Arguably the downside of Paycheck is its failure to really establish a main theme for the concept. Powell devises identities for the romantic portion, the evil corporation, and the conspiracy angle in general, but the score is ultimately a series of attractive motifs that struggle to form a cohesive narrative. Powell compensates with fantastic execution of the demeanor as the story progresses, but the themes are not always brought along for the ride. For instance, the culminating "One Big Payback" at the end of the score offers great, thematically inclined resolution material, but it doesn't directly sync with the motifs heard before. The love theme in the score is left as its de facto primary identity, which is basically sufficient but a bit odd. It's not the most memorable theme, but it's still one of Powell's better obscure identities. The idea understandably takes a while to develop, fragmented in "Paycheck: Main Title From the Motion Picture" and "Memory Wipe" before a preview of its intimate, string-based destiny in "Party of Two." After faintly opening "Portents of Crystal Balls," the idea goes full tilt into McNeely's The Avengers mode, a glitzy and cool highlight of the score. It returns for an elegant piano and flute duet to start "A Second Chance," turning slightly lush on strings later. It's accompanied by a snazzy rhythm at 1:35 into "Twenty Items," devolving into unfinished fragments that carry over to "Mirror Message." A gorgeous piano and acoustic guitar rendition closes out the final minute of "Reservations." In the clever "Impostor," the instrumentation plays just as romantically but the actual theme isn't there. The outrageously fun "Hog Chase Pt. 2" presents some of the score's best performances of this love theme at 1:57, 2:15, and 3:42, the second passage previewing the rowdy depth and enthusiasm of How to Train Your Dragon while the final passage is another dose of romance to end the cue. Only the underlying chords occupy rolling piano in the pretty "I Don't Remember," though "I Don't Remember (Alternate Version)" offers a more direct, albeit brief phrase from the theme at 1:14. These somber piano renditions continue at 1:01 into "Tomorrow's Headlines," its phrasing twisted as the cue continues. The theme informs the suspenseful buildup at 2:36 into "Return to Allcom" and serves underneath the crescendo to start "Future Tense" and in fragments at 4:20.

This primary theme of Paycheck is sadly underplayed in the score's final action material, faintly agonized on strings in first minute of "Fait Accompli" though succumbing to a soft piano interlude later. The conclusive "One Big Payback" presents the theme with some satisfaction at 2:46 on acoustic guitar, but the idea is translated into a fairly distinct, victorious offshoot at the end for electric guitar. The score closes out with Powell's source-like string quartet version of the theme in "Uma's Tune (Bonus Track)." Powell did toy with a secondary theme of introspection in Paycheck, conveyed by piano during all of "A Good Life" and returning in "I Don't Remember (Alternate Version)," though this alternative has no further impact. There is a hip theme for the corporate villains of the tale, but the idea loses cohesion in the score's second half, relying more on its looped, synthetic style rather than its descending motific figures. Hinted in the textures of "Paycheck: Main Title From the Motion Picture," the theme is illuminated at the outset of "You're Done" and is expanded to a bigger brass statement in first minute of "Hot Seat," after which the hip underlying rhythm returns. Related, skittish descending figures on strings continue later until a Bond-like action conclusion. The villain motif opens "Twenty Items" and returns at 3:53, turning melodramatic by 0:43 into "Reservations." Fragments of the motif define the revelatory statement at 7:59 into "Impostor." The motif struggles to return later in the score, slight in the early rhythms of "Return to Allcom" that rely more on the clapping and electric bass effects. Those cool elements continue under suspense rhythms for strings in "Future Tense," only fragments of the melody toying with espionage coolness throughout its first half. The underlying rhythm continues in the second minute of "Fait Accompli," developing into a tool of action; the hip instrumentation returns at the end but with a more victorious thematic presence on top. A conspiracy motif on strings exists separately, congealing in the latter half of "Paycheck: Main Title From the Motion Picture" and occupying most of "The Ring." It recurs in "That's You," opens "The Third Rail," stutters at 1:26 into "Tomorrow's Headlines," and faintly informs the early rhythms of "Return to Allcom." Like the villain's theme, the conspiracy motif is not evenly applied to the score, failing to really influence the final third of the work.

Aside from these main recurring ideas in Paycheck, Powell presents many melodic action passages worth noting. Some of these recur, including one at 1:30 into "Hog Chase Pt. 1" that turns to background plucked rhythms at 4:24 into "Future Tense" and adopts snazzy movement at 2:05 into "Bio Lab Bash." The memorable "Hog Chase Pt. 2" cue offers its own idea at 0:16, 1:00, 1:21, the last of which in overblown style on trumpets. Powell also presents a regular revelation motif in descending string melodrama at 3:13 into "Tomorrow's Headlines" (and even bigger at 3:47). It's overwrought again with slight choir at 2:14 into "Return to Allcom," and another string rendition awaits at 4:07 into "Future Tense." Altogether, these motifs supply enough cohesive structure to the score for its narrative to survive, but more could have been done to strengthen a few key ideas. While Paycheck is a campy and fun listening experience after a few muddled cues early, it remains the kind of work that begs for the assembly of its highlights into a rousing compilation of Powell action and romance superiority. Sadly, though, many of these best passages won't be providing the same thematic identities despite using largely the same instrumental colors and tone. The "Hog Chase Pt. 2" cue stands as one of the top entries in the composer's entire career, but it is partially built upon motifs that don't readily recur in the rest of the score. For many listeners, these quibbles will not be of consequence, as the score sounds fantastic in its vibrant mix and has more than enough personality to carry the day. The most impressive aspect of Powell's work here is likely the simple fact that he had made a habit of providing strong scores for films that did not deserve such sweat, toil, and talent. This issue was reinforced with Gigli, and after the lack of the success expected of Paycheck, Powell's tendency to compose music better than its accompanying films was becoming widely noticed. This problem affected his career for the remainder of the decade. As for Paycheck, though, you can't go wrong with either album offering. A 2004 Varèse Sarabande album of 48 minutes presented most of the necessary highlights, though a 2021 CD Club follow-up of 2,000 copies expanded the available music to over 100 minutes, and it's one of the rare circumstances in which the score is strong enough to support such additional length. On either album, Paycheck goes well beyond the usual level of unsophisticated music you often heard in Woo's films.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download