Movie Review: Quantum of Solace (2008)

My love for the James Bond series began back in 1995 when, at 5 years of age, my Dad took me to see Pierce Brosnan's first outing as Bond in GoldenEye. Needless to say, I was completely blown away by the film, and GoldenEye still to this day ranks as my second favourite Bond film, just behind equal firsts Casino Royale and From Russia With Love.

Soon after seeing the film, a friend of my Dad's gave us the entire series (at that point up to License to Kill) on VHS. Over the next few years I watched all the films and grew to love the whole franchise.

The Brosnan films that followed GoldenEye (Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough) were enjoyable enough to keep my Bond fanship alive. But then came the release of 2002's Die Another Day, the 20th official Bond film and unfortunately, Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film. As most Bond fans will know, the film is a shocker. Being 12 at the time, I actually quite enjoyed the film, but after repeat viewings, the film, in my opinion, ranks as one of the worst Bond films.

The series needed a shake-up after the ridiculous sci-fi flavour of Die Another Day (an invisible car???). A few years later, it was announced that the producers had decided to re-start the Bond series, showing Bond on his first mission as a double-O agent, in a similar fashion to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. This concept excited me greatly. It was announced that the film would be an adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, and that Pierce Brosnan would be replaced by a younger actor. That actor was Daniel Craig. The announcement was met with a huge backlash against the casting of the blonde Craig, which lasted all the way up to the films' release in November 0f 2006. The rest is history, and Craig blew everyone away, leading most people to name him as the best Bond since Connery, and some even going as far as saying that Craig was better than Connery. I am in the latter group, and I firmly believe Craig is the best Bond. He was even nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor! Casino Royale was a worldwide hit and now sits among many fans favourite Bond films.

So, anyone who was going to take over after Casino Royale director Martin Campbell decided not to return to direct the sequel had their work cut out for them. Director Roger Michell was originally chosen to direct the then unnamed sequel, but ultimately left the project after the studio announced a release date for the film before the script was even written. The producers then settled on German director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball). Forster had never directed an action film before, and therefore was a very odd choice to helm a Bond film. Nonetheless, production began on the 22nd Bond film, script polisher Paul Haggis apparently finishing the script mere hours before the infamous writer's strike began. The title was then released into the press: QUANTUM of SOLACE.

So, after this detailed Bond history, let's move onto my review of QofS.

The first thing that should be said is QofS is not Casino Royale, so anyone expecting more of the same will be disappointed. The film picks up shortly after the previous film. James Bond (Craig) and his boss, M (Judi Dench) are interrogating Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), the secondary villain from Casino Royale. They attempt to obtain information about the organisation that Mr. White and the recently deceased LeChiffre are members of, while also leading Bond to the people responsible for the death of his love Vesper Lynd in the previous film. This leads Bond to environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and Bolivian secret service agent Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Bond then gathers information regarding Greene's plan to assist a Bolivian General to obtain control over the country and its water supply. Along the way, Bond gets assistance from his former contact, Mathis (Giancarlo Giannnini), CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Mi6 Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton).

If it sounds like there isn't a whole lot of plot in QofS, it's because there isn't. As it is the Bond series' first direct sequel, the film feels like a tacked on ending for Casino Royale, rather than a film in its own right. Having said that, the film is actually quite enjoyable once the viewer accepts that it is neither a traditional Bond film or Casino Royale. The film is actually more akin to a mixture of the Bourne films and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel. The Bourne connection has irritated many Bond fans, but the filmmakers can hardly be blamed for trying to imitate the Bourne films, as the gritty and realistic tone of those films in what modern film-goers have come to expect from their action films.

Daniel Craig once again shines as Bond, even though he has a lot less to do emotionally than in the previous film. Olga Kurylenko slightly disappoints at first, mainly due to the difficult task of filling the shoes of Casino Royale's Eva Green as Vesper Lynd. However, Kurylenko's performance does grow on the viewer, especially after repat viewings. Amalric does his best with the thinly written role of Dominic Greene, and Wright and Arterton have very little to do as Felix and Fileds repectively, apart from the latter being involved in an obvious reference to early Bond film Goldfinger. The pleasantly surprising performance in the film is Giancarlo Giannini as Rene Mathis. Ginannini is not in a large amount of the film, but his few scenes are perfectly executed, particularly his final scene with Criag. The always amazing Judi Dench also gives an excellent performance as M, and is much more involved in Bond's mission than in previous installments.

The action level has certainly been upped in this installment, and while director Forster is not as talented at handling these scenes as his predecessor, he does a commendable job. An early rooftop chase is thrilling, and a dogfight involving Bond and Camille in an old plane is impressive. The film's theme song, Another Way to Die (sung by Alicia Keys and Jack White) is not a classic Bond tune, and actually works much better as a standalone single, rather than the heavily edited version that appears in the film. The opening credits sequence is refreshingly modern, yet also reminds of the classic credit sequences of previous films.

After viewing Qof S, I felt like an opportunity had been wasted. The end of Casino Royale perfectly set up a powerful organisation behind all of the villain's dealings, similar to SPECTRE in the original films, and this concept excites me extremely. However, I feel that more could have been done to establish this organisation, and I hope that Bond 23 will return to the epic style of Casino Royale. It is suggested that this organisation, reveled to be name QUANTUM, will be involved in the next few Bond films, and I greatly look forward to the rest of Craig's appearances as Bond.

VERDICT:

While not as good as the previous film, Quantum of Solace is an enjoyable entry into the series and is not the disaster it could have easily been. The film improves after repeat viewings, and will ensure that the enthusiasm for the Bond series continues for many years to come.

RATING:

4 out of 5