Review: ‘Quantum of Solace’

Tom:

‘Quantum of Solace’ is, I think, a great title for a movie though I still am not sure exactly what it means. The 22nd,^Â  official James Bond opus, and the second with Daniel Craig in the lead, rightfully leaps right away into the action with a dangerous-looking ‘Ronin’-style car chase (between 007’s Aston Martin and an Alfa Romeo, no less) and rarely lets up. At 104 minutes, this is the shortest of all Bond films and seems a bit less ambitious and certainly less romantic than it’s immediate predecessor. Even the dialog often seems rushed, as if they’re in a hurry to get on to the next exhilarating action sequence, but it’s still a mostly satisfying action film.

In a first for a 007 pic, ‘Quantum of Solace’ picks up right where ‘Casino Royale’ left off. A grief-stricken Bond is hungry for revenge for his ‘Casino’s lost love and that personal obsession seems to drive him to a dangerous mode of shoot-first-ask-questions-later. Though the film is shorter, the globe-hopping plot is no less dense than other Bond outings. Bond tackles an international conspiracy involving Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, a fine rat-faced villain), an environmental deviant who’s working several corrupt governments at once for purposes slowly revealed. Bond teams up with likewise vengeance-minded Camille (played with proper coolness by Olga Kurylenko) who, like 007, maintains a personal vendetta that is played out nicely. Like most 007 films, the plot does little more than string the action sequences together, but there is more than enough twists, turns and mayhem to maintain interest.

Daniel Craig again proves to be an excellent choice as 007. With his now-trademark glower, Craig sometimes comes off a bit cranky, but he’s a far more compelling and believable hero than any Bond since Sean Connery. Judi Dench has a meatier role here and for the first time, her M seems to be a real part of the plot rather than an extended cameo. Some of her exchanges with Craig provide the few instances of humor in this, a mostly serious adventure. And watch for scene-stealer Gemma Arterton as sexy agent Strawberry Fields whose fate will be appreciated by knowing Bond fans. Jeffrey Wright’s CIA agent Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini’s Renà © Mathis are back from ‘Casino’ but both characters are underutilized in this sequel.

With a thankful absence of cheap humor, an angrily focused hero, and genuinely exciting action, hardcore 007 fans should certainly be pleased with the direction the franchise has taken. While not as exotic or surprising as ‘Casino Royale’ (and where are the damn gadgets?!?), ‘Quantum of Solace’ is well worth seeing, though I still don’t understand the title.

Zac:

Daniel Craig as Bond is back and he is delivering on the same level as ‘Casino Royale’ in this dark, vengeful, and action packed investigation coming of age (as a spy) story.

Now, fair warning to those that haven’t seen ‘Casino Royale’ in a while, I highly recommend that you watch that movies shortly before seeing this one as it picks up almost immediately after the first film and never looks back to fill you in.   We open on a high speed car chase in a tunnel alongside a lake in Italy as Bond is on the run from his pursuers with Mr. White (who he shot in the leg at the end of ‘Casino Royale’) in tow.

White is suspected to be the key to a mysterious group/organization causing a huge pain in the neck for MI6 among other government agencies and Bond has brought him in for investigation.   After arriving “safely” to MI6’s bunker, White proclaims, “we have people everywhere, don’t we?” which then lead’s to a foot chases through the streets, roofs, and ceilings of this Italian town in which Bond does not capture his target but is left only the option to kill him.   Bond’s actions distress M (Dame Judi Dench), who feels like he is running off vengeance for Vesper’s death at the end of the previous film.   Bond proclaims he is on board and heads to Haiti to follow a lead on this mysterious company’s possible clues.   Upon getting to Haiti, we meet our other two leads in the film, Camille (Olga Kurylenko) and Greene (Mathieu Amalric) both of which have agenda’s over the own, with the later becoming a very popular piece of interest for Bond and his search for info on the mysterious organization.

I will spoil no more, but this is the first 20-25 minutes of the film and we have already had a car chase, a double cross, a foot chase and we will soon find ourselves in another chase in the not to distant future.   The movie starts off with a bang, and never looks back to catch you up or hint to what happened in the previous film.   So I again stress, watch ‘Casino Royale’ before seeing this one!   Anyways, after the initial half hour, the film gears down out of action movie and into more traditional spy/espionage action and intrigue, before ramping up the action for a final chase scene and the grand finale itself.   Also of note, if you are looking for more of a return to the old gadgetry/tongue in cheek sillyness aspect of the previous Bond films, you will be disappointed because it is actually moving farther away from that; which I think is a good thing, but to each their own.   The movies tone is dark and brooding and while there are a couple of laughs, the humor is darker as well.

Marc Forster does a fine job at crafting an engaging, well shot and edited, fast pace action movie, with the scene at the Opera house being the real standout piece of filmmaking for the picture; just a beautiful and clever scene.   The only complaint one might have is that the action is shot a bit tight and quick cut for my liking and while it adds to the kinetic franticness of the action, it also makes it kind of hard to tell what is going on exactly some of the time; though it doesn’t ruin the picture by any means.   Forster is new to the action world, and I am sure in his next action picture he will have learned to shoot it a bit better; ala Nolan did in ‘The Dark Knight’.   Forster also does a decent job of making the film seem relevant and draws parallels between his story and the state of our world today, and does so without beating it over our heads, which is always appreciated. What Forster really excels at though, is getting great work out of his actors.

Daniel Craig is as good as he can be again here, with his brooding, vengeful Bond becoming a serious force to be reckoned with.   We feel M’s concerns as we watch Bond move further along into his investigation, going off protocol and practically running rouge, pissing off other governments along the way all in search for “solace” in his loss of Vesper and bringing the wicked down along the way.   Dench gets a lot more work this time around as she juggles her desires of M to both break the case without losing her Agent Bond in the process and Dench plays the balance to perfection.   Mathieu Amalric is sleazily great as Greene and really creates a bad guy that we love to get behind while also not ever dipping into the over the top villain formula.   Olga Kurylenko bounces off Bond’s vengeance well with the intentions of her own, and is able to hold her own as she works towards her ultimate goal while using who she has to get it.

‘Quantum of Solace’ is an excellent entry into the Bond reboot, working on the same level of quality as the previous entry.   The action set pieces aren’t quite as grand, but they are thrilling none the less, with the finale actually holding up as a pretty great action sequence.   The film is Bond coming to terms with what it is to be an OO and maturing greatly along the way.   The film doesn’t unveil a whole lot into the overall arc of the mysterious organization; as the plot of Greene becomes the main focus, but it sets up our hero to be about fully ready to properly take them down.   ‘Quantum of Solace’ is a great action movie, a great extension of this new Bond lore, and a great title that makes a lot of sense once you see the movie, even if it seems entirely befuddling upon first glance.   I can’t wait for James Bond to return. [Overall: 4.5 Stars]

Jeremy:

‘Quantum of Solace’, the 22nd entry into the James Bond franchise (or 23rd or 24th depending on which ones you actually count), is a rip-roaring, take-no-prisoners kind of action movie that never even seems to want to slow down. Â  Some people complained about the previous entry into the franchise, ‘Casino Royale’, being too slow or too plot-heavy. Â  I hope those people are happy. Â  With ‘Quantum of Solace’, their prayers for a nonstop thrillride have been answered.

‘Quantum of Solace’ begins mere minutes after ‘Casino Royale’ has ended. Â  In fact, I’m sure, somewhere down the line, someone is going to fan-edit the two films together to make an epic, 4 1/2 hour-long version. Â  Maybe they’ll call it ‘Quantum of the Casino’. Â  

This film sort of serves as a final act to ‘Casino Royale’ with Bond, still played by the affable working his way up the evil ladder that makes up the secret organization behind the events in that previous film. Â  Bond is out for blood trying to uncover who was behind his beloved Vesper Lynd’s demise. Â  This is a humorless Bond that we’ve seen only a few times before. Â  There are laughs to be found in ‘Quantum of Solace’, but they are few and far between. Â  In fact, they are sort of out of place when you consider how sincere Bond is supposed to be in this film.

At 106 minutes, this is the shortest 007 film to date, and there’s a sense of comfort that seems to be missing throughout the film. Â  Every scene seems to end a minute or two too soon. Â  Every action scene seems to begin about five minutes too soon. Â  There are moments where you think the film is going to slow down and take a breather, for us and for the story, but the down-time gets interrupted by yet another action scene.

The action scenes are breathtaking. Â  There are some amazing chase scenes throughout ‘Quantum of Solace’. Â  Nobody jumps from balcony to balcony quite like Daniel Craig, and you begin to wonder if all of this has taken inspiration from the Bourne series. Â  Director, Marc Forster pulls out all the punches to create the action, but it all begins to grow arduous by the time the film ends.

Craig is still a great choice for Bond. Â  Handsome instead of suave. Â  Gritty instead of cool. Â  There are a thousand stories that seem to be imprinted on Craig’s face and in his bright, blue eyes, and it was incredibly delightful to see him performing in ‘Casino Royale’. Â  He really seemed to be having fun with Bond in that film. Â  Here, he isn’t given much to do other than sulk around killing henchmen to the left and to the right. Â  We get a few instances of rage and a few more of playfulness, but nothing like what we’ve seen before.

The real standout performances in ‘Quantum of Solace’ come from the supporting players, particularly Dame Judi Dench and Mathieu Almaric. Â  Once again, Dench portrays M with a severe yet affable quality that seems to be Dench’s calling card. Â  She gives M the perfect mixture of warmth and earnestness towards Bond that makes you wonder if M really stands for “mother”. Â  Almaric, in a nutshell, gives probably the best performance for a Bond villain in any of the films. Â  He’s sinister and engrossing, but you find yourself laughing when he attempts joviality.

A little less wham-bam and a little more calm would have more than likely made ‘Quantum of Solace’ among the best of the franchise. Â  There could have easily been a very welcomed 20-30 minutes scattered throughout the film that pulled double duty. Â  It would have allowed the audience a moment to breath, and it would have made the incredibly executed action scenes mean that much more. Â  It’s hard to follow up ‘Casino Royale’, probably the closest we’ve seen to a perfect James Bond film, but coming up with a $200 million ending to that film was not the way to go.

I really don’t want to come off like I’m not recommending ‘Quantum of Solace’. Â  I think I’m just digging in a little deeper, because of the expectations built up from ‘Casino Royale’. Â  There is some unbelievable action in this film, and it shouldn’t be passed up. Â  There just could have been so much more outside of the action, and there really isn’t.

‘Quantum of Solace’ ends on yet another open door, not quite as open as in the previous film, but open, nonetheless. Â  Perhaps with the third Bond film in the “Daniel Craig Era”, they will find that perfect place in between these two previous films to satisfy everyone’s cravings.

[Overall: 3 stars out of 5]

Ram Man:

Bond is back, and for a change, he is picking up where he left off. Daniel Craig is back for round 2 as MI6’s newest secret Agent 007 in ‘Quantum Of Solace’ . Marc Forster (‘Finding Neverland’) directs this chapter in the Bond Saga. Foster gets this one up to 100 m.p.h. as soon as Jack White and Alicia Keys finish the opening theme song “Another Way To Die”. All the characters from ‘Casino Royale’ : Judi Dench as M, Jeffery Wright as Felix Leiter, and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis.

If you remember Bond had just tracked down Mr. White in Italy and had sot him in the leg. ‘Quantum’ starts out with a winding 100+ m.p.h. car chase through the mountains of Italy. Bond would make Jason Bourne jealous with his driving skills. There are doors, tires and bodies flying everywhere. Following the interrogation, or lack there of, with Mr. White, M and Bond discover they are dealing with a global terrorist organization that had been flying under the radar. Just as White tells M they have people “everywhere” he is shot by M’s bodyguard, who is also working with this mysterious group.

This sends Bond on a Global search for the head of this new organization we learn is called ‘Quantum’. Bond repeatedly masks his motive of vengeance for the murder of the woman he loved in ‘Casino’, telling M his is just doing his job. Where the previous film was story driven, ‘Quantum’ is an action film. Craig’s Bond is still a master assassin and doesn’t rely on the gadgets of the previous incarnations of the character. We are also introduced to Dominic Greene, a tree-hugger with an agenda. He is the head of Quantum, or so we think. Quantum  and Greene are buying up desert land in South America to control the earth’s most precious resource..not Oil like the CIA thinks..no he is after control of the Water Supply in Bolivia.

Daniel Craig is taking over as the best James Bond, de-throwning the legend Sean Connery as the face of 007. ‘Quantum of Solace’ is a fun film and with have you gasping for breathe during some moments of the film with the pace it takes. It’s not all good, for me. I was expecting to finally see the chief bad guy (Ernst Stavro Blofeld). But that is what the next one is for…I hope! ‘Quantum Of Solace’ is a very good film and just what you need to get the blood racing on a cool  fall evening. As I said earlier, this is the first Bond film to actually pick up where the previous one left off, so  watch ‘Casino Royale’ before heading out to the cinemas, martini in hand  to check out James Bond in ‘Quantum Of Solace’.

[Overall: 3.75 stars out of 5]