The Bourne Identity (soundtrack)

The Bourne Identity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score composed by John Powell to the 2002 film The Bourne Identity, directed by Doug Liman, based on Robert Ludlum's 1980 novel of the same name; it is the first installment in the Bourne franchise, and the film stars Matt Damon as the titular protagonist Jason Bourne. The score album was released by Varèse Sarabande on June 11, 2002.

Originally, Carter Burwell was hired to compose the score for The Bourne Identity. He wrote and recorded a traditional orchestral score that Liman liked it. However, he rejected as his score did not push the tone of the film, the way Liman had envisioned, as he wanted to make an "anti-Bond film".^[1] As the film underwent extensive reshoots that delayed the post-production, Burwell opted out citing his commitments to other films.^[1]

Liman then heard a demo piece of a musical cue, written by John Powell, and likening to hit, he contacted the executives of Media Ventures regarding his involvement through a meeting with the director. Powell then wrote a few demos to Liman, and the latter liked it, ultimately being brought onboard for this project.^[1] The film is Powel's first collaboration with Liman.^[2] He originally envisioned a score based on percussion , guitars, electronics and synthesizers. However, at the last minute, he and Liman decided to have an orchestra.^[2]

As much of the music budget was spent on recording Burwell's rejected score, the team could not afford for a huge orchestra; only the string section can be bought because of budgetary reasons. Since Powell wanted a smaller orchestra, compared to the grand orchestral compositions for mainstream Hollywood films, they used the strings as an overdub providing a cinematic quality and as a "real propulsive mechanism" which worked effectively.^[2][3]

Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks panned the music, saying "the harsh electronic and string rhythms are the key selling point for the score to The Bourne Identity, and the main chopping, descending chase motif is all that most listeners will ever remember from the work [...] Looped rhythms, keyboarded effects, and creative manipulation techniques can be very tastefully applied to spy thrillers, but as [it] progresses, Powell's composition becomes more metallically distorted and obnoxious in tone. Late cues feature passages that sound as though he's recorded the banging of metal garbage cans and the scraping of metal rulers on a blackboard and integrated them as rhythmic highlights in his music. While this may be interesting at the very least for the first half hour of the score on album, it becomes increasingly intolerable as the presentation continues."^[4] Andrew Grenade of Soundtrack.Net wrote "There are many good ideas but there is little development beyond repetition until your ears bleed."^[5]

However, Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "John Powell’s pulsating score all ease us comfortably into that shadowy movie world of assassins and spies."^[6] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine described it a "techno-symphonic score".^[7] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "Techno-slanted score by John Powell is tremendously propulsive".^[8] John Hazelton of Screen International wrote "Composer John Powell contributes greatly to the edgy feel with a music score that stays out of the way of the dramatic moments but pumps up the action with techno-flavoured rock."^[9] Ranking the soundtrack moments from the first three films, Sean Wilson of Den of Geek listed Powell's themes—"Treadstone Assassins", "Bourne on Land", "Escape from Embassy" and "The Apartment"—complimenting his dramatic and propulsive ability.^[10]

The Bourne Identity: Tumescent Edition is the soundtrack that accompanied 31 tracks including alternates and unused cues. It was released by Varèse Sarabande on May 20, 2022, to coincide the 20th anniversary of the first film.^[11]

With the Bourne Identity, Powell continued his collaboration with Liman on Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Jumper (2008), Fair Game (2010) and again reunited for Locked Down (2021).^[12] He would also work on the future instalments of the Jason Bourne franchise, except for The Bourne Legacy (2012) which was composed by James Newton Howard.^[12][13] Powell recalled that his music for The Bourne Identity has temped by numerous composers for spy action films, which disappointed him, adding "That’s why film music is getting terribly uninteresting. It’s a snake sucking its own cock."^[2]

Credits adapted from liner notes:^[14]