Buy it... only if you are a tremendous supporter of all of the Bourne films of the 2000's and seek the most gritty and electronically harsh score of the franchise.

Avoid it... if you want the best recordings of the same basic ingredients introduced in this first score, because John Powell's subsequent sequel works are much stronger in their balance of grit and style.

Powell

The Bourne Identity: (John Powell) When author Robert Ludlum was writing his internationally popular series of three thriller novels involving the talented spy Jason Bourne, it is doubtful that he had this music by John Powell in mind. The first of the trilogy of stories, The Bourne Identity was a bestseller in its initial release in 1980, and the 2002 interpretation of the story by director Doug Liman on the big screen follows the same nervous, frenetic, and action-packed feeling of determination encapsulated by the original story. A Richard Chamberlain television miniseries a number of years prior didn't do the same justice to the concept, but 2002's film version of The Bourne Identity (as well as the two sequels later in the decade) is a 21st Century techno-thriller with all the modern gadgets and super-fighting that studios had been anxiously developing for modern audiences. For that realm, talented composer John Powell was hired to score the new chase in The Bourne Identity. While blockbuster spy thriller remakes have dwindled in numbers from Hollywood through the years, the scores that accompany them have often been an interesting, if not entirely enjoyable combination of sounds from both the era in which the story was conceived as well as the modern era in which the film is created. In Powell's case, The Bourne Identity opened the doors to a franchise of work that would see superior sequel scores. It was a fortuitous change of direction for the composer, whose fame at the time had come via animated comedies and silly spoofs (ranging from Shrek and Chicken Run to Evolution and Rat Race). Powell's ability to merge the sounds of the traditional orchestra with his wide range of expertise with synthesizers was defining him as one of the more versatile composers of the day, and this assignment would catapult him on to other high profile action works. Both elements are employed for The Bourne Identity, but with the orchestra playing a minor, if not completely subdued role. It's intriguing to see such a large-scale production use only a string section and a single bassoon, and it is mostly because of this lack of depth in the soundscape that this score doesn't hold as much interest as its two successors from Powell. All of the major structural elements that would flourish to a greater degree in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum are clearly established in this first score, but their use is marginalized.

The "Main Titles" cue introduces all of the franchise's ideas, from the primary theme for the title character to the melancholy variant on that idea and, of course, the famously chopping string ostinato that accompanies the overarching element of chasing in the franchise. The performances of all of these ideas fall into the domain of the orchestra, which is used somewhat infrequently compared to the electronic elements, but Powell does show hints of the layering of the various string tones that would also intensify in strength in the sequels. The use of the bassoon would be continued later as well, but it is mostly restricted to the title performance here. The domination of the score by synthetic rhythms and percussive sound effect samples causes the work to become overwhelmed with the propulsive, nervous side of the story. Unfortunately, that result is only marginally effective in the film and makes for a tedious listening experience on album. Another interesting result of Powell's work for The Bourne Identity has been its widespread popularity. The positive reviews that the score received from national publications, as well as the great popular success that the album experienced in sales, obviously point to some sort of triumph on the part of Powell. The reasons for that popularity, especially with the more appealing sequels, are a complete mystery, though. The approach Powell took to the concept misses the mark by making Jason Bourne into an action hero variety of gadget stuntman and therefore becomes hung up on the technological thrills that the story offers. Most importantly, it suffices in capturing and furthering the grit and nerve of the Bourne stories and, in a basic sense, the ostinato pushes the sense of movement well enough, but it neglects the style that Ludlum had worked into his stories. This score, in short, is such an odd identity for a Ludlum story, regardless of the focus of the film's adaptation, that it becomes bizarre to hear even if its serves its basic purpose for most casual viewers. It has no intrigue, no subtle character development, and certainly no passion... all of which were sadly missed on both the screen and on the album. Action spy thrillers can often present a tasteful and exciting combination of rhythms, percussion, orchestra, and even chorus, as was heard with Graeme Revell's still popular The Saint from five or so years prior. By contrast, Powell's The Bourne Identity music, whenever it begins to develop itself into a substantial cue of orchestral or synthetic integration, reverts to distractingly harsh electronic pounding and hair-raising sound effects.

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The mixing of the score's key elements is also suspect within the film, with key parts of the score missing and often the irritating electronics over-emphasized at the forefront. The less obvious touches, like the solo vocal effects in "Jason Phones it In" are completely swallowed by the obnoxious tone of a cue like the one that comes before it on the album, "At the Farm House." It is the first score in a while, perhaps since Ennio Morricone's disastrous Mission to Mars, that actually detracted from its film in the theatres. The mixing issue involves the lack of priority given to the string orchestra and several vocalists who could have added the style that the score for The Bourne Identity is missing. The lack of much development of the themes was probably a good move considering the primary character's lack of identity. But the key moments of intrigue between Bourne and Marie, his partner, are scored with a comatose level of passion. Overall, the harsh electronic rhythms are the key selling point for this score, and Powell even takes those to the realm of the bizarre in the manipulation of such sounds in cues like "The Bourne Identity." Some of the irritating editing techniques used to alter these sounds are downright headache-inducing. Looped rhythms, keyboarded effects, and creative manipulation techniques can be very tastefully applied to spy thrillers, but as The Bourne Identity progresses, Powell's composition becomes more metallically distorted and obnoxious in tone. Late cues feature passages that sound as though he's recorded the banging of metal garbage cans and the scraping of metal rulers on a blackboard and integrated them as rhythmic highlights in his music. While this may be interesting (at the very least) for the first half hour of the score on album, it becomes increasingly intolerable as the score continues. By the last three tracks on the lengthy album for The Bourne Identity, the electronic slashing and grating noises are too insufferable to handle, and they even make Powell's nearly as ridiculous Face/Off seem palatable. Cues that hint of a sense of higher style, such as "Taxi Ride" and "On Bridge Number 9," only yield to more of the same electronic grinding. By the time you reach "Drum and Bass Remix," you'll realize just how one-dimensional this score is compared to its peers in the franchise. Ultimately, The Bourne Identity emphasizes the grit and nerves of the concept and forgets what made the Ludlum stories so appealing: the passion and the style. *   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.05 (in 38 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.05 (in 42,939 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.