Music Composed by Brian Tyler
Rating: *** 1/2

I have not seen Annapolis and have about as little interest in seeing the film as I have in repeating the tired observation that a feel-good Top Gun knock-off seems entirely inappropriate in the Iraq era. In most scenarios, I’d have about the same amount of interests in the film’s score, but Brian Tyler’s involvement ensures at least one element of interest to this particular piece of military propaganda. Tyler’s score for Annapolis is not among his most memorable or distinct, but it’s worlds better than we could expect from a film like this, and captures the film’s obligatory feel-good tone effectively without coming across as overly manipulative.

The album opens strongly, with a heraldic theme that captures the requisite patriotic pride without shoving American jingoism down our throats (Trevor Rabin, take note). I’m sure many will liken the piece to David Arnold’s Stargate theme, but I think it’s more a matter of both composers taking inspiration from Vaughan Williams’ immortal “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” a piece that quite a few major scores have been dipping into of late (Debney’s The Passion of the Christ and Horner’s Troy, to name a few). Whatever the source, the theme is affecting, powerful, and welcome every time it reappears. While it’s most noticeable in the full-blown orchestral setting, there are a number of occasions where Tyler sends it theme into a more intimate light rock arrangement (“Jake”), a very nice touch that reminds me a good deal of his similarly gentle rock score for Bubba Ho-Tep. It also gets a terrific workout in the early “Showdown” audio clip, a breathless piece of action music that makes thrilling use of the main theme in the last stretch.

Brian Tyler

Unfortunately, after this point the album falls into a series of light rock/electronica pieces that only occasionally muster any sustainable interest. I realize this approach is inevitable in a contemporary “hip” military drama, and Tyler has far more affinity with the genre than all but a few of his peers (track 16 is a particularly effect techno/orchestra hybrid), but one can only hear so many of these brief vignettes in a row without drifting off. The tracks are all extremely short, which means that all of his ideas tend to be very brief – they never get cut short, they just never evolve into something more substantial. This is exacerbated by the fact that we have over an hour’s worth of material at hand, hard to sustain when there isn’t any genuine development happening. The score gives us little in the way of narrative arc or development – it seems that one could scramble the tracks in virtually any order without effecting the shape of the score whatsoever.

This isn’t to say there aren’t a number of nice moments in the mix, especially when Tyler lays off the ambient contempo rhythms and allows his themes to take center stage. In addition to the aforementioned patriotic theme, we have an arguably stronger secondary anthem, introduced in “Naval Academy.” Vaguely reminiscent of Tyler’s “House Atreides” theme from Children of Dune, the melody gives us one of the score’s rare bursts of jaunty energy in “Gates of Annapolis.” We also have the poignant “Twins’ Theme,” a bleak piano-driven melody that adds a well-received layer of melancholy to the score. None of the themes go through any real development, but they convey a genuine sense of warmth and recapture our wandering interest every time they appear.

Ultimately, I would probably consider Annapolis Tyler-light. It features many of the mannerisms ticks that Tyler’s fans have come to love, but stripped down to a much simpler essence. There’s nothing really wrong with it – the score is entertaining, tuneful, and rarely unpleasant. Like 80% of Tyler’s scores, I’m sure the music is far better than its film deserves, but it entertains without really going anywhere and seems a bit inconsequential on the whole. Recommended, especially to fans of Tyler’s more melodic side, but hardly a significant entry in his body of work.

Music Composed, Co-Orchestrated and Conducted by Brian Tyler; Orchestrated by Dana Niu, Brad Warnaar, Robert Elhai, Bill Boston; Recorded and Mixed by Joel Iwataki at Eastwood Scoring Stage; Produced by Brian Tyler; Label: Varese Sarabande, (302 066 709 2); Availability: In print; Release Date: January 24, 2005

01. Annapolis (2′33)
02. The Brigades (1′30)
03. Showdown (4′15) audio clip
04. Progression (2′10)
05. Turning Point (1′38)
06. I’ll Do It (3′10)
07. Run In Place (1′49)
08. Naval Academy (2′18)
09. Jake (2′31)
10. Four Seconds (1′57)
11. Twins’ Theme (2′01)
12. Tank Drill (1′30)
13. The Offer (2′23)
14. A Little Jog (2′52)
15. Second Chances (3′47)
16. Brigade Training (2′35)
17. Eye Opening (1′14)
18. Gates of Annapolis (1′55)
19. Jake and Ali (1′43)
20. Cole (1′30)
21. I Have Nowhere Else To Go (1′43)
22. Training Begins (1′54)
23. Near First Kiss (1′07)
24. Math Problems (0′53)
25. Sleepless Night (1′34)
26. Holiday Leave (1′49)
27. Wakey Wakey (2′22)
28. Find Out Who You Are (1′58)
29. Annapolis Finale (1′09)
30. Annapolis End Title (5′20)

Total Playing Time: 65′10