Movie Review: Quantum of Solace
Recently I saw the 23rd entry into the James Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace. As a big James Bond fan I have been looking forward to this movie for quite some time now, and with the amazing success of Casino Royal and the reboot to a more realistic, darker, grittier Bond, QoS has some pretty big shoes to fill. Sadly, this film is like an awkward teenager wearing a suit that’s not tailored and is one size too big. You know that there is potential there, but something’s just not right.
I wouldn’t go as far to say this is the worst Bond movie. I can think of a few Bond films that I think are worse. People will be satisfied with the film; I don’t think anyone will be storming out of the theaters proclaiming it a POS. For those with high expectations though, you will be disappointed. The action is there with just about every kind of chase scene you can imagine. It is a high energy thrill ride that doesn’t let up. It was lacking those quiet scenes in Casino Royal that balanced the frenetic action sequences. The movie gave the impression that Bond was in just nonstop trouble. From the Bahamas to Austria in scene, he didn’t even have a chance to change his clothes.
One of the bigger disappointments was the lack of dialogue. This feeling of light dialog could just be a result of how much action there was, but it felt like Craig wasn’t talking that much, or interacting with anyone. The moments of dialogue that were present just seemed to be used as a reminder for the audience of what just happened, or what is coming up. It felt like writers were trying to inject un-needed mystery into the antagonist’s plans.
One of the best parts of Casino Royal was the relationship between Bond and Veysper. She was the perfect foil to Bond’s character, she was his equal. Sadly that kind of strength that was saw in the previous film is gone, replaced by the standard Bond Girl character from the Brosnan era of films. Camille, played by Olga Kurylenko, is not the damsel in distress, but she is also not an equal either. More of the two dimensional character we have seen before. The lack of her presence on screen, and lines is even worse, especially when I felt that M had a larger role in this film then she did, but judging by the previous films she was in I am not surprised. There seemed to be no connection between Bond and Camille more like strangers at a bus stop who just happened to have caught the same bus.
There is a disconnect in the direction the franchise is taking and the story of this film. It is as if they were writing a Brosnan or Dalton era James Bond script and then just tried fit it into a more down to Earth story. There is always this leap of faith one has to take with Bond films, to believe their fictional world exists that is close enough to ours, but has some farfetched ideas in it. With older movies it was easy to make those leaps; the villains were crazy enough or evil enough that they seemed plausible. With this film the leap I was expecting to make was a small one, but it turned out to be just as large as older bond films. That is where the disconnect comes from, the expectation that is going to continue down the same road as the previous film is just knocked out of the park. Instead of going down that road it feels like this one is trying to turn around in the other direction. Things that I was glad that changed in the franchise have returned. Lets us hope that the next film is as great as Casino Royal.
If only the movie were as as bad ass as how Bond Looks in this picture