Search - John Powell :: The Bourne Ultimatum

It's a great soundtrack, but missing a lot of music from the

Neil the Cellist | San Diego, CA | 10/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, before any of you say to yourself, "I don't believe you" I swear to you I'm telling you the truth. PLEASE read this review. I like Bourne movies. Not a Bourne-hater. But there's a reason why I gave 4 stars instead of 5.



I liked the movie and also liked the music within the movie, but like most of John Powell's soundtracks, a lot of the music that was actually in the movie isn't on the soundtrack. If you watch the Waterloo sequence again in theaters, you'll notice that a HUGE portion of that music isn't on the soundtrack. Don't believe me? Watch the movie again. When the assassin runs away after shooting the journalist, none of that music [which is GOOD music] appears on the soundtrack.



Another example: The music for the entire Morocco chase scene between Daniels, Desh, Bourne, and Nikki Parsons does not appear on the soundtrack.



Yes, I'm aware that this is a "soundtrack" and not a "score", but I feel like I wasted my money. I thought that there would at least be music from the scenes I actually enjoyed most in the movie."

Fitting Conclusion

William Smith | Djacarta | 08/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For the final Bourne installment, Powell naturally went with the basics of Bourne music, but manages here to flesh them out, giving his themes more room to breathe, and even a little more underlying orchestration. The CD plays out like a memo to Powell from Hans Zimmer, suggesting a few "epic" notes and additions to themes from time to time. This score doesn't have the tense "togetherness" of the previous scores, and certainly isn't as enjoyable as Supremacy (which is still the best of the three). The music has a tendency to blend a little into the background, but it's still a great soundtrack.



A couple of tracks that stand out are "Man vs. Man" and "Tangiers". "Waterloo" is good, but a bit long and incoherent.



Two things stand out however with regards to criticism of the CD: 1) the tracks are all out of order, and 2) at least a good third of Ultimatum uses score pieces from the previous two Bourne films (notably "The Apartment" from Identity and "Bim Bam Smash" from Supremacy, easily inserted in the appropriate places, once you figure out the order.) I'm also not crazy about the "Extreme Ways" redux, but that's just my opinion. I like the original mix a little better."

Disappointing, to say the least

Inspector Gadget | On the trail of Doctor Claw | 01/15/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"If you really must get a score CD to one of the Bourne movies then go with Bourne Supremacy. I was expecting good things of this one but after giving it a couple of spins I can see why Varese Sarabande opted out of releasing this one (Decca picks this score up); it's mainly just recycled stuff from the previous films. But don't expect anything as frantic as 'Bim Bam Smash' from second movie here.



My main problem with this score is that is just so generic and random. Yes, the Bourne theme is in there, but it's hardly a masterwork. I feel like anyone who wanted to convey the hectic, unpredictable nature of the movie through music could have come up with this score. Some tracks (the CD is a mere 50 minutes) work alright as an adrenaline burst but don't expect anything even remotely articulate or emotive.



It reminded me a lot of Hans Zimmer's score to Black Hawk Down, but that at least had some haunting sounds to it. Unless you are really desperate to have a new, upbeat version of Moby's Extreme Ways on CD then just give this a miss and pick the CD for The Bourne Supremacy."