The Rundown

2003 has really allowed Harry Gregson-Williams to demonstrate his versatility as a composer. His praised score for the animated film Sinbad gave him the chance to compose some excellent adventure music, while the composer's score for Veronica Guerin relied on traditional Irish music. And Gregson-Williams's third score of the year, The Rundown - starring The Rock (can't he at least use his own name when making films?), Seann William Scott and Christopher Walken and taking place in South America - mixes modern beats and synths with South American elements. Gregson-Williams makes use of a large array of instruments from the area, including various flutes and percussion as well as a large group of musicians called The School of Samba Unidos de Vila Isabel, giving parts of the score a strong samba sound, complete with whistles.

The Rundown is a very rythmic score, with tracks almost entirely performed by percussion, such as "Bar Fight". Heitor Pereira's guitar playing appears in a couple of cues, giving the music a very distinct, and rather laid back, South American sound. It's also heard in more upbeat cues, such as the excellent "Kolabos/Marianna Escapes".

The actual orchestra used seems to be rather small and is dominated by strings and brass. While the orchestra isn't used that much the score gets a lot more interesting whenever it's used. "The Gato", for example, couples strings and brass with percussion and ethnic flutes. A rather good action cue, actually. It's also interesting to note that Gregson-Williams actually conducts himself. Something he, unfortunately, rarely does.

When it comes to themes, The Rundown lacks a strong central theme, but features a large number of smaller themes and motifs. But the lack of a strong theme throughout the score doesn't work in the score's favour. The same goes for the many, but short, tracks. Several tracks are shorter than one minute and are therefore almost over before they start. In the end, The Rundown is a rather disappointing score that fails to grab and hold the listeners attention for a longer period of time. Mostly due to the fact that much of the score is pure underscore.