Quantum of Solace (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Quantum of Solace
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko
Directed by: Marc Forster
Runtime: 1:46

With each new prequel to the Bond series, we will start to see a divide between the two different types of Bonds. Gone are the Bonds of yesterday that relied on a bunch of gadgets and a suave personality to get him out of trouble. Quantum of Solace is part of the other type where Bond doesn’t ask questions and lets his gun do the talking. Quantum of Solace is director Marc Forster’s attempt to make this film more of an action movie than your typical Bond movie. Fortunately, it takes what went wrong with Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond in Casino Royale and throws them in the garbage.

The movie begins with Bond (Daniel Craig) still brooding over the loss of his girlfriend when he finds out a secret plot by a secret organization that has infiltrated many government agencies including the MI5. After a turncoat tries to kill M (Judi Dench), Bond goes on a global search to stop the group on whatever their intentions are. He stumbles upon a plan by a supposed environmentalist by the name of Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) who plans to help overthrow the Bolivian government and in exchange be given a large tract of desert. Bond joins forces with Greene’s ex-girlfriend, Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who Greene just tried to kill. Greene suspects her of plotting against him but he doesn’t know that she really is a secret agent with Russian and Bolivian ties. Together, Bond and Montes attempt to figure out why Greene wants the desert so bad. Montes also alludes that she has other motives as well to stop Greene. Her and Bond determine that Greene has been hoarding freshwater under the desert and Greene intends to score a large profit for the water supply.

While a film should always be judged on it’s own merits, it should be said that the producers looked at Casino Royale and saw what did not work and made sure that they eliminated those problems from this film. This film is much shorter (about 45 minutes shorter) and is more action packed. Casino Royale started with an incredible action sequence that was quite suspenseful and then stopped and was mostly a dialogue movie until the last act. Quantum of Solace never goes a couple of minutes without a major action sequence. At times, it feels like a Bourne movie; shaky camera sequences included. Sometimes it works against the film as the close-up shaky cam can obstruct the action or make it more disorienting than intended. The plane chase scene was great and offered a nice twist than the usual car chase scene (although the film does offer plenty of those).

Since the film relies more on action, there is less room for methodical dialogue. Witty banter usually sets of the next action sequence. We know that Bond is a miserable chap who mopes over the loss of his girlfriend which has turned him into a cold-hearted agent who uses his license to kill as a convenient excuse to take out his frustration on whoever is not on his side. Any large sections of dialogue are used appropriately to develop the other characters. There are less “why” questions asked in the movie than “what are we going to do next” questions which is a good thing as it keeps the movie going at a strong pace. For a spy movie where the issues are supposed to develop at a breakneck pace, the movie does a good job at keeping the suspense level high.

For better or for worse, Quantum of Solace is the future of the Bond franchise. Gone are the campy, methodical Bond movies of the past and replaced with an action movie franchise in which the main character usually wears a tuxedo. Quantum of Solace is a good movie and adds a couple of neat tricks to the standard action flick fare. It does rely too much on gimmicky techniques such as unsteady handycam- style camera but it is easy to forgive. Not only is it a solid entry to the Bond library, it is one of the better action/spy movies to come out in the last little while.

☆☆☆☆