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''Have you ever lost someone you loved?''
Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country's water supply.
Daniel Craig: James Bond
Casino Royale was a reboot of the Bond Franchise. Reinventing Bond and making 007 a more believable, grittier, cold Agent of MI6, breathing life into Bond again like GoldenEye did. So why do the film's creators give us this offering of disappointment?
Quantum Of Solace barely has the authenticity to actually be a Bond movie, with all the equations of previous older installments stripped away, to make this a realistic venture.
So we have no gadgets, no memorable villains, no Q and no Money Penny again like Casino. The result is a violent and sour affair, and 007 has become a uncharismatic charmless thug of sorts.
As for action, it is fast and extremely realistic but alot of proceedings are too close, too in your face, too dizzyingly incompetent. Like the makers again are trying to make a Bourne film. Let them remember this is BOND not BOURNE, we need a more Gentleman Agent not a lifeless copy visage of another franchise.
So the story of Quantum Of Solace consists of what, I wonder? What was the plot or Story here? It's hard to make heads or tails of the mess that I've witnessed. The scenarios, villains, and threatening action that resided over Casino Royale are curiously absent from this strange sequel.
The motivation of Quantum appears to be revenge, to be a look into his dark side and his few redeeming ways. He's a shadow of his former self, and this goes for the idea of Bond. It's no longer Bond when you change everything that makes Bond what he is.
Quite frankly all characters in this installment are 2 Dimensional cut outs that are never fully explored or explained in detail.
''I am motivated by my duty.''
The so called Story in the light here seems to be mainly concerned in covering Bond's private life, and the romance he had with Vesper from Casino. Did she betray him or not? Well there I was thinking at the end of Casino that she didn't, but Quantum draws the whole affair and plot thread line out even further. Much to my dismay, this unnecessary procedure only succeeds in giving us the audience the answer we had to begin with, feeling like we are going round in a huge circle.
So the new Bond Girls that enter the lime light on this Bond adventure, Gemma Aterton, is completely miscast in a brief, still born role, as an MI6 Junior Agent who comes to get Bond. Perhaps that was a joke I missed in the film.
A bedroom scene with the pair is not convincing at all and abit awkward. This film needs to be higher than a 12A or push the boundaries, because Bond needs a decent Love Making Scene to make it a Bond.
Camille(Olga) a Bolivian with her own revenge plot. Is extremely beautiful, has more action scenes than Bond, but the Romance between her and Bond seems to go stale before it even begins, resulting in an unconvincing snooze fest. Even the kiss they share doesn't have resonance or chemistry involved.
The real engine and star of the show is M who shows us a character who seems to know what they are doing. Although I do admit over-using M lessens her power and ranking. A sure sign that the director is clutching at straws.
Daniel Craig does the same thing he did in Casino Royale minus the one-liners and charm he seemed to send out with Campbell at the helm.
No smiles, no jokes and a very serious man makes for a very wide miss of the target as far as capturing Bond. It's almost as if I would beg on my knees for Martin Campbell to come back and fix all the wrongs Solace has committed by giving us this dire offering.
Marc Foster who's done The Kite Runner just doesn't seem like an ideal candidate for a Bond film, and it shows.
An attempt at political sophistication and debatable questions raised, are shots at cleverness. American and British Governments collaborating with Greene really is the icing on the cake. Not to mention having the names and characters ''Fields'' and ''Greene'' in the same movie. The whole Political side of things are done better in Bourne and it's depressingly apparent when you see this.
The villain Dominic Greene played by legend Mathieu Amalric, the star of Diving Bell & The Butterfly, but on this with all due respect, is the weakest excuse for a villain I've seen in a Bond film for an age. He's short, he's not menacing and has no charm or level of danger like Lechiffre did in Casino. Granted he's a human foe but he has no qualities to make him memorable or even interesting.
Overall Quantum Of Solace leaves alot of questions, no respective answers and gaping holes concerning what actually happens. If anyone can tell me what this ''Quantum'' was meant to be, I'd like that. Or the fact there seemed to be a shroud over the leak ending, and the shoddy song at the beginning sandwiching the whole affair together.
Bond kills indiscriminately, Bond is cold, and Bond's reputation has been tarnished and ruined slightly by Forster. Hopefully the next one will redeem matters, or we wait for the day Campbell comes back to reignite our beloved James Bond. And for Gods sake bring back some gadgets, charm and gentile ways while you're at it, otherwise I may as well be watching a Bourne...
''I think you're so blinded by inconsolable rage that you don't care who you hurt. When you can't tell your friends from your enemies, it's time to go.''
4/10
