The modality and ornamentation of this solo have definite Middle Eastern elements, but only enough to provide a bit of flavoring. The score opens with an English Horn solo floating over a synthesized string drone. It is fitting, then, that the score evokes the continent's pop music and dance scene. The Bourne Identity feels grittier, more immediate, and in many ways as European as its setting. While I find this trend overbearing in slickly produced Hollywood spy movies, it not only works in The Bourne Identity, but actually augments the movie's style. In The Bourne Identity, as in most of his action scores, Powell follows the modern trend of using techno-influenced beats and synthesized percussion. The Bourne Identity was scored by Media Ventures protege John Powell, who first achieved notoriety for the score to John Woo's Face/Off. Unlike its title character, the movie knows exactly what it is: fun, escapist summer fare.įortunately, I can say the same for the score. But The Bourne Identity never wades into those waters. This situation is ripe with opportunity for self-examination and guilt over past deeds, especially when Bourne discovers that he was an assassin.

He does not know his true name, occupation, or even personality. The title character, Jason Bourne, spends the movie attempting to uncover his past. I enjoy originality and movies that examine a tired cliche from a new angle, but watching The Bourne Identity I realized how refreshing it was to see a sharp, well-crafted spy thriller that did not insult my intelligence or require mental gymnastics. People flocked to them, so more guilt-ridden spy movies were created. Given the choice, most people would prefer to see a movie with interesting characters than one with guys who blow things up.

I do not mean silly or preposterous, although they are often those things as well, but dumb.

Of course, Hollywood does not realize there is a reason spy movies no longer make back their inflated budgets (besides a simple change in the movie-going climate). Even James Bond is feeling remorseful these days. Gone, it seems, are the days of pure action for pure escapism.

Instead, Hollywood seems to believe that we need intense, character-driven examinations of what it means to be a spy and how living a life of secrecy and violence will either destroy or leave you void of human decency and emotion. With the end of the Cold War, it is no longer enough for entries into the genre to provide a little bit of intrigue, a dash of romance, and a heaping portion of action. Spy movies today are a strange, mixed bag.

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