November 15, 2008

Giving Solace

Posted by pete at November 15, 2008 8:05 AM

I didn't review Quantum of Solace for Film Threat, so I'll post some [non-spoilery] thoughts here.

QoS is the 22nd official movie in the James Bond series ("official" meaning "not including Never Say Never Again, the 1967 Casino Royale parody, or either of those TV movies from the 60s), and is a slightly above average entry. Despite having a more "Bond-ian" feel than its predecessor, the entire film is little more than an epilogue to Casino Royale, picking up right where CR left off, and the memory of Vesper Lynd hangs over everything that takes place like a ghost with poorly applied eye shadow.

As I mentioned earlier, Quantum of Solace reinstates some of the classic 007 trademarks; the maybe naked dancing girls in the opening titles are back (the Jack White/Alicia Keys song is a complete misfire, however), there's a new evil organization with a new evil plot that's almost - but not quite - as ludicrous as anything Hugo Drax came up with and director Marc Forster and his quartet of screenwriters also throw in a nice shout-out to Goldfinger. Hell, there's even a boat chase.

I suppose Haggis and Forster deserve some credit for giving Bond some emotional depth, and not just having him hit the reset button romantically after each movie (never mind if that's exactly what Fleming's Bond was like), but it doesn't entirely work. I don't know the big picture, however, and maybe the plan is to have all of Daniel Craig's movies immediately follow the other, gradually exposing the reach and power of the bad guys. We'll see, though it's already apparent from almost the first scene that Mr. White isn't lying when he says they "have people everywhere."

As for what's bad, the main villain in QoS may be the worst of all time. Mr. Greene is a powerful man, but the only villainous thing about him is that Mathieu Amalric looks a lot like Roman Polanski. Both Bond girls are also less than compelling. Olga Kurylenko (Camille Montes) is, surprisingly, a better actor than Gemma Arterton (Strawberry Fields, though her first name is never mentioned), though the latter more capably evokes the "classic" BG. And even with classic elements like a dumb Bond girl name, Forster and company still haven't totally shaken the "Bourne rip-off" accusations. Still, a solid entry. *** out of *****.



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