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Review of The Bourne Ultimatum (John Powell)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you enjoyed the dynamic balance between orchestra and
synthesizer in The Bourne Supremacy and especially appreciate the
string ostinato for the chase sequences (and the varied percussion that
drives it).
Avoid it... if you expect this third entry to take the trilogy of music in any clear direction, especially with only muddied and fragmented performances of the title theme on undermixed bassoon and overly melodramatic strings.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Bourne Ultimatum: (John Powell) Not much of the
original storylines remain from the Robert Ludlum trilogy of novels
about Jason Bourne, but the success of the Bourne film franchise thus
far opens the door for further exploration of fresh scripts in even more
sequels. The title character is still looking to uncover his past in
The Bourne Ultimatum, with new governmental villains chasing him,
and some former villains now aiding him. It could be argued that the
franchise has disintegrated into a reliance on the tactic of immediately
following one flashy chase with another, using director Paul Greengrass'
jumpy camera techniques to artificially inflate audiences' blood
pressures. Composer John Powell is one of the consistent crew members in
the trilogy, utilizing a choppy and often frantic string and synthesizer
approach to accompany the wildly gyrating camera angles. His score for
the introductory film in 2002 was a wretched mess of electronic sampling
gone terribly awry, but his more orchestrally dynamic development in the
2004 sequel produced a far more listenable effort. There was speculation
at the time of The Bourne Supremacy that Powell was exploring a
more sophisticated orchestral and synthetic balance, as well as better
thematic development, as the title character came closer to revealing
the nature of his identity. The musical formula for The Bourne
Ultimatum would much the same as the previous film, though with
alterations to the score's instrumental and thematic use that would
seemingly negate the progress made in that Powell score. The ensemble
stays largely the same, with strings and synthesizer leading varied
brass, percussion, and a solo bassoon. The percussion section, however,
is given a noticeable boost in diversity, presumably for the wide
variety of locations in the film, leading to several cues of
impressively authentic rhythms that avoid the pitfalls of the drum pad
sound so familiar to these films. Thematically, however, Powell never
provides significantly enjoyable development of the primary theme for
Bourne in this entry, choosing instead to present the theme in
understated fragments. The string ostinato "chase theme" receives its
due amount of air time, though its use will be extremely familiar.
For some reason, the album for The Bourne Ultimatum suggests that a brief track-by-track analysis may be more beneficial that blanket descriptions of the score's approach, partly because it's difficult to really get a handle on what direction --if any-- Powell was trying to take the trilogy of music with this score. He opens "Six Weeks Ago" with an immediate high string performance of fragments of the title theme in solemn fashion before reprising more related fragments on brass over standard beds of Hans Zimmer percussion and string rhythms. Whether the synths are largely involved in this and further such outbursts doesn't really matter; either they are, or the mixing of the recording is, as Zimmer likes to do, manipulated to make the orchestral ensemble resound with the same sharp edges as its synthetic counterparts. The string ostinato that defines Bourne's chasing music explodes in "Tangiers," an impressively decisive cue that introduces percussion that will remind many listeners of David Arnold's cue for the similarly rendered chase scene at the outset of Casino Royale. The bassoon performance of Bourne's primary theme in "Thinking of Marie" is badly underemphasized, never raising the sincerity of the "New Memories" cue in The Bourne Supremacy. The dynamic range of the authentic percussion takes center stage in "Assets and Targets" before Powell utilizes a "tortured string" motif in "Faces Without Names," based on the title theme. This usage would repeat in both "Coming Home" and "Jason is Reborn," and when placed in contrast to the modern, sophisticated edge of the chase music, it seems falsely melodramatic. Powell pulls the strings too hard in these cues, quite literally. Fans of Powell's first two scores will likely prefer the return to the relentless string rhythms in "Waterloo," which once again evokes Arnold's Bond music and this time throws in a hint of the samba style heard in "Goa" from the previous score. While the drums and metallic elements may be the same, and there's even a slight performance of the title theme over it to boot, Powell never provides the kind of enjoyable harmonic performance (of arguably false hope) that you heard in "Goa." Before the aforementioned, agonizingly shrill violin offering in "Coming Home," Powell utilizes a tapping snare and Eastern wood strikes to form interestingly multicultural rhythms. The string rhythms would reach a frantic pace in "Man Versus Man" and the title theme's tortured melodramatics would transfer to lower strings at the outset of "Jason is Reborn" before that final score cue would throw in one last solo percussion rhythm of interest. After the final crescendo of high string drama, Powell allows the solo bassoon to trail off towards the score's subdued end, surely hinting at more Bourne music to come. The Moby performance of "Extreme Ways" now closes all three films in the trilogy, and its variant here is largely the same as the one on the previous album (though with an extended intro containing that obnoxious wailing synth sound to greater lengths). When you step back from this score's individual elements and look at its effectiveness as a whole, some parts work better than others. The title theme so attractively packaged in "Goa," "New Memories" and "Atonement" from The Bourne Supremacy, arguably the best parts of that score, is lost in fragmented performances throughout The Bourne Ultimatum. The over-melodramatic high string variant of that theme is actually quite irritating. A less engaging performance by the bassoon weakens the few character moments in the score, though a poor mix of the instrument may be to blame. The continued use of the same string ostinato for the chase sequences isn't yet burdensome, but Powell has to expand upon its performance depth to maintain interest in it. He accomplishes this with the greatest strength of The Bourne Ultimatum: its live percussion. But for every kick-ass percussive moment in the score, there is a moment when the broad, thumping bass from the old Media Ventures days counters with a tired intrusion. It's a score that takes one step forward and one step back. It's far more listenable than The Bourne Identity, but not quite as much so when compared to The Bourne Supremacy. If the chase never ends for Mr. Bourne, then we may be treated to even more somewhat stagnant regurgitation in the future. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 54:59
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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