Quantum of Solace (2008)

Quantum of Solace (directed by Marc Forster) is the direct sequel to the last Bond film and proves it’s canonical worth by taking place roughly ten minutes after the last sequence of Casino Royale (2006), in which Bond captures the bad guy and says, “The names Bond, James Bond.” The crowd cheers, the music flares up, and the credits roll down the screen. It seems like a pretty great ending. Or does it? Apparently not since five minutes later Bond (played once again by Daniel Craig) is driving back to his headquarters and he gets into an insane and special effects heavy chase sequence in his car. This is the opening scene of the film, and I would argue that this opening sequence lasts about forty minutes. Every second given to moving along the plot (and I stress the use of seconds to measure the length of these scenes) seems like its only purpose is to bridge together action scenes…let’s make that chase scenes. James Bond has a chase scene in this film using nearly every possible mode of transportation: on foot, in a car, on a motorcycle, on a boat, and even in a plane. I half-expected the finale to take place on a couple of trains. What makes it worse is that these scenes aren't even that thrilling. They're pretty standard chase sequences, most of which you've already seen in a Bourne film.

Roughly forty minutes or so into the film James Bond and the audience are finally allowed a breather and get to watch a story develop. Bond, having just lost Vesper (remember Eva Green from the first film?) is basically on a murderous rampage (hence the first forty minutes) to hunt down the master organization that was linked to her murder and other nefarious plots, which brings us to the villain; Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) is in charge of some sort of environmental preservation company whose goal is to hoard off the water in a desert country in order to make a lot of money. Not quite as intimidating as his more globally threatening predecessors, but in terms of the James Bond revenge story, it serves its purpose. While all this is happening, there is a subplot with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who is also out for revenge with one of Greene’s associates and finds a kindred spirit in James Bond. The second half of the film is considerably better than the first because of story pacing and Bond starting to do things like sneaking into parties in a tux, meeting with C.I.A agent Felix (Jeffrey Wright), and showing off some of his charm to Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton). Daniel Craig is great as James Bond, and there should have been more scenes to show off the more charismatic and suave side of the character. Most of this film seems determined to prove that James Bond can fight as well as Jason Bourne as he appears to prefer hand-to-hand combat over using guns. There is a considerable lack of Bond-isms in this film and that becomes apparent very quickly. He never introduces himself in his famous manner, he spends most of the film covered in blood or dirt, he doesn’t order his famous drink (though there is a scene where it is described), and there are no gadgets (I don’t think his fancy cell phone counts) let alone a Q character. There is also a disturbingly toned down version of the Bond theme played at various parts of the movie. To hear the version that everyone was probably waiting for, stay for the ending credits. The only thing that seems to carry over from the previous bond films outside of the opening credit sequence is the use of varied locations. Bond travels extensively in this film to places all over South America and Europe and there are plenty of beautiful establishing shots of these locales, all of which flatter the scenery. All these complaints aside, this is not a terrible film and it certainly ties up any loose ends from the first. Based on the ending, I should think that the next film (and let’s face it, there will be one) will be much more reminiscent of what usually makes a Bond film. He is a spy, but he’s not a super soldier. There is a certain subtlety to the character that seems to have been lost in this film due to the revenge storyline. That’s not to say that James Bond can’t desire revenge, it just means he should do it with a bit more style.