Composer Jessica de Rooij has primarily scored movies by Uwe Boll (BloodRayne II, Tunnel Rat, Seed, Postal), a director of considerable ineptitude and perhaps the living incarnation of Ed Wood, Jr., but that prolific director-composer association shouldn’t deter one from snapping up what’s ostensibly a non-stop, tightly written chase score.

De Rooij more or less sticks with a simple five-note motif, and most of the cues in this brief half-hour album are rugged percussion tracks, with excellent ornamentation from peripheral bongos, fuzz guitar, and saturated bass tones. Far Cry is urgent and fairly unrelenting, and de Rooij’s orchestrations ensure each ‘chase’ variation has different shades of muscular power, with subtle but significant variations in instrumentation.

The score’s highlight is the lengthy “Max Kill Attack,” done in a 3/3 time signature. De Rooij’s slow-build from low tones towards motivic quotes unfold like a waltz of brutality, and for moments of confrontation, de Rooij combines deep bass tones and metallic hits in a cyclical whirlwind of aggressive imagery.

Aspects of the score’s mood and instrumentation do recall John Powell’s Bourne scores, but de Rooij specifically focuses on maintaining a pulsing momentum, with only a rare soft cue (the silky and warm-hearted “Love Theme”) breaking up the stalking mood. De Rooij’s writing is clean and sharp, and on occasion there are some James Bondian qualities – the sweeping string and brass that closes “Max Kill Attack” in particular – and short brass figures that discretely recall Miklos Rosza.

The album’s engineering is first rate, and the only drawback is the score’s brevity, and lack of a closing cue; the album starts with a bang and soldiers forward, giving us various small combat sections, but the resolution is too quick and abrupt, perhaps due to a montage of songs played over the end credits.

MovieScore Media has stated Far Cry will appear eventually on CD, coupled with tracks from de Rooij’s other scores.

© 2009 Mark R. Hasan