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The demeanor of the recording was key to Powell's approach to Forces of Nature, and it's largely unsubstantial. The score uses an orchestral string section, but it's not impactful until the last few cues. Electric guitars and percussion are the heart and soul of the work; they tackle the hipness factor but not so much the attraction between characters, which cheapens the sexual tension a bit and robs the duo of any meaningfully deep connection through the score. The more intriguing aspect of the recording is Powell's employment of a variety of female vocalists to provide ethereal ambient tones that address the mysterious, disaster-oriented fantasy element that keeps the two characters together as long as possible. The score's catharsis for the vocals and strings comes in "Balcony Scene" at the end, with the clicking and rumbling sound effects of a distant storm in that cue a nice additional touch. While thematic structure was not the director's goal, Powell did create a little of it in the work, though some of that recurrence simply consists of the same cue inserted multiple times in the film. Still, casual listeners will likely miss these ideas entirely because of their lack of emphasis in the performance. The last three cues wrap up what little motific development was hinted in the prior cues, with "Balcony Scene" offering the most compelling stream of two-note figures in its first half. Even here, the melodic structures are understated and a little cold, a likely result of the characters not ending up together. A number of Powell's themes for the film were rejected and repurposed in his other scores. He tried to emulate music by Bjork and Propellerheads, too, but some of it got replaced by the actual recordings. In the end, his music amounts to less than half an hour in length, with far less actually heard in context. As such, Forces of Nature is not much more than an awkwardly curious footnote in a much broader career. Long preceded by bootlegs, the score's lone official album release of 2020, a limited offering from La-La Land Records, was challenging to reassemble for Powell because the work was so disorganized. In some ways, the two demo cues at its conclusion are better than the hip material that ended up in the score, with far more personality and creative use of instrumental combinations. Otherwise, the 25 minutes of Powell's finished work is highlighted by the subdued but pretty seven minutes conveyed in its three resolution cues. The rest is too inconsistent and brief to set a mood, leaving this score as one of the composer's least engaging overall.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

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For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.3 (in 60 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.12 (in 55,810 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 27:26