A powerful and moving thriller, Quantum Of Solace is a carefully crafted and thoughtfully executed and edited cerebral near-masterpiece of the series. It is a remarkable film full of parallel story lines, mouth-watering juxtapositions, stark visual contrasts and poetic symmetry which elevates itself far above the capacity of most films in the genre to which it belongs. Though a blockbuster made for the masses, Quantum is the boldest Eon step yet which asks its global audience to come along – brain fully on – for every brave step of its stylish thrill ride. Nearly every choice made exists for a reason.
Cinematically, Quantum is an audio-visual feast for the senses: The outstanding and, at times, mesmeric stunt work and world class performances by the cast are launched off a canvass using a distinctive colour palette of blacks and whites, blues and the warm earth tones of beiges, browns and terra cotta reds. The film is a work of art disguised as a blockbuster and is underpinned and overlaid ably by a scintillating score punctuated by bombastic Bondian brass, rousing strings and percussion as well as thoughtful and reflective woodwind, mandolin and reverbed electric guitar work…with elements of the James Bond Theme peppered throughout.
007
Speaking of James Bond, Daniel Craig as 007 is a tour de force in Quantum, whether he’s killing in self defence or as payback, spying, taunting/drawing out the enemy, making audiences smile or chuckle with countless moments of humour via lines and mannerisms, or cradling allies at death’s door. Not a single James Bond performance comes close to matching what Mr Craig and 007 do on screen. Not in From Russia With Love, not in Casino Royale, not anywhere.
Indeed, there are five outstanding performances in this film: Mr Craig and Dame Judy aside, Giannini as Mathis and Amalric as Greene are outstanding – as you’d expect from stalwarts of European cinema – but the major surprise in Quantum is Olga Kurylenko who is stunning on almost every level.
IAN FLEMING’S CAMILLE MONTES
The twenty-nine year old Ukrainian’s portrayal of Camille is surpassed only by Diana Rigg’s 1969 performance in the Bond Girl stakes and the character – complete with scared back, heart and mind – is based on a recently found Ian Fleming manuscript from a here-to-fore hidden safe at Goldeneye in Jamaica. Fleming had been experimenting with physically and emotionally challenged female characters and Camille is the hub at which the spokes of Milena Havelock, Honeychile Rider and Gala Brand meet. So single-minded is her approach that Eon gives us a first for the series. Indeed, Camille is the only main character from which the abundant humour in the film is wholly absent.
A QUANTUM OF HUMOUR
Contrary to critical opinion, there is a fair quantum of humour on display in Solace. Some of it is ancillary: Note the old Sienese lady losing her day’s groceries from the top of the stairs as Mitchell rushes past, or the hilarity of the old Bolivian taxi driver as Mathis tries talking to Carlos, subtitles over subtitles. Note too Bond’s mannerisms as he tosses aside keys or a cell phone or kicks aside a limb allowing the elevator door at the Grand Andean to close, or the way he hands off a “sea sick” Camille in the arms of a Haitian vacation resort attendant.
And then, of course, there are the priceless lines: 007 suggesting to M that he (paraphrasing) ”doesn’t really like dwelling on the past and neither should she” after she asks him of the fresh killing of Slate in Haiti; or the “that wasn’t very nice” line a couple of seconds after Camille tries to shoot him for being her would-be assassin, or the brilliant delivery of the "sabattico/lotterias" line at the Grand Andean check-in; or of him inviting Fields into the bedroom to help him find the stationary. Just to name a few.
Yes, there are wonderful little moments in this film which has more to do with character and dialogue and ‘spying’ than it has to do with “action”. In actual fact - and once again contrary to ill-informed opinion – the set pieces in Quantum, quantitatively, comprise a *minority* of the bullet-like run time. And they – all six of them – exist for a reason.
“ACTION”
From the very opening shot, where the camera pans over the northern Italian lake of Garda towards an Alpine tunnel pass in the region of Lombardy, we get a sense of impending menace to come, accompanied by the increasing tension of David Arnold’s strings. And as soon as we’re into the lightening fast edits of a suited man in an Aston Martin making Fleming-like “racing changes” as he desperately avoids traffic while under machine gun fire, we know that we’re undeniably into the start of a new James Bond adventure.
Mr Craig told interviewers that this story begins with a James Bond who is in “turmoil” and “confused”. The quick cuts and camera work of these first few minutes echo this sentiment as 007 – in an angry and embattled frame of mind – desperately fights for his very existence…desperate to live to find his measure of comfort and place in a bewildering world.
The twisting and turning and the falling upside down against the background of global meridian lines of the above noted colour palette in the Main Titles continues this sentiment.
Bond's confusion under little rest gets elevated as he finds out that Vesper’s Algerian boyfriend’s death has been fabricated and that the mystery organization does indeed have people “everywhere”. And when we get to the climax of the foot chase – sumptuously and attentively juxtaposed against the proceedings of the Palio di Siena cultural and sporting event - the editors and director engage in blisteringly fast cutting to echo these sentiments as Bond dangles upside down (literally and figuratively) in another desperate attempt to get to his ‘armour’ and blow Mitchell into oblivion.
We could go on at length about the “action” and “why” it “exists” the way it does but I’ll try to keep it to a bare minimum. In fact the following is not a review per say as it is just random thoughts and – perhaps – “explanations”/”points of debate” for fellow Bond fans who may have missed a tiny golden nugget or two.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The killing of Slate in the hotel room in Haiti illustrates just how lethal Our James can be, especially if he’s about to be sliced open by a stiletto. It’s a very brutal yet *stylish* kill: Note the way Our James holds on to the palm of a quickly dying Slate’s hand to check his rapidly diminishing pulse. Lovely!
The plot synopsis revealed at the very beginning of production back in winter stated that “a case of mistaken identity” leads Bond to Camille. The thinking that the film was put together as they went along, therefore, is a flawed notion because what we get in the movie is what was stated ten months ago. Nothing in this movie suggests that it was anything other than a carefully crafted "labour of love, as they say". To continue…
The boat chase at Port Au Prince “exists” because Camille holds the key in the chain that links Slate to Mitchell, Mr White and a banker called Le Chiffre…and his first immediate impulse would always be to keep her alive to further the investigation. Besides, she’s hot and in danger. And he wouldn't be Ian Fleming’s James Bond if he didn't try and 'save' her.
The 'shoot out' during the performance of Tosca at Lake Constance in Bregenz exists to bring 007’s reveal – which in turn tricks the enemy into revealing itself – to a logical conclusion as Greene’s thugs try to hunt down the man who’s just compromised Quantum’s plans for the Tiera (a combo of terra and Siera Club?) Project. The juxtaposed set piece - with its parallel storylines of treachery and secret covenants and killings - also exists to illustrate that Eon can indeed produce a work of enduring cinematic art. The piece, with its mind-blowing visuals, writing and execution as David Arnold’s memorable Quantum/Night At The Opera cue segues into Puccini's rousing Te Deum, must surely rank as a new high point in the Incredible World Of James Bond. It is doubtful Hitchcock could have done better, let alone Terrence Young or Lewis Gilbert or Martin Campbell.
The Silver-vs-Black-against-a-background-of-Beiges aerial pursuit is another artistic delight. It exists not only to illustrate 007’s prowess as a Special Services pilot but to prevent Bond from getting close to the secret behind the Tiera Project. And, by a quirk of fate which exists in all movies of this type, the freefall into the sinkhole (the only achilles heel of the movie if there is one) exists to ultimately reveal to Bond and the audience the mystery surrounding Quantum’s South American operation.
The philosophy is – has always been – that the audience should come along for the ride and never be ahead of Bond. The philosophy is maintained here.
Finally, the scorching action fest that is the finale exists as resolution. Resolution or near-resolution to more than just the deaths of Mathis, Fields and Camille’s mother, sister and father.
With an establishing shot of a large reptile (General Medrano’s grandfather?) moving slowly around a rock under a burning Southern sun – a scene Fleming could have described quite vividly on page one of his stories – the last set piece at the terra cotta coloured hotel amid the dunes of the desolate wastes of the 'Bolivian' desert adds atmosphere and lighting not easily captured on the Pinewood back lot; A lonely place with linearity mirroring the to-the-point missions to come. When has a Bond film ever been as brutal as in this final set piece – save License To Kill? Top scores for Arnold (no pun), Forster, Grassner, the editors and the stunt and pyro team here.
FINALLY SOLACE
In the end, solace is achieved…The reality is that this ‘long time’ James Bond ‘fan’ –who saw a re-release of You Only Live Twice and then Diamonds Are Forever, both in late 1971 as a boy with his parents – could not have hoped for a more riveting conclusion to a journey that began with the Palio di Siena shoot in August of 2007.
This movie is indeed powerful. It is moving. It’s a work of art. None of these collectively applies to any of the other James Bond movies preceding it. Quantum Of Solace, obviously, isn’t Citizen Kane. It, obviously (again) *can* be classified as fluff. It’s, nonetheless, well conceived, artistic and stylish fluff that’s quite extraordinary.
Is Quantum Of Solace the Best James Bond Movie Ever?
I imagine for many around the planet it likely is.
- Hildy
