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What began with Casino Royale continues in Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig's second outing as a 21st century re-boot of James Bond. If Sean Connery's Bond was the pinnacle of 1960's secret agent suave, Craig's is the quintessential loose trigger on a mission. The James Bond of 2006's Casino Royale and 2008's Quantum of Solace is a gritty, determined, rough & tumble bloke who doesn't always emerge from battle unscathed. Gone are the amazing gadgets, save for a couple GPS tracking devices, Bluetooth technology earpieces, and a few fast cars. This 007 chooses to rely on his own brain, brawn, wit, and any readily available weapon to foil his enemies. In fact, Bond's gadget guru "Q" is gone altogether from this story. Now, before anyone starts a 'Bring Back "Q"' campaign, I must mention that his absence in Quantum of Solace is pretty much dictated by the logic of the story. However, you may immediately begin "Bring back Moneypenny", "Bring Back Bond... James Bond", and "Bring Back Vodka Martini, Shaken - Not Stirred" campaigns at your earliest convenience. Picking up immediately where Casino Royale left off, Quantum of Solace, in yet another departure from the 007 norm, is the first proper sequel of the series. If you haven't seen Casino Royale, it would be best to remedy that before moving on! In a nutshell, the plot here has 007 on a quest for vengeance that isn't exactly sanctioned by MI6. The main villain of the film is Dominic Greene, an industrial environmentalist (how's that for 21st century?) played by Mathieu Amalric. I've noticed that Bond villains have become more 'weasel' than 'evil' lately, and Greene is no exception. Without giving away any more of the story, let's just say that things wrap up, and blow up, as one would expect them to in a Bond movie (no departures there!). I must admit that, while I enjoyed the action sequences in this Bond outing quite a bit, I found Quantum of Solace to be no more entertaining or original than any of the 21 Bond films that came before it. In fact, this re-envisioned James Bond has more in common with Jason Bourne or Dirty Harry than with any previous 007, which seems to me a backstep for the series as far as originality is concerned. It's a great idea to humanize James Bond; to give him some flaws and make the stories more realistic, but the results achieved here are uneven at best. What's more, it seems the producers recognised this and did little to balance things out. Ostensibly to please fans of the previous 007 films, there are a couple of moments thrown in to remind everyone that this is, in fact, still a Bond movie. One is a half-baked reference to a scene in Goldfinger, and another is what should be the opening gunbarrel sequence, sloppily tacked on to the end of this film, just before the credits roll. Wow, that should make everything all better with the Bond Movie purists out there! So, other than ranting about the atrocious, dreadful, awful, sorry excuse for editing of some scenes, that pretty much covers Quantum of Solace. The following is for the record: I like Daniel Craig as Bond, but Sean Connery still rules. I enjoyed Casino Royale more than this outing. I can only hope that Bond 23 will bring things just a bit more into line with what we've come to expect from Bond... James Bond. |
Quantum of Solace |
Directed By: Marc Forster Written By: Paul Haggis & Neal Purvis & Robert Wade Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content. |
A.J's Rating: 3 Vesper Martinis (the ORIGINAL Bond drink!) |
Review published November 25, 2008 |
The CD and digital album featuring 23 musical standouts from the Bond franchise's 46 years plus a previously unreleased bonus track, and the CD/DVD includes five music videos, a filmed concert performance and more. |
