While listening to The Bourne Identity's director commentary on DVD, Doug Liman, director of the first film of the franchise and producer of the sequels, offers, among many insights, the degree to which John Powell's music ended up affecting the film's tone. The long-time indie filmmaker knew the music had to become a character onto itself and this was reflected in the fact that the themes, from both film and soundtrack, were repeated in the two sequels; they laid the groundwork.

Liman and Powell team up once again for "Jumper", starring Hayden Christensen, of Star Wars fame. I have not seen the film as I was mostly looking forward to Powell's follow up to the impressive and highly charged Bourne scores, and, while a I count myself a Liman fan, the movie seems formulaic and vacuous.

The powerful synths which have by now become one of Powell's trademarks make their appearance, much to my contentment. The quiet electronic moments work wonderfully, such as those from the opening tracks My Day so Far and First Jumps. The same cannot be said for the more bombastic tracks such as Coliseum Fight.

There is a nice recurrent acoustic guitar theme which appears here and there and adds a playful yet edgy side to the proceedings. The track In Hospital is oddly reminiscent of the Bourne trilogy as is It's Sayonara, which however, brings the playful string theme back to the table.

While a nice offering by Powell, it doesn't rank among his best, as one could probably come to expect given the source material. Yet fans of the genre will appreciate and perhaps even grow fond of Powell's latest effort. More classically inclined ears should pass up on this one.

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