Runaway Jury

It must come as a great disappointment to film producers that certain composers can't be cloned and the talents of the original applied to every suitable production. Flavour of the month (or more accurately, decade) is undoubtedly Thomas Newman who has almost redefined the musical palette for talky dramas of whatever type. Runaway Jury is yet another John Grisham courtroom pot boiler, but as usual, has attracted some decent acting talent in Gene Hackman, John Cusack and Dustin Hoffman and directed by Gary Fleder, who is perhaps best known for thrillers Don't Say a Word and Kiss the Girls. His composer of choice appears to be Mark Isham who scored both of those and others directed by Fleder. While he can often provide fine scores, Isham's thriller efforts aren't exactly his best work and here, he passes duties onto Christopher Young, who is comfortable and more adept in a wide range of genres.

Perhaps the Thomas Newman remark was verging on a cheap shot as Young is a good enough composer not to be too swayed, but the titular opening track is clearly Newman inspired with its piano and percussion riffs. The stylistic debt is clear, but most of the time, Young pulls the material more toward his own brand of percussive riffs and samples. At times, it's difficult to determine what to make of the music as it's often somewhat too bombastic to be suspenseful, yet this kind of film isn't filled with action scenes. However, cues such as the incredibly exciting Shark Tactics and less chaotic, but equally thrilling Voir Dire are great modern action tracks; pulsing percussion and samples all layered with skittering strings and horn interjections. Percussion is very much a crucial element, propelling almost every track along, but Young dots the basic elements with orchestra and samples.

Runaway Jury is one of those scores where the music is the same but different; certain elements are retained throughout, but are reorganised in sufficient permutations to avoid it becoming too samey. Although it avoids being too repetitive, the album is rather long. At almost an hour, Young's percussive soundscape begins to wear a little thin by the end, the relentlessness becomes rather wearing - it certainly sets the nerves on edge. Thriller scores are certainly rarely enjoyable in a traditional sense, but Young's modern, busy approach has the right vibe, but does seem a little overactive for what is probably a somewhat talky film. Still, a solid effort and certainly more memorable than many genre scores, sitting comfortably alongside those by Elmer Bernstein and Dave Grusin for earlier Grisham thrillers.