Original Review by Jonathan BroxtonApril 24, 2004 11:59 pm
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
John Morgan and William Stromberg need a break. For many years, the duo have been working hard in the film music background – Stromberg has recently been orchestrating and conducting for Rolfe Kent, while Morgan has been in and around the industry since the 1970s, having worked with everyone from John Williams to Alex North to Bruce Broughton. Together, they have overseen the restoration and re-recording of dozens of Golden Age scores for the Marco Polo label, and received critical acclaim for their work on the nuclear war themed documentaries “Trinity and Beyond” (1995) and “Atomic Journeys” (1999). By anyone’s reckoning, they deserved their shot at scoring a fairly major feature. It’s such a shame, therefore, that their score for Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is such a massive disappointment.
Starship Troopers 2 is the directorial debut of special effects whiz Phil Tippett. A sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s superb 1997 film, but which is not based on the work of satirical author Robert Heinlein, it stars Richard Burgi, Lawrence Monoson and Colleen Porch as members of a Federation army troop who – not realising that the war against the bugs has already been won – take refuge in a remote, abandoned outpost, not realising that more danger – and more fighting alien bugs – lay in wait for them. Despite having a screenplay by original Starship Troopers writer Ed Neumeier, and a host of talent behind the camera, it was a dismal flop, eventually being released straight-to-video in April 2004 amid appalling reviews from critics.
Following Basil Poledouris on a film project is never an easy task for any composer, but for Morgan and Stromberg to try to emulate what was one of Poledouris’s last great scores is almost an impossibility. People have often remarked how much like Poledouris the duo’s atomic bomb movie scores were, so perhaps their being hired was no coincidence. However, the thing about Poledouris is that, when he writes this kind of uber-patriotism, he does it with his tongue firmly in his cheek, but also does it with such panache it never seems false or overbearing. Parts of Starship Troopers 2 are – for want of a better word – cheesy. It sounds like John Philip Sousa on steroids; like the anthem Francis Scott Key rejected for being just too pompous.
Despite having the forces of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra at their disposal, and with a great wealth of Golden Age experience behind them, Morgan and Stromberg, sadly, sound a little out of their depth here. The main theme, heard initially in “Fed Net”, and subsequently in “Dax Released”, “Sniff Factor”, and others, is off-puttingly similar to Hans Zimmer’s music for Backdraft, and only in “Battle at Z.A.” and the “End Credits” do they ever pay musical homage to their predecessor. Instead, they present cue after cue of loud, fast, but unexplainably hollow action music, some of which is obviously inspired by their love of Bernard Herrmann and, occasionally, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Cues such as “Storm” and “Attack!” throb to some exciting action-adventure writing, while other cues such as “The Fortress”, “Fortress Search” and “Tail O’ the Bug” head down the road of extensive dissonance. At the other end of the scale, “Bug Zapper” has an unusual plodding piano undercurrent, and “Reunion”, “Reappearing Cream”, “Sahara and Dax” and others offer some militaristic down-time with calmer strings, last post-style trumpets and brittle snares, but for some reason it never quite comes together in the way it should. One reason may be due to the fact that Morgan and Stromberg have spent so much time immersed in the world of the Golden Age, they wanted to pay homage to all the past masters but (with all due respect) didn’t have the skill to do it. Another reason might be simply that the duo tried too hard to impress – they knew that a film of this (comparative) high profile might finally elevate them to something approaching the big leagues, and over-egged the pudding.
Whatever the reasons, it’s such a shame that Starship Troopers 2 has turned out the way it has, because I really wanted to like it, if for no other reason than to acknowledge the wonderful work John Morgan and William Stromberg have put in on behalf of the film music community over the last however many years. But, the bottom line of the matter is, I didn’t like it all that much. There’s not really a whole lot more to say.
Track Listing:
Running Time: 73 minutes 13 seconds
Varèse Sarabande VSD-6581 (2004)
Music composed by John Morgan and William Stromberg. Conducted by William Stromberg. Performed by The Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Orchestrations by John Morgan, William Stromberg and Anna Stromberg. Original Starship Troopers themes by Basil Poledouris. Recorded and mixed by Gennadi Papin. Edited by Christine Luethje. Album produced by John Morgan and William Stromberg.
Posted by Jon Broxton
Categories: Reviews
Tags: Film Score, John Morgan, Reviews, Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, William Stromberg
Mobile Site | Full Site
Get a free blog at WordPress.com Theme: WordPress Mobile Edition by Alex King.