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[Lounge Lizard]

Quantum of Solace is the Barack Obama of Bond movies. You don't really know where it will go next, but it's certainly different and awe-inspiring.

No, that's silly.

Quantum of Solace is the Big Sleep of Bond movies. In its rapid change of set pieces and its deliberately murky plotting, it resembles Hawks's classic film noir – a cinematic fever dream, with bursts of fierce violence. This is nowhere more evident than in René Mathis's surreal death scene. Without any real build-up,* a character which has only just been re-introduced and has instantly won our sympathy again, is thrown dying into James Bond's arms. That is how unrelenting Quantum of Solace is. A highlight.

The post-Empire world of the 1950s was always more complex than Ian Fleming pretended. Quantum of Solace is probably the first James Bond movie that really implodes Fleming's myths about a powerful and righteous British Secret Service. It cleverly does so by updating the old 1950s B movie cliché, the Latin American Revolution. Bond gets mixed up in, rather than straightforwardly fights, a web of cynical environmental entrepreneurs and CIA kingmakers. Another first is Bond being witness to the direct effect of the villain's plans on 'ordinary people'. It's in the small scene in which some poor Bolivian farmers see their last drop of water disappear in the desert dust. The scene is painful, to the point and it doesn't get sappy. Again, a highlight. The visual / verbal play on water and oil continues right down to the denouement of the Dominic Greene character.

Quantum of Solace may be a lot of things, but it is certainly not generic, and neither is it 'The Death of Bond', as some critics have remarked. It doesn't make good on all its promises, but it does deliver on most of them, and it continues to fascinate long after it has unleashed itself upon the senses. While Casino Royale was a stately thriller in three acts, Quantum of Solace is like a short burst of electricity. The opening sequence sets the tone marvellously. The camera zooms over Lake Garda with breathtaking speed and smashes us – CRASH! BANG! – in the middle of the action. It sent shivers down my spine.

It's obvious that Marc Forster was given a lot of room by Eon to develop his own take on Bond. Perhaps no director has been so trusted by Eon since Terence Young. Due to Forster's efforts, there is more detail than I have ever seen before in a Bond movie, as well as a more liberal use of 'arthouse' aesthetics. The opera scene is remarkable. In telling the story, Forster never gives the audience what it expects - instead, he frustrates, teases, re-invents and overwhelms. I particularly loved the work of MK12 on the opening title graphics, a tongue-in-cheek update of Maurice Binder and Saul Bass. I don't think the editing was bad at all, as some have argued on these boards; Forster just makes a deliberate choice for a more hectic editing style which you can either agree or disagree with, like the revolutionary use of jump cuts in Dr. No. Granted, there are some less effective action scenes; I found myself dozing off during the boat chase for instance. But Quantum of Solace is such a visceral experience, that if one action scene doesn't grab you, the next one surely will. Daniel Craig's Bond is defined by action rather than marginalised by it.

As in Casino Royale, the first act of the film is filled to the brim with spectacular fights and chases. Where Casino Royale emotionally took off for me once Bond met Vesper on the train to Montenegro, Quantum of Solace gathers momentum once Mathis is introduced and the action shifts to Bolivia. But Forster never makes us root for Bond as we rooted for him in the previous film. By being even more brutally honest about Bond and his actions, Forster keeps the audience at a distance; he makes us witnesses who are at turns thrilled and appalled by the Bond character. And this is where Daniel Craig fits in as a moody, mean, boozy and fatalistic 007. Sean Connery and Roger Moore would throw some unfortunate goon off a roof, a beat passed, and they would crack a joke. That may have been great entertainment, but in the end, mocking someone you've just slain is a pretty psychotic thing to do. In the world of Batman, we call such a character 'The Joker'. With Craig's Bond, we wait for the dry quip that neutralizes the violence, and most of the time, it never comes. Craig is unapologetic about Bond's nasty sides, but he does afford us brief glimpses of the man's heavy conscience.

There is, in my opinion, a problem with the humour in Quantum of Solace, which I can't quite put my finger on. All the jokes misfired with the audience I saw the film with and I didn't find myself chuckling either; the violence is so fierce it resists the jokes. Most of the one-liners are delivered so hurriedly that they're beyond throwaway. Most of the sight gags are timed awkwardly. Perhaps it would have been better to have those bits cut out than just have them put in for good measure.

Mathieu Amalric was brave enough to take the somewhat thankless part of the first truly low-profile Bond villain. He comes up with some great touches to humanize the Dominic Greene character, for instance the visible relief after addressing a large crowd at a fundraiser. With the little time she has, Gemma Arterton makes Agent Fields a tribute to the silly-cute teasers of the 1960s, like Joanna Pettet in Casino Royale or Angela Scoular in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She is, however, denied any real character. With Bond being such an ambiguous figure, the moral focal points of the film are Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis. Quantum of Solace would be poorer without their strong, warm presence. Though largely a vehicle for Bond's own bloodlust, Olga Kurylenko makes the most of her part as Camille, the 'battling babe' with a past.

The interaction between Bond and M is a strong thread in the narrative, and yet in a way I find it underdeveloped. M sees Bond as a loose cannon and is blind to the Quantum conspiracy developing around her; Bond is the only person who knows the truth about Quantum, and his boss refuses to believe him. That is arresting material, and yet it is built up and resolved all too quickly in the final reels of the movie. Has Forster strayed away on purpose from a 'Frustrated Voice of Reason' scenario in which the audience aligns itself with Bond who, à la Angelina Jolie in Changeling, cannot make himself heard?

Still, Quantum of Solace made me a jolly happy fan. What's best is the way the film gives a fresh twist to the 'personal vendetta' theme that has run through almost every Bond movie since Licence to Kill. Also, I now fully realized the clever way in which Eon has continued the reboot of James Bond. Throughout Casino Royale, the audience was never let in doubt that Bond was an invincible warrior; his learning curve was not physical, he was long past that point. Bond's learning curve is psychological, and it will be interesting to find out what our hero learns in Bond 23.


* I could very well be that, due to the breakneck pacing and highly economical exposition, I totally missed how Mathis ended up in the trunk of Camille's car. Perhaps I will learn that on a second viewing. Still, it's a remarkably shocking moment.

[Captain Tightpants]

Glad to see you liked it.

It's of interest to me the way everyone who like the film seems to be finding something different in Craig's Bond. It's as if you're all seeing a depth to the film that goes beyond what is being shown on-screen.

[BoogieBond]

Glad you liked it, and agree about the characters of Mathis and Felix and most of all M being the moral compass for Bond. I forgot that Jeffrey Wright gave a very good performance, because he does not have much screen time. I agree also about Gemma Arterton not having enough screen time as well. Good Review.

[sorking]

* I could very well be that, due to the breakneck pacing and highly economical exposition, I totally missed how Mathis ended up in the trunk of Camille's car. Perhaps I will learn that on a second viewing. Still, it's a remarkably shocking moment.

Watching the film the second time I was surprised to see just how creepily efficient this was.

Mathis introduces Bond (and Fields) to the Colonel during Greene's party. Bond leaves them to see Camille and Greene, and eventually Fields heads away, too...at which point the Colonel must have taken Mathis to one side, had him beaten and dumped into Bond's car.

I suspect the two cops who pull them over were also the guys who beat Mathis in the first place. Hence their 'He's moving' surprise when he's revealed to still be alive - they thought they'd killed him - and their immediate proximity when Bond and Camille drive away from the party.

This chilling part is this: The Colonel must have been planning to wipe Mathis out almost from the moment he arrived and made contact. He must have had his crooked cops in place when they arrived at the party.

[Lounge Lizard]

Yes, that must be it... the irony being that Mathis contacts the Colonel himself, the minute he sets foot on Bolivian soil.

Thanks, sorking!