RSS
Home
Quantum of Solace: The review
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
Much more than martinis get shaken not stirred in the new Bond film.
Quantum of Solace/2008
Directed by: Marc Forster
Starring: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, a couple of Bond babes we'll never see again...
The Plot: Like everyone else post-Inconvenient Truth Mr. Bond goes green. Seeking revenge for a murder plot on M's life, (Dench) Bond plows through the world hunting down the mysterious group (the Quantum) responsible. In his journey 007 uncovers more than just a few pairs of silk panties, but also a much larger, more menacing scheme is being hatched consolidating Earth's most precious recource.... And we're not talking about silk panties.
The Good: First off I've been wanting to discuss the new Bond series since I got this job. I didn't like Casino Royale. I thought it was waaaaay overrated. Especially when it started showing up on media Top 10 Movie lists at the end of the year. I did like Craig as Bond - then again who didn't? But I thought the movie had some major corn-dog issues that have plagued this Bond franchise for almost its entire run. Plus it was kind of on the dry side.
So what got me in the theater door for Quantum of Solace? Three things. The new Star Trek trailer, (three words: oh. my. GOD.) The stunning trailer for Quantum, (which I discussed exhaustively in this Trailer Critic column) and that it was being directed by Marc Forster. (I absolutely LOVED Stranger than Fiction) That's why I went to see a new Bond movie in the theater today, something I haven't done since The World is Not Enough. So I guess the salient question is did I like it? Hell yeah I liked it. I haven't liked a James Bond movie this much since Golden Eye. That's saying something.
Quantum of Solace kicks off like the Kentucky Derby and almost never throttles down throughout it's 106 minute running time. Craig proves why he got this gig originally. The dude exudes confidence - he's practically dripping with it. Critics might favor the elder Bond men - charming scamps with little pistols. But I'm liking this guy alot more under Craig's guidance. Bond is just so vicious in this film. He's a heavy-hitter in a film series that desperately needed some more punch to remain viable. Wow - do I sound generation Ritalin right now or what?
Does this mean I prefer brawn to brains when it comes to 007? I guess I just might. At least it's a great reason to stick with the plot-bellied narrative these Bond flicks dish up - though I'm not really complaining about Quantum's plot, for a Bond movie it had a fairly intriguing tale to tell. I liked the super-secret-we-run-the-world thing they did here. Sicking James Bond on these guys felt justified. We even get a little tip of the hat to Goldfinger in this new Bond flick. Replace the girl covered in gold with about six gallons of crude oil and it was a nice little homage to the Sean Connery era.
Like I mentioned earlier this is an action flick dressed up as a spy film. And the action is pretty heavy, (almost to a fault - Bond didn't really need to jump his dirt bike onto a boat did he?) throughout the entire film. Some of the best stuff happens in the movie's opening 20 minutes so don't be late to the flick or you'll miss one hell of a foot-chase/scaffolding fight sequence that brought images of Beyond Thunderdome leaping to mind...
The Bad: They tried to pack in this "Vesper" love/regret/revenge storyline into this movie, mainly to tie it directly to Casino Royale, and it really didn't need it. In fact this thread really put the movie in drag gear anytime it popped its nasty head up in the context of the film. Maybe it's because I wasn't the biggest fan of Casino Royale, and any ties to it brought back alot of bleary memories connected to my experience with the film. But it sure felt like I could feel the sappy quill of Paul Haggis's pen during these moments in the movie. Yeah, Haggis (Crash) wrote a large portion of the screenplay. But I didn't let that deter me from enjoying the film as it was.
Also Marc Forster kind of got obsessed with juxtaposing action scenes with other meaningless scenes in this film. When you're pounding action into the audience's eye sockets it gets kind of obscure and tedious to slam-cut those scenes with scenes of horse racing and opera bullsh!t. I think art-film Forster kind of fought his way to the surface of action-film Forster a few times too many in Solace.
The Ugly: You know I was waiting throughout this entire movie for Bond, or Strawberry Fields, or M, or Dominic Greene, or the CIA guys, or every other character in this movie to make a funny comment, or at the very least to openly acknowledge Greene's evil henchman "Elvis" and his bafflingly awful hair cut. This is easily one of the worst gawdamn haircuts I've ever seen in a movie. That it went pretty much unridiculed during the duration of the flick is mysteriously stressing to me. Check it out. Mighty ugly indeedy.
The Verdict: I really dug Quantum of Solace. Sure it swapped out espionage and deeper meaning for a set of brass knuckles but I'm totally cool with that. Suddenly I'm extremely happy I never traded in my Casino Royale dvd for store credit....I had fun with this one.
Related Articles:
Comments
