| Quantum of Solace: ***1/2 |
| Don't bring your personal drama into the office, especially when you're with MI6. More people tend to end up dying that way. |
It's not the home run that Casino Royale was, but it's still a damned good
Bond vehicle. Quantum picks up immediately from where Royale concluded and
writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade, director Marc Forster, along
with Daniel Craig paint an unsettling portrait of Bond as damaged goods, who is
very likely too great a liability to MI6 to justify his continued deployment in the
field. Bond's still torn by Vesper Fairchild's betrayal and subsequent murder from
the last film and while he assures M (Judi Dench) that vengeance isn't in his
mind, every action he takes during his assignment screams otherwise.
I didn't think that the film deserved some of the critical knocks that it took.
The filmmakers admittedly went overboard with the action scenes; more quiet,
subdued moments that would allow the relationship between Bond and M to
develop and the tension to build would've better served the picture. I think they
had a valid dramatic reason for accentuating the action and violence, though,
which is more intense and graphic than in any Bond film to date. Bond's drive for
payback has him riding off the rails; he's a loose cannon who's more interested
in inflicting damage on his enemies, real and perceived, than in halting Dominic
Greene (Mathieu Almaric), an operative of QUANTUM who's attempting to install
a pet dictator in Bolivia to facilitate a resource grab. M sees what Bond's letting
himself degenerate into with far more clarity than anyone else in his orbit. Her
misgivings about sending him out to deal with QUANTUM almost immediately
prove to be all too well founded. Craig's Bond is much closer to Fleming's vision
than any have been since the early Connery movies -- a man who could do as
much harm as good and was often close to being cashiered for his excesses.
As soon as Bond gets to work, corpses begin to pile up like cordwood.
Leads? What leads? He's killed 'em all. Bond becomes entangled with Camille
(Olga Kurylenko), a woman whose connections with Greene make her
potentially useful, though not in the least bit trustworthy. There are loads of set
pieces, diabolical machinations, and nefarious plots to bring down -- almost all of
the staples from previous entries in the Bond series are present (except for the
unbelievably goofy gadgets; no tears here) but the most interesting element of
Quantum is the dynamic between Bond and M when he's right on the verge of
going rogue. The smartest thing the series' producers did when they rebooted
the series was to keep Dench on in the role. She and Craig complement each
other perfectly and in these last two movies, she's an integral part of the story.
She doesn't just brief Bond and wish him luck. M has no compunction about
putting her people into the line of fire, but she won't let them be squandered,
either. She looks out for her men and in Quantum, she's genuinely concerned
about Bond and wants him to pull back from the precipice. Still, if he's too far
gone, she's got the steel to have him dealt with. By whatever means appropriate.
It woulda been nice if more time and attention had been given to the
character drama in Quantum; that would've made the difference between a good
movie and a great one. I wasn't completely jazzed with the manner in which the
tension between Bond and M was resolved; it felt too abrupt, too easy. As if its
method of resolution were dictated more by the demands of the film's running
time than by the demands of the story. Still, you've got the best Bond since
Connery, filmmakers who've returned him to the rough and tumble vision
Fleming had for him, and the action scenes are genuinely exciting. Props to
editors Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson -- even with all the fast cuts and
jumpy camerawork, the storytelling remains fluid. Quantum of Solace works
more often than not and it's a very good Bond film. Now it's time to make another
great one.
-Maneating Lemur (11/18/08).
Bond vehicle. Quantum picks up immediately from where Royale concluded and
writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade, director Marc Forster, along
with Daniel Craig paint an unsettling portrait of Bond as damaged goods, who is
very likely too great a liability to MI6 to justify his continued deployment in the
field. Bond's still torn by Vesper Fairchild's betrayal and subsequent murder from
the last film and while he assures M (Judi Dench) that vengeance isn't in his
mind, every action he takes during his assignment screams otherwise.
I didn't think that the film deserved some of the critical knocks that it took.
The filmmakers admittedly went overboard with the action scenes; more quiet,
subdued moments that would allow the relationship between Bond and M to
develop and the tension to build would've better served the picture. I think they
had a valid dramatic reason for accentuating the action and violence, though,
which is more intense and graphic than in any Bond film to date. Bond's drive for
payback has him riding off the rails; he's a loose cannon who's more interested
in inflicting damage on his enemies, real and perceived, than in halting Dominic
Greene (Mathieu Almaric), an operative of QUANTUM who's attempting to install
a pet dictator in Bolivia to facilitate a resource grab. M sees what Bond's letting
himself degenerate into with far more clarity than anyone else in his orbit. Her
misgivings about sending him out to deal with QUANTUM almost immediately
prove to be all too well founded. Craig's Bond is much closer to Fleming's vision
than any have been since the early Connery movies -- a man who could do as
much harm as good and was often close to being cashiered for his excesses.
As soon as Bond gets to work, corpses begin to pile up like cordwood.
Leads? What leads? He's killed 'em all. Bond becomes entangled with Camille
(Olga Kurylenko), a woman whose connections with Greene make her
potentially useful, though not in the least bit trustworthy. There are loads of set
pieces, diabolical machinations, and nefarious plots to bring down -- almost all of
the staples from previous entries in the Bond series are present (except for the
unbelievably goofy gadgets; no tears here) but the most interesting element of
Quantum is the dynamic between Bond and M when he's right on the verge of
going rogue. The smartest thing the series' producers did when they rebooted
the series was to keep Dench on in the role. She and Craig complement each
other perfectly and in these last two movies, she's an integral part of the story.
She doesn't just brief Bond and wish him luck. M has no compunction about
putting her people into the line of fire, but she won't let them be squandered,
either. She looks out for her men and in Quantum, she's genuinely concerned
about Bond and wants him to pull back from the precipice. Still, if he's too far
gone, she's got the steel to have him dealt with. By whatever means appropriate.
It woulda been nice if more time and attention had been given to the
character drama in Quantum; that would've made the difference between a good
movie and a great one. I wasn't completely jazzed with the manner in which the
tension between Bond and M was resolved; it felt too abrupt, too easy. As if its
method of resolution were dictated more by the demands of the film's running
time than by the demands of the story. Still, you've got the best Bond since
Connery, filmmakers who've returned him to the rough and tumble vision
Fleming had for him, and the action scenes are genuinely exciting. Props to
editors Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson -- even with all the fast cuts and
jumpy camerawork, the storytelling remains fluid. Quantum of Solace works
more often than not and it's a very good Bond film. Now it's time to make another
great one.
-Maneating Lemur (11/18/08).