covert filming of various scenes and
inadvertently find themselves in the middle of warlord/drug territory
and have to act their way through the remainder of their shoot and save
their own lives in the process. The film was immensely expensive to
make, but a shrewd marketing campaign by the studio included fake
websites for the characters in the "film within a film" and even an
energy drink produced by Paramount for consumption by the public. The
humor of
Tropic Thunder was solid enough to earn the film
positive reviews and, after more time than expected, a profit. It was
also recognized by the most prestigious awards bodies worldwide for
Downey, Jr.'s controversial performance as a black man. The soundtrack
features a balance of famous songs of yesteryear and an original score
by Theodore Shapiro, both of which contributing to the acclaim of the
film. Shapiro has made an entire career out of writing music for
ridiculous comedies, a surefire way to pay the bills but never really
allowing the composer to develop his own voice in practically any of his
assignments. His career has been paralleled by James L. Venable,
Christopher Lennertz, and a host of others who are experienced enough to
emulate the sounds of others but for whom it's difficult to get a
distinct career impression. The trick to good parody scores, however, is
to treat the topic with utter seriousness, in the case of Lennertz, in
particular, leading to satisfying listening experiences. Shapiro's music
often has a more difficult time crossing over to album, and that
tendency remains in
Tropic Thunder.
The irony of
Tropic Thunder, of course, is that
Shapiro completely succeeded for his assignment despite doing absolutely
nothing beyond the expected. There is not an original idea in his entire
score for this film, and some may argue that it doesn't even translate
into a coherent listening experience alone, but alas, it's an extremely
competent and appropriate work. He begins with a remarkably wide group
of players, including a full orchestra, several ethnic soloists and
voices, and a variety of programmed electronics, and applies them to a
procession of familiar techniques. Unlike some parody scores in which
you can clearly point to a single point of reference for its imitation,
Shapiro instead tackles several areas within the realm of film music.
There's the
Rambo sound of orchestral bravado and ethnic accents
from Jerry Goldsmith and Brian Tyler, there's a range of ethnic flavor
that extends from James Newton Howard's epics to cheap scores like BT's
Stealth, and there's the straight rock-inspired contemporary line
molded by Ramin Djawadi for
Iron Man. Of course, no modern action
score would be complete without some rhythmic testosterone from the John
Powell library and a few (unfortunately underpowered) power anthems
derived from the early Hans Zimmer days. Along the way, you get a
handful of parodies within the parody, including faux sensitive music
that bridges, oddly enough, the styles of Alan Silvestri and Mark
McKenzie. Each instance of lampooning is executed well in
Tropic
Thunder, but not memorably. The score is rather weak thematically,
with only its wholesome theme of redemption (itself a rip-off of Randy
Edelman's
Dragonheart) pulling together some cohesion in "Real
Tears," and "Cue Bill Conti." Otherwise, the action motifs in
Tropic
Thunder are all over the place, and with the frantic shifts of
performers and emotions from second to second, there is no satisfying
flow to the score. Individual portions within cues do stand out, though,
and these typically appeal because of Shapiro's entertaining employment
of wailing ethnic woodwinds and mournful Lisbeth Scott vocals. The last
tracks on the album include the unique little pieces of score written
for the movies within the movie, and while quite palatable, they are
brief. A significant amount of rearrangement of the score album (which
only runs 40 minutes) is necessary to cluster some of the like-minded
cues together, because otherwise
Tropic Thunder will make your
head spin. The best route is to take the score's longest, most
representatively cohesive cue, "You're My Brother," as a three-minute
compilation of the score's best ideas and discard the rest. Again,
that's not to say that Shapiro failed here, but what's funny on screen
does not always translate into a functional album.
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The insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information
about the score or film.
