Knight and Day Composed by John Powell
Walt Disney Records (2010)
Rating:
7/10
Soundclips below from AmazonMP3
“This album is a
blast...John Powell, who has some experience in scoring romantic
comedies (Two Weeks Notice) and hard core action (The “Bourne”
series) manages a bit of genre-bashing music-magic here.”
The Bourne Romantic-Comedy
Review by Steve Townsley
I am an unabashed JOHN POWELL enthusiast. He is, in this reviewer’s opinion, one
of the top composers of today. Powell brings a seemingly inexhaustible fresh
approach to the films that have the pleasure of being scored by him. I was
incredibly pleased to visit his newest score to the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz
action flick, KNIGHT AND DAY. (I’m going to check it out, the previews look
decent.) But, as I haven’t seen the movie yet, my take on the score is going to
rely solely upon the merits of the music itself.
I kinda like this approach when it comes to film music. I think music (and most
music in general) is made good by two features:
1) What it makes you think.
2) What it makes you do.
In this instance, the answers are 1) fun action, and 2) tap my fingers and feet
a lot.
I think Powell has really captured the heart of the action-rom-com, and the
formula is simple: Treat it like a dance. Really. Many of the cues here feel
like rapid ballroom dance numbers, with extra zest. Some of them might be a
little too rapid, a little too zesty, but overall, his approach works. A lot.
The crazy Latin strings and beat in “Hostage” (Track 5) are so much fun to soak
in. Even his Parisian accordion lilts keep the listener more at ease, than
tense. Strangely enough, Track 7, entitled “To the Island of Love” is among the
score’s most tense action tracks. I think you can hear a bit of “Shrek” in Track
16 (“Bull Run”), but the flamenco guitar flavor is intense enough to keep your
mind off of green ogres.
Here’s the catch, though, if you like to call it a “catch”: Five years ago,
Powell did the same thing in a little high-profile couple comedy called “Mr. and
Mrs. Smith”. Action, romance, and comedy blended all up in a Latin-dance score.
BUT--that was a great album too, and it works, and it, too, was a underrated
score. Overrated movie, perhaps, but highly underrated score.
This album is a blast. Since the movie seemed to die rather quickly for a Tom
Cruise film that didn’t have the words “Mission” and “Impossible”, I might go so
far as to say this is a undiscovered gem of the summer movie season. John
Powell, who has some experience in scoring romantic comedies (Two Weeks Notice)
and hard core action (The “Bourne” series) manages a bit of genre-bashing
music-magic here.
