Eventually in a film composer's career, there always seem to be a point where from that moment on, they adopt a "one size fits all" approach to their scores. It happens at varying points but these days you know exactly what to expect from the most experienced film composers. You expect quality; but you don't expect innovation. With Jerry Goldsmith - the most innovative of all film composers in his day - the point has been reached later than with most composers, but nevertheless it has blatantly been reached. You know exactly what to expect with his scores - a couple of great melodies, lots of trombone, percussion and synthesisers for suspense cues through most of the film and the occasional action track written in that unmistakable style of his. And that's exactly what you get with The Sum of All Fears.

In fairness, the first couple of tracks do offer something different - a pop song not especially like anything else Goldsmith has written, "If We Could Remember", with Paul Williams's lyrics sung by Yolanda Adams. The same song is translated into Latin and sung by soprano Shana Blake Hill in "The Mission". After that though, it's pretty standard stuff.

That's not to say it's bad - far from it - but for those who have Executive Decision, US Marshals, The Last Castle - there comes a point when you have to ask if you really want to get an album which is essentially just an extension of those scores. Part of the reason for the perceived malaise of Goldsmith is of course in the films he chooses to score. It's depressing, but I think the reason for this is probably not because he picks the wrong projects to score, but because he simply doesn't get offered the right ones. It's now been five years since he scored a film that combined critical with commercial success (LA Confidential), which for a composer of his stature is a very long time indeed. The reason he gets asked to write music for films like The Sum of All Fears is obviously because he is so good at doing them, but the longer he goes on writing basically the same score in a number of slightly different ways, the more one fears that's all he is ever going to do.

One disappointment is that (with one brief exception towards the end) Goldsmith never works his beautiful main theme as heard in both incarnations of the song into the score itself. At a guess, the film simply didn't offer him the opportunity to do so, but it's such a great melody that you long to hear a little more of it. At another guess, it's all most people will listen to on an ongoing basis from this album. Even the action music, when it does come, is rather subdued (though the choir in "The Bomb" is a nice touch). The one time in a recent film like this that Goldsmith has really exploded and written some real pulse-pounding stuff is Air Force One, but this score never even approaches those heights of excitement. I guess the pick of the action music is "Real Time", but even then it's so similar to US Marshals you'd be difficult to pick them out in a line-up. There's only so many ways to skin a cat, and frankly I think Goldsmith's explored all avenues.

As ever when I write about a disappointing Goldsmith score, I need to point out that the score is only a disappointment because it is compared with the great scores of Goldsmith's past - he's written far more great scores than any other film composer, living or dead, which makes the less great ones all the more disappointing. It's certainly the best score for the four films in the Jack Ryan series, but the old magic the composer seemed able to cast in everything he wrote is missing. It seems unlikely that we will be seeing that many new scores from him in the future, and I dearly hope he manages to find a few films to work on that give him a chance to write scores that really count. The Sum of All Fears is enjoyable, but never quite springs to life.

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