Review: Quantum of Solace

The Spy Who Loathed Me

I admit it, that I'm a very huge James Bond fan. My passion for this secret agent goes beyond mild admiration. I know all of the films, the crew associated, the stories behind them and any other bit of trivial information that one can associate to a Bond film. I love the James Bond series. When I was younger, that bias usually meant that I rated the Bond films much higher than they deserved (Die Another Day is an example, I have since learned). Now, however, it has now made me be more critical of the Bond series in terms of the standards they now have to live up to. Despite the potential for this film to become something really special in the Bond franchise, it falls painfully flat.

The film picks up right after the events of the previous Bond flick Casino Royale left off (though it is not the only one to follow events from a previous film). After Bond questions the mysterious Mr. White, he discovers the larger organization known as Quantum (similar to SPECTRE, for all you Bond fanatics). In his quest, Bond comes across Dominique Greene (Mathieu Amalric), an international environmentalist who also spends his time setting up dictators and holding an iron grip on lands with barren water supplies. Also in his company is Camille (Ogla Kurylenko), the bombshell who is using Greene to get closer to the general who killed her family, once again adding to the revenge theme that the film has taken on.

When Daniel Craig was selected as Bond in Casino Royale, I remember vividly the outrage that people had, labeling him as "Mr. Blond" and calling for a boycott of the film. I never thought about doing anything that severe, but I did have my reservations about Craig (I still say Clive Owen would have been a wonderful choice). However, I was very impressed with Craig's first outing, but still said I had to wait until he could pull it off a second time until I could officially say he worked as the new 007. In this film, he works very hard to try and save it, and the faults are not with him. His Bond is still stern and edgy, even if the film is not. I wish the follow-up could have worked with Craig, but he brings it up enough for me to declare Daniel Craig is a good James Bond. Kurylenko is good, but rather forgettable as a Bond girl. But Bond's best girl for the series now is actually Dame Judi Dench, who still infuses M with a great sense of sternness and humor.

The villain embodied by Amalric is not very threatening or intimidating. The same could be said of the previous villain, Le Chiffe, as a force who was not very threatening in that film as well. However, I think Mads Mikkelsen worked because he refrained from any major physical altercations with Bond, keeping his character more so a cunning businessman than a disposable baddie. Amalric had the opportunity to become this, but as soon as he tries to fight Bond in a physical match, he gives up all of his mysterious credibility. There was also a strange note in his henchmen peculiarly looking like nerdier versions of Quentin Tarantino.

Nobody in the cast is really to blame for the major faults of this film, although the sort of throw away conflict provided by Bond stock writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, along Oscar-winner Paul Haggis, certainly doesn't help the movie either. The biggest liability for this film is its director. Marc Forster has always been a director that, to me, has made good films (Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner), but never has anything special about his films. His movies are usually enjoyable, but there is never an element of anything significant for the film to stay with you. The same is said here, only without the part about being good. Forster's background also does not support action films, and every adrenaline fueled scene reflects that. The action is put together so shoddy and sloppily, that we as an audience are constantly trying to figure out what's going on. It's a disorienting process that is very annoying.

Forster also does not have any real sense of how to look at an action scene. The stunts don't always have to be believable, but it's important for the audience to at least see them. Forster clumps the cuts together that the suspension of disbelief is cut, and falls straight to the ground with no protection net. Forster, also being the first European director of the series, seems more interested in showcasing the scenery and culture of the locations rather than focusing on the plight of Bond. There is also not any imagination in this film. There are elements borrowed from other Bond films such as From Russia with Love, The Spy Who Loved Me and even the all sacred Goldfinger. But the film also takes elements from the Jason Bourne series, even after countless efforts to distance the two franchises. But in the end, it is the terrible editing that persists not only in the action scenes, but throughout the whole film, much to the thanks of Forster's usual editor Matt Chesse and Paul Greengrass regular Richard Pearson.

Also, to mention quickly, the gun barrel scene does appear, but not where you'd have hoped. After that, the main titles, which have always been a proud staple of the Bond films, feel very flat and uninspired. The theme song, sung by artists Alicia Keyes and Jack White (White wrote the song) has better music than it does lyrics. I know not everybody agreed on the card motif and droning notes of Chris Cornell from the previous film, but it worked very well for me. Not so much this time.

The first film almost had an unfair advantage. The director of Casino Royale was Martin Campbell, an experienced Bond veteran having directed GoldenEye, knew what was needed for a Bond film to work, and Craig's debut set the bar very high for a follow up. Yet, even that handicap doesn't help this film. Forster's misstep with the film's action, plus his horrible sense of cutting, hurt the film tremendously. Some of the cast tires, but I don't see this film becoming a highpoint in the series. It breaks my heart for me not to recommend a Bond film, but instead of Connery's follow up, From Russia with Love, this might be more so remembered as The Man with the Golden Gun, Roger Moore's return. Thankfully, Forster has agreed not to sign for the next one. **1/2 / ****; GRADE: C+