I must admit, there's not a great
deal to recommend about Patriot Games, it's
James Horner at his most uninspired and generic. I admit that the
Oirish bits (which were a pretty original idea for Horner in
1992) are very nice indeed, but for a very similar score which is
perhaps a little more exciting, I'd suggest Devil's Own
which, curiously, also stars Harrison Ford. That score at least
has some nice Irish jig bits which work much more interestingly
than the none too exciting sections of this score. One to pick up
if you're desperate or they are paying you to take it away, but
if you have any other Irish James Horner stuff at all, then skip
it since that isn't particularly wonderful and the rest
is pretty much a drag.
Rating ~ Total Time ~ 45:09
After the ultra tense thriller of
Hunt for Red October, the "central"
character of Jack Ryan was brought to be a bit more important
(let's face it, Sean Connery's 'is he or isn't he nuts?' sub captain
was the main character of The Hunt for Red October). They
therefore drafted in well known (and slightly geriatric) Harrison
Ford to play Ryan and he then went and did lots of sub-James Bond
stuff, well for two movies anyway. Since Patriot Games
had some vaguely Oirish connection James Horner drafted in his
old pals at Clannad to come and write some vaguely ethnic Enya
(who used to be a member of Clannad) type music and this appears
in Harry's Game. It probably constitutes the nicest track on the
album, soothing and gentle. James Horner's own Main Title
features Maggie Boyle who sounds very much like Sissle or Enya
and so anyone who's heard Titanic will probably
recognise the general style. Then again, the credits mention this
track containing a "Traditional Gaelic Song" so even
the interesting bit isn't by Horner. Worse, the rest of the music
consists of not ever so interesting action motifs and some of the
most tedious suspense music that Horner has ever produced. The
fact that one track, Assault on Ryan's House is 11 minutes of not
a great deal happening, doesn't help much at all. Boat Chase is
faintly exciting, but just isn't that exciting.
Composed & Performed by Clannad