Quite simply the first 30 or 40 minutes of the film are abysmal. The opening sequence is a mediocre car chase whose mundanity isn't at all disguised by the migraine-inducing editing. Then it's on to the worst excuse for a Bond theme song ever, a horrible assault on the ears which makes Madonna's effort actualy seem really good. Then for a while the film just proceeds in such a disjointed manner that whole scenes appear to have been left out. Bond goes from location to location killing people while captions helpfully tell us where we are each time, despite the fact that the dialogue always tells where Bond is going to be the next scene!
Eventually the action virtually stops and Quantam Of Solace becomes something along the lines of a half hearted imitation of a Bond movie. No way is the film all action-after the frenetic first third all we are left with is a plane chase, a very sub-Moonraker sky dive and a truly pathetic climax-after all these years, is the best they can come up with a fight in an exploding building! Despite having Bond and Olga both out for revenge there's hardly any suspense, nor is there any chemistry between the two. No, they don't fall in love or even lust, but it would have been nice to have had one or two moments of affection between the two. As it stands,Olga might as well have been a man and Bond spends so much time with M I'm starting to wander if they are going to become an item in the next film. O, and M is everywhere in this film, in the final scene she's even in Russia outside the house where Bond is doing something. The villains should have killed her, it would have been so easy.
The action. Well, I actually didn't mind the shakey-cam and fast editing in the Bourne films that much, because although a bit irritating at times, it did seem to go with the style and tone of those films and despite walking out of the cinema with a headache it was occasionally exhilirating. However, almost every action film that followed would use that style, and never with the skill that Paul Greengrass employed. Christian Bale may have trained in martial arts but you couldn't tell, and it got so bad that even the supposedly surefire spectacle of giant robots fighting was almost ruined by this. The action in Quantum Of Solace features some great stunt work [although my wife swears she could see Daniel Craig's wires a couple of times] and choreography but you can hardly see it. It seems obvious that director Mark Forster didn't really have a clue what to do with the action and left most of it up to second unit director Daniel Bradley, who had previously done the Bourne films but is here without Greengrass and results in just a mess. Unfortunately this filters over to the dialogue and dramatic [well, that's too strong a word really] scenes as well, with the exception of a couple of desert shots I don't think there is one lingering shot in the picture.
The plot, which is actually extremely simple despite what you may have heard, is reasonable. The locations do look good but we never spend enough time anywhere to really enjoy them. The sets,with the exception of the final one in the desert, are dull. Despite all the talk of 'real' action there is plenty of shoddy CG in the film, including a plane which appears to have come straight from the ending of Die Another Day. Characters randomly disappear, the semi-obligatory death-of-a-girl-Bond-sleeps-with is totally mishandled because it happens virtually half an hour after her last appearance and she's pretty much been forgotten about, and copies of great scenes in Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me just makes one wish one was watching those films. David Arnold's score is just loud cluttered wallpaper and doesn't have one decent tune or motif. As for Daniel Craig's supposed input into the script, it's obviously done the film no favours and only allows Bond the odd good moment [such as the death of a character towards the end].
The good. Well, Daniel Craig is still excellent. He's not really given a chance to shine except for the afore-mentioned scene but does a superb job of 'internalising' Bond's emotions and is very convincing kicking butt. The much praised Francis Coppola-inspired Tosca scene is cleverly staged. There are some funny lines-despite what you may have heard, the film does have humour. O, and it's mercifully short. And that is basically about it.
Perhaps if Quantum Of Solace was just a run-of-the-mill action movie I may well have said it wasn't really THAT bad, I don't know. One expects the best in entertainment from a Bond film and usually it delivers,so maybe I expected too much. I do know that this is the first Bond movie I have no desire to see again for ages.
Edited by Fiona Volpe lover, 03 November 2008 - 10:27 PM.
