Henry Saw: Quantum of Solace

Hmmmm...


Well first things first: Quantum of Solace is not as good as Casino Royale. The action is not as well done (more on this later), the plot is not nearly as linear, and, perhaps this is QoS' biggest sin: it doesn't feel like a Bond movie. Which is not to say I want all the silly jokes and gadgets; good riddance to that stuff. Casino Royale didn't have any of that but it still felt like a Bond movie. The character was rougher, and more mistake prone, but Craig was still James Bond...in my opinion the best version of the character ever put on film. Quantum of Solace never feels like a Bond movie outside of the theme song (more on this later as well). It feels like Mission Impossible 3 mixed with the Bourne movies.

The biggest problem with the film is the direction. Foster, who made Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball, just can't film action. At all. Now, I hate the action scenes in the second two Bourne movies (both directed by Greengrass). I despise shakey-cam, rapid edits, and super-closeups in my action scenes. Those two Bourne movies are full of them and as a result I don't like them as much as the rest of the world seems to. The action scenes in QoS are even worse. The opening chase is terrible, the foot chase across the roofs of Sienna is kind of embarrassing (you can't make out who is Bond and who is the villain) and really looks bad when compared to the parkour scene in Casino Royale. All of the fight scenes, for the rest of the movie, are muddled and completely unexciting.

Another problem with the film is that the plot is just not that tight. Its not that there are too many strands, I mean I could tell you the plot in two sentences if I had to, but it feels like its going every which way. We think we're getting a straight "Bond out for revenge" movie but the movie doesn't carry that theme throughout the movie. Well maybe we're getting a "Bond vs. an evil S.P.E.C.T.R.E. like organization" but it never becomes that...we don't even learn that much about the group. There are too many snarky points (the CIA gets into bed with the bad guys, Quantum has agents "everywhere" - even M's body guard)...the whole thing feels just jumbled together.

The positives of the movie are obvious. Daniel Craig continues to be great in the series. He's believable as a tough, charming, and loyal soldier. He's asked to brood too much here; and its not that effective either. When we see Bond just getting himself drunk or unable to sleep...well all that tells us is that he's sad about Vesper still. We never really get any real emotion out of him. This may be a more human Bond but he never seems as real as he did in the torture scene in Casino Royale. He's just a machine in QoS...that's fine...but it seems like the film-makers went too far in trying to establish that this Bond isn't our daddy's Bond. Let's hope Craig is given more range, the very thing he brings to the role, from the next script.


Judi Dench is also still her fantastic self. The new Bond Girl, Olga Kurylenko, is beautiful and actually has a strong character. It's not spoiling much to say that Bond and her don't get together and that was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie. it wouldn't have made sense - so kudos to the screenwriters on that point. Bond does get some action in the movie, from Agent Fields, played by Gemma Arterton, who is stunning but not given a thing to do except pay homage to the third James Bond movie (Goldfinger - you'll know it when you see it). Jeffery Wright returns as Felix Leiter and I was happy whenever he was on screen. I'd watch a whole movie of his character. I hope we get more scenes between he and Daniel Craig in the third movie.

Mathieu Amalric, currently thought of as the best actor in France, plays the villain Dominic Greene. He's fine, I have liked Amalric since his role in Munich, but the villain is just not compelling. Wanting to control the world's water is a timely menace but not an interesting one. Also, not to belabor the point, but the final fight between Greene and Bond is ridiculous and awful.

I also like that this movie is a continuation of Casino Royale. Heck it feels like Casino Royale part two (except for the dip in quality). But having Bond actually develop as a character throughout the series is a luxury the producers and screenwriters have now and they're smart to use it. Craig, playing Bond as an unstoppable machine of revenge (my Uncle Craig would compare him to John Wayne in The Searchers - without the racism of course) is a good way to play the character in one film...it's too bad we didn't get a better movie out of it.

The locales are spectacular, an Opera house in Austria, the deserts of Bolivia, the rooftops of Sienna - but Foster doesn't know how to shoot his scenes so that we see as much of the surroundings as we should. As I said, he is way to fond of closeups.

The song, called Another Way to Die, was written by Jack White and performed by White and Alicia Keys. It's one of the best Bond songs of all time. Top 3. The credit sequence its played over is just "meh" but I really liked the song. Belonged to a completely different movie though. The song has a real energy and drive to it while QoS never really finds its beat.

In the end, that's the most disappointing part of QoS - it's not really any fun. It just doesn't make you leave the theater smiling or pumped up like Casino Royale did. Quantum doesn't offer many moments to smile, and again I don't mean because of a cheesy pun or something, but for anything at all. Two of the main villains die off screen and Bond never once seems to be having a good time with things. Fitting given the character and his situation but not that enjoyable as a member of the audience.

For example: you know how the end of Casino Royale had you smiling and begging for the next one to come out the next day? "Bond. James Bond." I thought it was the best ending to an action movie I had seen in years. This movie ends with Bond dropping a necklace into the snow and then a fade to black. It's dull. And doesn't make you care if you see "James Bond Will Return!" at the end of the credits as they use to do.

Final verdict? As an action movie its a second-rate Bourne, and as a Bond movie it is a third-rate Casino Royale. I like the idea of the movie, Bond on the rampage, but its just not executed that well. This felt a bit too much like it should have been the video game that tied in to a different movie. You know, "Before you see the new Bond movie, buy the game to see how James found the men who killed Vesper and started to learn about the evil organization Quantum!" There just wasn't enough here for a feature film. I wanted to like the movie so much that I'm probably going to give it a better grade than I truly feel it deserves; I hope the second time I see it I enjoy it more for what it is. But I fear that all that will happen will be that I will find I have no desire to ever see it a third time.

If nothing else it seems to end with a promise that the next Bond film will be a little more conventional. Lets hope Foster doesn't get a chance to direct it though.

Grade: B- (but that's being too bit kind...)

Best Scene? The song but if I had to pick a scene from the narrative...Jeffery Wright and Bond meeting at a bar in Bolivia for 30 seconds.