Quantum of Solace (12A)
Posted by Lu-Luvver on Wed, 19 Nov 2008.
Director: Marc Forster Main Characters: James Bond – Daniel Craig
Camille – Olga Kurylenko
Dominic Greene - Mathieu Amalric
M – Judi Dench
Warning – This review contains spoilers about the film “Casino Royale” – then again if you wanted to watch Quantum of Solace, you should watch Casino Royale or the plot of Quantum of Solace will be wasted on you.
James Bond – Quantum of Solace is the sequel to ‘technically’ the start of the James Bond series. The James Bond films star an elite British secret agent (Bond) who ventures on various missions for MI6. There are a few common themes in the James Bond films which include various gadgets assigned to him, glamorous women he associates with and a wide variety of Aston Martin cars (the lucky devil).
Quantum of Solace initially finds Bond (Daniel Craig) on a mission to avenge his previous lover’s death. Throughout the film you gradually find out more about why she killed herself and the motives behind doing it. With information gathered (the sources of this information would be a spoiler) Bond and M (Judi Dench) learn about a secret organisation fronted and masterminded by Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) that “has people everywhere” and their plan to do generally evil things to lots of people and get a lot of money for it (no surprises there then). Bond then discovers this organisation’s involvement with Vesper’s (his previous lover) death and then has to make the decision to avenge her death, continue with his mission or desperately try and do both.
After hearing rumours and alleged “plot flaws” from family and friends I went into the cinema with a cynical attitude and was mildly surprised – but only mildly. Unfortunately the film lacks a few of the James Bond classics – with no new car, gadgets or blatant ‘intimacy’ (to put it extremely politely) with any glamorous women – it’s implied that Bond sleeps with somebody during the film, but the woman only known as “Fields” (Gemma Arterton) plays such a minor role in the film it seems as she’s almost put there to make sure Bond has a sexual relation, as apposed to having the woman play a major role and using it as a significant emotional development of Bond during the film – a feeling I got from many other Bond films. There are obviously many high-adrenaline gun fights, car chases and last-minuteness you find in all Bond films so if you’re looking for just those you won’t be disappointed; if you’re looking for a plot however, you will be disappointed. The Bond films aren’t exactly praised for their amazing plots and intricacies, but Quantum of Solace seems rather lacking in plot altogether. The film is so tied up and reliant on the viewer having watched Casino Royale it seems as the storyline and ‘big bad company/person with their dastardly plans’ are only there because they need to be to validate a whole film. There also seems to be a bad case of clips to alternate happenings which relate to the story or situation in no way whatsoever, other than it happening in roughly the same place and time which left me thinking “I don’t care about this, what’s happening back in the fight/chase?”
Overall though the film is not bad, it’s entertaining and as long as you don’t go in expecting to be amazed your 106 minutes won’t be wasted. I would rate it an average Bond film and a slightly-below-average action film.
If you’re a man looking to kill a couple of hours, or a die-hard Bond fan then you will enjoy this movie. I would also strongly recommend watching this if you’re looking to watch the next one, especially if we have another case of “let’s rely on the previous film”. Other than that I would say there are currently better movies out there so don’t waste your money.