James Bond : Quantum Of Solace | REVIEW

I'm not big on the whole James Bond series. I like a lot of the movies in the franchise, my favorite being Casino Royale. I know a lot of people dislike 'Royale because it isn't James-Bond-ish enough without the unbelievably high-tech gadgetry and invisible cars but I seemed to enjoy it a whole lot. I like the way Daniel Craig brings a new, fresh side to Bond. When it comes to Quantum Of Solace though, he's the only good thing that the film has to offer in terms of performance and overall showmanship. Coming out of Quantum I felt terribly disappointed and utterly confused at what I had just witnessed. Let me just say that this isn't going to be a positive review.

This Flick Is About...
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Quantum of Solace (2008) is the 22nd James Bond film by EON Productions. The sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale, it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond. In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko).
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I was surprised to see the amount of publicity and advertising tie-ins Quantum received. To me it looked as if Quantum was very much under the radar for a significant amount of time until recently with only an average amount of promotion going on. Apparently I was wrong and Quantum Of Solace had made tie-ins with Sony HD, Shell Petroleum, Heinz, and a whole bunch of other major brands, some of which have their own custom ads with Daniel Craig in them. I guess they were betting on the success that Quantum was sure to have. I'm not sure how good it's going to fare overall but to me this is a movie I'm bound to forget over the next year or so.

Quantum Of Solace doesn't feel like a standalone movie. It doesn't have the qualities of an individual movie nor does it have anything definitive to look forward to. It felt very much like an extension of Casino Royale; like something that would fit perfectly if inserted in the 'Special Collector's Edition Director's Cut with over 60-minutes of Extended Footage' DVD. And worst of all, it doesn't feel at all like a James Bond movie. While Casino Royale was grittier than any Bond film before it, it still portrayed Daniel Craig as a very suave, charming secret agent...and those characteristics are essential in order to come off as James Bond. People have to understand that an established character such as James Bond can be modified over the ages but cannot be completely altered. In Quantum Of Solace we see very little of Bond's 'Casanova' traits and way too much of a revenge-seeking secret-agent gone crazy. There are no sporty cars, no fancy gadgetry, no slick weapons, and yes, the Bond babes have been gritti-fied as well. It just takes away from the flow of the franchise and gives us somewhat of an alternate version of the man with a license to kill.

While I like gritty drama and deep storylines, Quantum Of Solace isn't exactly the movie in which I wanted to see either of those. I enjoyed the feel of Casino Royale and it was a highly entertaining flick to say the least but its sequel almost put me to sleep. The plot is too complicated for its own good and the character development feels rushed. It's a mixture of typical action-flick with the intelligence of a Bourne movie multiplied by 10. And that's not good. Nobody walks into a 007 film wanting an overdose of story. We want a good story, a smart plot, major twists, a superbad villain, a hot Bond babe or two, some slick weaponry, and cars so expensive that they'd even bag the hottest chicks for ugly people. That's Bond. James Bond.

The soundtrack for Quantum Of Solace isn't anything special. Heck it's not even worthy of a Bond film. It's not catchy and it doesn't stick out in any way.

The action is good but not distinctive. It feels repetitive. We've seen this stuff in Casino Royale already! The fight scenes are also nothing to look forward to. There's nothing new that this movie has to offer in terms of stunts or big action scenes except for one or two still hardly memorable instances. I read somewhere that Dominic, the major baddie in Quantum Of Solace, is meant to be a major step away from other Bond villains. He's meant to be the villain in disguise; a lay person in the eyes of the people. Seriously, I didn't know he was the villain at all until halfway through the flick when I realized that I'm not gonna' get to see the real villain because there was none. This Dominic person hardly seems like a threat at all. He's bad but not bad enough to oppose James Bond. How would you feel if they made a movie about Superman battling some bank robber? Not very entertaining, is it?

I'm sure Quantum Of Solace will do well because of the name value it carries and a lot of people will adore this new title in the Bond line of films because of how gritty it is and how much darker it is compared to Casino Royale but I'm certainly not on that bandwagon. Casino Royale was as gritty as it could get for me in terms of a James Bond movie. Anything more wouldn't seem like a Bond movie at all. Quantum Of Solace crossed that line and guess what...I came out wondering if what I saw in there was really a James Bond movie or just something else with Daniel Craig in it.

James Bond is too gritty in Quantum. He's also too sad, too angry, too upset, and very heartbroken. I understand that that's how someone would react after the events of Casino Royale but come on, people! This is James 'f**kin' Bond we're talkin' about...he doesn't have to pull a Daniel Day Lewis on all of us. Everyone is upset in this movie. M is upset, James is upset, the babes are very upset, the villains are upset, some older characters come in and even they're upset! Where's the fun, then? Sure, it's a rebooted gritty take on the Bond films but there's surely room for some fun, right? This movie's just full of anger and vengeance being vented out in every direction possible and it isn't fun anymore.

Hopefully Bond 23 will have more to offer. Hopefully it lightens up, offers more coolness, and delivers a story that is smart yet understandable. I'm not ashamed to say that I understood very little of what was happening in Quantum Of Solace and you could ask me right now and I'd answer clearly that I don't even know what the heck the 'Quantum of Solace' even means! This isn't a movie I'm gonna' watch again (not anytime soon anyway), and like I said, it feels very much like an extension of Casino Royale. It feels nothing like a good sequel and it definitely isn't solid enough to stand on its own two legs.
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Wrap : Quantum Of Solace gets a 2.8 out of 5.0. It had some decent visuals and a couple of good (but not memorable) action scenes. Daniel Craig did a great job at least. His acting was really good and although he wasn't really the Bond that I was expecting, he did a great job being pissed off. I bet the audience could really sense his anger coming off the screen. He's probably the only thing that saves this film, in my opinion.