Coming back from a 105minute thrill ride of espionage from EON's 22nd 007 adventure, it has been a fantastic ride! I have to give my thumbs up.
Let me try to break the film down in the usual categories, giving my review on each as an avid film lover and James Bond fan. Hope you find solace with this...
THE STORY:
Quantum Of Solace tell the continuing story of 007 as he pushes deeper into the shady faction revealed later on in the movie as 'Quantum', and faces some truths about what really happened with Vesper, just who he can trust, and what his rash actions do to others. From the seconds after the MGM roar, you're already thrown into a raging battle between Bond and Quantum's henchman wanting to claim back Mr. White, following on from the end of Casino Royale. The story takes us across the globe and introduces us to many new faces and twists along the way that push 007 even closer to treading he fine line between hired hitman and civil servant. With Quantum already stirring trouble in South America and causing friction in the global security services with their 'leaks' and 'insiders', Bond must take the only lead he has from Mr. White and discover the real motive of shady business man Dominic Greene, the real motive of Latin beauty Camille and the real motive of himself. Rage, hate, betrayal and redemption are just some of the emotions felt as Bond faces his demons to stop Quantum before it's too late.
The story isn't confusing, it's laid bare and we are thrust into all areas without chance to think about what we just saw. Pay attention, because once it's gone, it's gone until the next time. We are moving into the familiar territory of Bond being thrust into a world full of crime and terror which can cause havoc on a global scale, especially in this day and age. Featuring a current global worry of economy and lack of natural resources, it’s something that could be going on under our noses and we wouldn’t even know about it. There is a familiar menace to the theme, and we are seeing Bond what will become his duty of putting his emotions last and focusing on the danger and job in hand for Queen and Country. A lot of previous questions are laid to rest from Casino Royale too that lead to a satisfying, and emotional, closure on this chapter for Bond and MI6. As stated previously, Quantum Of Solace is the film to bring our Bond into touch. Hopefully now we will be able to understand Craig’s interpretation of the character and have more fun with him and eventually his missions focused on one film only, like the previous Bond films and not tying a story over two films, as it’s clear that this is where the film is weaker, having to tidy up Casino Royales questions whilst standing alone as a solid 007 adveture.
JAMES BOND:
From his first line in the opening moments of the film, Daniel Craig is near to becoming the perfect incarnation of James Bond as Ian Fleming intended, and I’ll be surprised if this film doesn’t solidify that. He really is a cool, calculated killer. So cool infact that you will feel a cold shiver down your spine as he finishes of a suspect with a brutal execution to his jugular, and Bond doesn’t even look like he’s trying. He portrays Bond walking closer to that fine line between good and bad, but all the while giving us a reason for his actions. He looks the part even more than in Casino Royale, this time looking more comfortable in the role and knowing the character he is playing.
The emotion that Craig shows us when is taking care of a suspect or on the receiving end from M is tender to watch as the character is evolving before our eyes and I for one could feel all of Bonds highs and lows thanks to Craig’s acting standard. He handles the action perfectly taking every bash and bruise with style and giving them back in a way that no other Bond, bar maybe Timothy Dalton, could get away with. The humour is there in his one-liners which are oh-so perfectly delivered in a way we can believe them more than previous movies where they are delivered awkwardly for comedy effect. Bond grows up in this film and becomes the man we recognise as MI6’s best 00-Agent, and thanks to Craig in his flawless gift for acting and pathos in a character, it is a wonderful and exciting character to witness once again.
THE BOND GIRLS:
Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton play two opposite ends of the Bond Girl spectrum which delicious results. Kurylenko portrays the beautiful and mysterious Camille and Arterton is sweet and feisty as consulate Agent Fields (her first name echoes the tongue-in-cheek of the Connery era). First of all, the two girls bounce off Bond in a way that shapes his character more than other Bond girls have, bar Vesper Lynd of course. Camille has her own motives for being drawn into Quantum’s activities and Fields just wants to get Bond back on British soil and harness that loose cannon. Kurylenko is a beautiful and tender actress who shows some real emotion during her screen time, both in her action sequences and heart-to-hearts with 007. She is a strong character whom I really wanted to learn more about from the start, unlike say Solange in Casino Royale or Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies. She has a wonderful story to lead he with Bond until the very end, where even that is played to a wonderful emotional climax and leaves you wondering what could have been if things developed more. Arterton on the other hand plays by the rules and simply wants to do what she is told by her boss. Bring Bond back! Very English and very self-assured in her actions, the main reason I found Fields appealing was eventually seeing just who she was and how Bond’s actions led to her new found fate for all the wrong reasons. She shows a vulnerable side to her that we have seen before where Bond can worm his way into the female mind and manipulate them to his whim, which can be entertaining but also disturbing once we see what this can do. A tragic character, but one whom gives just as good as she gets. A perfect spin on the Bond Girl notion, and a notion that echoes previous girls such as Major Anya Amasova (TSWLM) and Aki (YOLT)
THE BOND VILLAINS:
Mathieu Amalric is businessman Dominic Greene, founder of eco-organisation Greene Planet.
Mathieu Amalric is shady terrorist Dominic Greene, ruthless member of the Quantum organisation.
Two sides to Greene are portrayed with brilliance by Amalric with nothing more than a sly grin or penetrating eyes. Maybe not as memorable as villains such as Le Chiffre or Emilio Largo, Greene is something of a villain where he can blend in with the crowd and could be your boss at work without you knowing of his actual intentions. No distinguishing features can propel a Bond villain to fame, but Greene has a real menace to his character which portrays him as a very well crafted villain for Bond to go against both mentally and physically, and always staying one step ahead. Amalric has wonderful eyes that are almost animal like, and when he is making a point in the film, they pierce into you just as much as Daniel Craig’s ice blues. Greene is a very ordinary man with a very mysterious motive which unravels very well during the film, and each action that leads to a consequence for Bond reminds you just how dangerous he, and Quantum, can be. For the climax, Amalric shows a real human side mixed with his animalistic rage to both Bond and Camille which is a highlight in the film as Bond battles Greene in a showdown like no other. He leaves you wanting to unravel more of his shady ways which I felt were exceptional for a criminal mastermind. With his chemistry between Kurylenko, there is a spark of danger and sad-machismo that harkens back to the Connery era of Bond villain.
Jesper Christensen returns as the incorruptible Mr White who is even more loathsome in his brief appearance at the start of Quantum Of Solace more than Casino Royale, as he continues to prove that Quantum really do have people everywhere and shows his hard external shell to the frustration of Bond and M. This is a great performance as he really milks the ‘Bond Villain’ mastermind ego for all this screen time. Greene’s henchman Elvis (Anatol Taubman) is sadly underused, as his quirky nature could have been put to more comical and dangerous use, but he is a welcome addition to enforce the shady nature of Quantum’s dealings. Other villains such as Bolivian General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) and a corrupt Police Captain (Fernando Cuervo) simply help to add more menace and cold-hearted brutality for Bond and Camille to deal with, which help to push the story along.
THE BOND ALLIES:
A stand-out batch of allies in Quantum Of Solace push Bond’s relationship even further between the likes of M, Felix and Mathis. The stand out scenes are those featuring M (Judi Dench) and Bond. For me they really had tension and pathos in them as they struggled to find their compromise between her being the boss and him being the agent. They had an even better and more developed rapport than in Casino Royale and that led to some great exchanges of dialogue and patience being pushed to the limit. As one character comments about the woman in Bonds life; “Your mother?” to which Bond smirks “She likes to think so.” Wonderful touch. Giancarlo Giannini returns as Mathis to give a brief but touching performance as the man Bond once couldn’t trust, but now trusts more than MI6. Again, it’s a brief role but one that impacts on the character of Bond in a very important way and a role that is sadly halted when there was plenty of room for future alliances. Jeffrey Wright is back as CIA Agent Felix Lieter in another all to brief role where he helps fill in the blanks for Bond, and us, and sits around with eagle eyes and drinking water or beer. Nice to see him back, but maybe a bit more screen time between him and Daniel Craig wouldn’t go a miss. As for everyone else, including Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) and CIA Agent Beam (David Harbour), they are delicious to watch as they aid us with the narrative of what is going on and have some great toffee-nosed lines to throw at us about the situation. I have to note that once again I didn’t miss Q or Moneypenny, or even Villiers from Casino Royale, in this movie.
THE LOCATIONS:
Italy, London, Haiti, Austria, Bolivia, Russia. Grab your map because Bond takes us to these exotic and beautiful locations all in 105 minutes. Director Marc Forster has a keen eye for a visual representation of Bond’s world and it is always clear in what is being shot and where. From the wonderful rooftop chase in Sienna, Italy to the even more spectacular Tosca performance in Bregenz, Austria, straight back to the harsh earthy tones of Bolivia, each location whizzes by if your not paying attention to the heads-up on screen, but you can’t fault that each locale is shot in a very humbling way where we are treated to all the highs and lows of the cities and desert shantytowns. Is there too much jet-setting for a James Bond movie? Maybe. But we never are left questioning as to why he is there. Thank-god he didn’t go to Cairo in the end.
THE CARS AND GADGETS:
If you thought the treatment of the Aston Martin DB9 was tear-jerking in Casino Royale, just wait until the pre-title sequence is over in Quantum Of Solace. It’s heart wrenching to see such a beautiful car be taken down the route of 007’s bumper-car, but it’s all for a purpose and still looks amazing handling the dangerous twists and turns of the Italian lakeside mountain road. No ejector seat, oil slick or defibulator this time. Just a hell of a lot of expert handling and exceptional stunt driving. There isn’t really a standout Bond car this time around sadly. We have Camille’s Ford KA which is fine for a lady, and even a battered up VW Beetle, but nothing for Bond to sink his teeth into except a crosser motorbike, a cargo speedboat and a DC13 plane. All of which end up battered, bruised and blown away after he’s finished with them. It’s great stunt-work that bring the vehicles to life when Bond is in the driving seat and kudos to the crew for that. Next time though, please go easy on the Aston. For my sake at least!
THE ACTION:
I’m not even going to mention what others will want to throw into the mix about the action in this film. There is a heck of a lot of the stuff, but not too much where you feel lost in it all. It’s brutal and real-life stuff we’re seeing and it’s very dangerous. The opening car chase is blistering. Short and sweet and hard as nails where you really are thrown into the driving seat with Bond. It’s a great sequence and very brutal, no words of dialogue until the very end (bar the police radio!). The chase through, and under, Sienna is very well put together, too well to the point we are almost lost in the crowd at points until the final moments in the gallery. That is a stand out action sequence for me, one of the films best. It’s a quick yet painful battle with gravity and each other as Bond and his enemy throw the punches and grapple to see who reaches their gun first. A brilliantly shot end also. I felt no need to dwell on the CG enhanced fall into the gallery as it’s over too quickly to notice such a great money shot. From then on we have a furious boat chase with yet greater suntwork, a breathtaking aviation dogfight which leaves little to the imagination as we hear and see every scrape and gunshot fly out. Once again, I nod to the stunt team for such a well crafted set piece. Can you pick up my pattern for the shunts in this movie? It’s Bond at his biggest for sure! Leading to a fiery climax in Greene’s eco-hotel which I felt again was over a little too quickly, the final fight is a savage beating to the previous Bond duels with Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye and Red Grant in From Russia With Love. Two animals in full fury as the place explodes around them leads to what looks like very dangerous film-making but very exciting moments! Mixed with the usual brutal fist fights we’ve come to love from Craig’s tougher Bond, it is nothing so new that we weren’t expecting it as we’ve tasted this before with Connery,Lazenby Moore, Dalton and even Brosnan. This is just a newer way of presenting a savage and exciting action movie.
THE MUSIC:
Sadly there is a noted lack of either the James Bond Theme or the familiar Bond motive, but there is more of the motive than in Casino Royale (if that makes sense). Quantum Of Solace is David Arnolds weaker of his James Bond soundtracks in all areas, but it’s not a bad score. (if that makes sense again!). We have heard that David Arnold wants 007 to ‘earn’ his theme and not to overplay his motive as to lose tension in a scene. I don’t think the playing of the 007 motive would lose the tension, but it would heighten it in my eyes, giving the scene a sense of danger, excitement and a pure Bond moment, not always a triumph. Quantum Of Solace has many memorable moments in the sound track and is full of melodic nods to Casino Royale, notably Vesper’s music, but also rousing brass and electronics for the action sequences. This just simply carries the film along all snug in musical contentment, but it still lacks that ‘Bond’ vibe we probably have earnt ourselves. Having said that , the final closing gun barrel sequence pays us off as we finally can match up the James Bond theme with James Bond on screen himself. Hopefully next time we can keep the tension in scenes, but add the Bond motive for that added kick.
THE BOND WIT:
In a nut-shell, the wit and humour is there. It may be being drip-fed to us as the character is becoming more self-assured and confident in his surroundings and those around him, but we can’t help but smirk as Bond rolls them off regarding either his sexual preference to Agent Fields, booking into a hotel, or getting one up on Dominic Greene and M. It’s not Moore wit, it’s Craig wit. Perfect.
THE COMPARISON TO CASINO ROYALE:
As the bar had been raised to new heights with Daniel Craig and the team taking James Bond forwards in Casino Royale, sadly no sequel could match the sheer impact that the film made. Quantum Of Solace doesn’t try to compare, it simply takes a new direction to answer old questions and front new answers for the audience wanting to understand this new Bond more. This film will never satisfy those wanting another powerful, in-depth and dramatic introduction to James Bond with such a deep drama and emotion to it. I for one didn’t expect anything as groundbreaking as Casino Royale so I wasn’t disappointed with Quantum Of Solace. I got a new direction from Marc Forster and he shone new light on the story and the character which I welcomed and actually found to be very emotional and tender in places, making me still yearn for more. Quantum Of Solace helps to make Casino Royale even more important in the Bond story, but Casino Royale helps Quantum Of Solace even more important in the arch of James Bond himself and shows us the direction he is taking into becoming the spy we all understand more from later Ian Fleming novels, and if we can look back, even the older movies. Don’t expect anything you’ve seen in Casino Royale be it stunt work and fight scenes, character depth or drama, and you won’t come out disappointed.
NODS TO OTHER BOND FILMS:
A fun part of any Bond experience is analysing if there are any nods to previous James Bond films or actors. Quantum Of Solace holds many and it’s nice to see them there, if not in a very obvious way. The Spy Who Loved Me is referenced with a nod to Bond’s cover name of R(obert) Sterling, and the way in which Bond dispatches an enemy at Tosca is a chilling mirror to how Bond sends off Sandor in Cairo.
Goldfinger needs no signpost to this reference. An innocent girl doomed to death by James Bond. Chilling and very effectively shot.
Licence To Kill is referenced between Bond, M and the MI6 agents as his consequences leave little to the imagination and he needs to go rogue to get his ultimate goal.
Agent Field’s first name is a throwback to the Sean Connery era of tongue-in-cheek Bond Girls.
The opening title sequence is very retro and has a simplistic feel of the late 60s, early 70s Bond to it. A hint of Maurice Binder in some of the titles which I thought worked very well and not all obvious CG effects.
Heck I can’t use this observation in a ‘review’, but have a look at the film and smile at the little touches of previous Bond gems.
THE FILM-MAKING:
The one main issue I have with Quantum Of Solace is with the editing. It works for some moments of particular sequences, but there is a little too much chopping going on and it detracts from some of the wow-factor from actually watching the scenes unfold in front of us. The main victim for this is the opening car-chase and the air dogfight. Don’t get me wrong the excitement is there for sure but as with other Bond films, and in Casino Royale, we were able to get a big view on the action and see it happen rather than piece together peoples bodies with areas of the car or setting. If this editing had been used for the Madagascar chase in Casino Royale, it would have detracted from the sheer scale and excitement of the sequence. Other Bond films such as GoldenEye or Moonraker have grand sequences which are edited in a way where we can enjoy watching them, but Quantum Of Solace sure throws us in the boot and shakes us around! As this is my only disappointment with the film-making, the rest is fine. The cinematography is gorgeous, and the shots of the locations are amazing. Forster has a keen eye for landscape and it shows during the Tosca scene and the Bolivian Desert climax. As with the sound and picture quality, they are wonderful to hear and see in crisp detail. The script also rolls well with no wasted or clunky dialogue (if anything, not enough dialogue!). Certainly a great picture from Marc Forster, but maybe not edited to Bond standards.
OVERALL:
A shaken and stirred addition to the James Bond canon of film (well wasn’t Casino Royale?), so this film is a wonderful stand along film with Craig’s first outing as 007 and now the ‘duology’ has been laid to rest and the introduction of James Bond is well and firmly established, I hope the future films can use the same standards and benchmarks of this new take and take us higher into more memorable and familiar territory as Bond takes on the bad guys, gets the girls and causes chaos along the way...hopefully without the out-of-this world gadgetry and 70’s cheesy one liners.
It took me a while after Quantum Of Solace ended that I realised I hadn’t heard “Bond, James Bond” or “Martini, shaken not stirred” as I didn’t miss them in this film, but I do hope they bring back the familiar Bond trademarks in various ways because they are missed in general and we need them to help us remember that this IS Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007, not just another action hero.
