Quantum of Solace
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Directed by: Marc Forster
Starring:
Daniel Craig - James Bond
Olga Kurylenko - Camille
Mathieu Amalric - Dominic Greene
Judi Dench - M
Giancarlo Giannini - Mathis
Gemma Arterton - Fields
Jeffrey Wright - Felix Leiter
David Harbour - Gregg Beam
Casino Royale was the shot in the arm the James Bond franchise sorely needed. The Bond films had become overrun with product placement featured in silly stories punctuated by dull action sequences. With Royale, the franchise redefined itself with gritty realism, putting an emphasis on character development combined with a few stand-out set pieces. Quantum of Solace drops almost everything that made Royale successful and replaces it with dull chase sequences and an almost complete indifference to the character of James Bond.
Picking up moments after Royale left off, Bond (Daniel Craig) is led into investigating a vast and mysterious criminal organization. MI6 wants to know more but Bond keeps flying off the handle since he's still a little sore of the death of his girlfriend from the last film. Bond's character arc this time around is to regain just enough composure to still be a badass but perhaps not kill every henchman he encounters. Joining him is a tough gal whose name I never caught (Olga Kurylenko) as she quests for revenge against the man who murdered her family. Their plot lines intersect and about halfway through the film, they finally team up to take down Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) who is an environmentalist by day and a facilitator of coups by night. It's a barebones plot with as little character development as necessary. And without character then we're right back where we started except Bond is angrier and also has a mutant healing factor that allows all scrapes and cuts to be completely gone by the following. If the filmmakers behind Quantum of Solace wanted to ape the Bourne films, they should have left Bond with his scars.
The Bourne-y elements do work in the sense that director Marc Forster knows how to smash things, especially his lead actor, or more specifically, his lead actor's stuntman. Craig's stuntman might actually be in more of the film than Craig. Within the first thirty minutes of this hour and forty minute film, there is a car chase, a foot chase, and a boat chase. I started wondering when we would get an airplane chase (the answer: about an hour into the film). The film is only 100 minutes long and fifty of those minutes are forgettable actions scenes. That would be forgivable if they had put as much attention into developing Bond, the female lead, and the villain, as they put into smashing things into other things.
Thankfully, there's nothing eye-rollingly terrible in the film like a nuclear scientist played by Denise Richards or invisible cars chasing each other. But Casino Royale upped Bond's game and Quantum of Solace a total lightweight and seems like a filler story in between Royale and a bigger Bond film where he finally goes after Quantum.
In the meantime, we're stuck watching a brainless Jason Bourne flick devoid. It's as if the creators of Quantum noticed all the hand-held, heavy-hitting chases and fist-fights, copied those and then some, threw in some political commentary that the Bourne films are smart enough to keep as subtext, and put it under the 007 brand name. That last part is especially brutal because Casino Royale was able to be a new kind of Bond film but without the frivolities like Money Penny, Q, the gadgets, and even his signature beverage. But rather than use this opportunity to build on the character, they've left him static. There's only a brief moment that recalls Goldfinger where you're reminded that you're watching a James Bond film.
But the name "007" will bring out an audience. Sadly, those expecting a worthy successor to Casino Royale are going to be sorely disappointed.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
10.30.08