Fair Game


Lakeshore Records (0780163419429)
Movie | Release date: 11/02/2010 | Format: CD, Download
 

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# Track   Duration
1. Kuala Lumpur 1:40
2. The White House 2:22
3. Gathering Intel 3:04
4. Joe's Report 3:57
5. Bruises 1:37
6. Smaky 1:00
7. Sixteen Words 2:59
8. Run Up To War 2:55
9. Change The Story 3:08
10. Uncomfortable Love 6:04
11. Breaking Point 3:58
12. Ready To Fight 2:55
13. Testify 4:32
 40:10
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Fair Game - 06/10 - Review of Steve Ewing, submitted at
If you’re a John Powell fan, you’ve likely heard his scoring for The Bourne Identity or The Bourne Supremacy. While his music for Fair Game does well to evoke a sense of mystery and mischief (which is undoubtedly fitting considering the film’s exploration of intrigue and espionage), it is nothing new if you’ve listened to the Bourne series’ music. Powell also struggles to develop any themes or flourishing melodies, and the only source of change in the mood of the music is derived from the percussion, not the strings or occasional brass. Whether this is a positive or negative aspect depends on the listener’s tastes, I suppose.

Many of the same musical elements are used in this soundtrack that Powell used in previous films, and at times, the music sounds like nothing more than spare parts from other soundtracks. As Powell is fond of percussive music, a lot of his soundtracks feature instruments like finger cymbals and powerful, precise drumming resembling a drum line of snares and tom-toms, although he also tends to let such instruments dominate his music. (It’s most likely synthesized by a program like Stylus RMX, but I can’t be sure.) Used effectively, it works well. For instance, in The Bourne Supremacy’s track “Funeral Pyre,” the drum line enters while the strings and piano convey Jason Bourne’s mourning for his lost love. The juxtaposition and overlay of the two is fantastic, because while Bourne is still mourning (the strings and piano), he is also torn by his need to flee India (the drum line representing his constant state of motion and restlessness). I can’t say the percussion serves any sort of equally cinematic or dramatic purpose in Fair Game, instead suggesting, perhaps, that Powell is getting creatively complacent or stuck in a rut.

Arguably, Powell’s finest soundtrack is X-Men: The Last Stand, which used emotional themes for each of the characters and employed what sounds like a full- (if not over-) sized orchestra. Fair Game doesn’t come close in terms of scoring quality, and while nevertheless pleasant to listen to, is not engaging enough to serve as anything more than background music while you do something else. It rarely ventures beyond ominous undertones, and the incessant use of the percussion nullifies any value the drumming would have otherwise had if it had been reserved for only the most fitting moments. My biggest problem - and by far what I’ve addressed most in this review - is the soundtrack’s lack of originality. Of course, it’s not uncommon for composers to mirror theirs or an other’s composing from time to time, but if you listen to “Bruises” on this soundtrack and compare it to “At the Hairdresser’s” from The Bourne Identity, you’ll swear they were written and recorded at the same time as one larger track that’s been split up onto two different soundtracks. This is a recurring problem throughout Fair Game, and one that makes me spend more time thinking about where I’ve heard the music before rather than simply enjoying it.
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