Michael H. Hanson's review of

Quantum of Solace (Sony/MGM)
Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko,
Mathieu Amalric.
Directed by Marc Forster.
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and sexual content.
Time 106 minutes.

That’s right, British super agent James Bond is back in the franchises 22nd Film outing. Daniel Craig's bucolic 007 is emotionally wounded from the misadventures of his last film (Casino Royale) but nevertheless narrowly focused on exposing a secret cabal and garnering revenge on behalf of his deceased ex-lover, double-agent Vesper Lyn.

Sharing more screen time with 007 than even this chapter’s latest sizzling Bond Girls (redhead Gemma Arterton as the stiff, officious Strawberry Fields, and Olga Kurylenko as exotic, tall drink of water Camille) Judy Dench’s magisterial M is given free reign to strut her stuff as both matron and dominatrix.

Also returning in this sequel are Jeffrey Wright as world-weary CIA agent Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as retired Italian liaison Mathis. Both do their best to flesh some emotional foundation for Bond to stand on, but too quickly leave the scene to do much good.

Ultimately, Quantum of Solace, is an entertaining mess pockmarked with jump cuts and handheld camera work a la “The Bourne Identity.” Not unlike Tom Cruise’s (Ethan Hunt) transition from “Mission Impossible” to “Mission Impossible II,” Solace’s Bond loses much of that interior angst and mortality so prevalent in it’s prequel. It is replaced with a larger and even more frenetic palette of fight scenes and chase sequences that leave one slightly puzzled and unsatisfied about half way through the third act. Don’t get me wrong, Craig as an actor has not lost any of his pizzaz. It is the writers and the director who have dropped the ball here, giving us a flashier exterior Bond whom we just can’t quite connect with by flick’s end.

The moviemakers yank us around the globe with a sly wink, a punch to the gut, and a chop to the neck. The action sequences are spectacular but by the numbers (car chase, speed boat chase, airplane chase, check, check, check). The Bourne movie conceit of kinetic, visceral hand-to-hand combat is effective, but just not quite up to the sizzling standard set in Royale.

And the evil international organization set on controlling the world? Quantum, an amorphous, ambiguous spectre for the most part, it has neither a cool acronym or particularly impressive henchmen fronting it.

And this brings us to one of Solace’s biggest flaws. The big villain. Mathieu Amalric’s “Dominic Greene.” The return of the 30-something dark-haired european prick. I had to do a double-take to make sure the filmmakers had not simply resurrected the big bad from their last movie effort. More cipher than threatening bad guy, Amalric’s Greene is just one more smug multi-millionaire plotting rampant pillaging under the guise of humanitarian endeavor.

In the end, Daniel Craig’s Bond remains this rebooted action series best special effect. He’s got the gravitas and the moves down pat. It’s just a shame the Director didn’t let him strut his stuff more.

I give "QUANTUM OF SOLACE," THREE out of five cans of diet cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper.

I liked it. The opening scene had me a bit confused at first with all the action, but all in all....I did enjoy the movie.

Liked it. A lot.

I thought it was good but I liked Casino Royale better. I'll hold off on judging the whole Quantum thing for now. I'm a tad confused about them. quigglemouth:

We have to wait until next year. But I can't wait!!!



But that opening song is terrible.....

Judy Dench’s magisterial M is given free reign to strut her stuff as both matron and [SIZE="4"]dominatrix[/SIZE].

?? I must have been napping during this scene . . . quigglemouth:

[quote]Not unlike Tom Cruise’s (Ethan Hunt) transition from “Mission Impossible” to “Mission Impossible II,” Solace’s Bond loses much of that interior angst and mortality so prevalent in it’s prequel. [quote]

Is the use of the word prequel here a malapropism? Surely predecessor is a more appropriate term?

I agree with most of your review. 3 out of 5 is fair, I reckon. It was ok, but any film with that much money pissed onto it would be ok.

Nowhere near as good as Casino Royale led us to expect: not enough Bond, too much Bourne.

I liked it. I didn't see Casino Royale. I hear this one would have made more sense if I had, but I still liked it. I thought Daniel Craig was very good as Bond.

The opening song completely sucked. But I still enjoyed the movie. My only big gripe was that the villain just didn't seem evil enough.

Odd, I liked the song. Reminds me of a few of the old bond tunes. And the title makes sense when compared to Bond's emotional mood during much of the movie

Considering that Ian Fleming asked a long time ago that his name be removed from the franchise, and went on to continue his "own" Bond... this movie made me think it was Fleming's Bond finally on the big screen.

I will admit that my dislike of the song has more to do with a dislike of that type of music than anything else. But I can't really separate my dislike of that type of music from the song.