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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... only if you are completely prepared for the mundane levels of James Horner's minimalistic underscore for piano, sax, and synthesizer. Avoid it... if your interest in Horner's work only rises when the composer attempts something new and emphasized with emotional development. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
With an obvious minimalistic approach in mind, you can't really blame Horner for the lack of enthusiasm in his work. From the opening to closing notes of Class Action, there doesn't exist even one inspiring moment. Horner's cost-efficient performing ensemble consists mostly of himself, with a piano and synthesizer array joined occasionally by a saxophone. With his own piano performances carrying much of of the score, as well as a rather low gain mix on the album as a whole, it's easy to forget that any music is playing at all. Only one primary theme exists in Class Action, and its introduction in the first bars of the "Main Title" lead to a insufferably countless repetition of that theme thereafter. The opening and closing performances of that theme are the most developed instrumentally, backed by light, meandering keyboarding, a synthetic high-tone choir, a few magical swishes of metal, an electric bass sound, and the sax over the top. A lazy, slightly jazzy swing defines the theme's attitude, although the contemporary instrumentation of the piece is betrayed by the lack of power necessary to establish a realistic presence in this "big court case" film. The theme is essentially based on ideas later heard in Sneakers, but with all the life sucked out of it. Straight piano solos for subsequent cues in the score simply reshuffle and repeat this theme countless times, with little genuine emotion or any emphasis in performance that would give us any reason to maintain interest in it. This lifeless music continues during the entire length of the score and is interrupted only by a high-class piano piece not from Horner and the cues "Stolen Files" and "The Trial" as the film nears its climax. A slightly heightened rhythm in "Stolen Files" is joined by a familiar, light tapping of percussion that would hint at some of the suspense in The Pelican Brief. For "The Trial," Horner would employ a lengthy series of dissonant keyboard strokes. But aside from these slight variations, Class Action contains little variation. Without the very casually appealing sax performances of the title theme, this score would sink down to Unlawful Entry level of total disinterest. **
* composed by Harry Warren and Mac Gordon.
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