Quantum Of Solace
Thereâs no doubt that 2008âs direct sequel to Casino Royale doesnât short the viewer in the pure action department. It opens with a wild car chase and is shortly followed up by an exhaustive foot chase that tries but fails to match the one that opened Royale. The plot concerns Bond getting on the trail (what there is) of the shadowy organization that eventually comes to be known as QUANTUM (the modern day equivalent to the old school filmsâ SPECTRE and functioning as kind of an Illuminati-type group), and going after (ironically) an environmental conservationist tycoon named Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, who kind of resembles the long lost love child of Gary Oldman and Steve Buscemi). Amalricâs Green is what can reasonably be called one of the âsoftâ Bond villains, lacking in fighting prowess or overall menace but carrying himself in a quite charming, if slimy way. Turns out he and the organization plan on installing a puppet dictator into power in Bolivia in exchange for controlling the countryâs water supply at an exorbitant rate (though why they find any value in exhorting money from an obviously impoverished country is a bit mind boggling) all while telling the Americans and the Brits that what theyâre really hoarding is the now dwindling world supply of oil. Kind of a weird master plan, but weâre able to go with it as is. Daniel Craig as Bond this time around has evolved his style of playing the role a bit: 007 is more of a tormented soul here, still smarting from the death of his true love in the previous movie and pushing the bounds of his stamina to nearly insane extremes (in one scene M makes a point of asking him when is the last time heâs had any sleep). Indeed, a tortured Bond is certainly a new direction from what weâve seen before, and thatâs a good thing. As the lead Bond Girl, we get Olga Kurylenko not making that much of an impression as a beautiful member of Greenâs entourage who is secretly planning to kill the puppet dictator for murdering her family years before; Giancarlo Giannini returns as the possible double agent who helps out Bond and has a lot more emotional weight than he did in Royale; Gemma Arterton doing her part for the redheads of the world as a fellow agent assigned to keep an eye on Bond; and Jeffrey Wright returning as Felix Leiter and giving the character a raw cynicism that has never been glimpsed in previous incarnations. Plus Judi Dench continues to work overtime as M again, getting a substantial role this time around that makes one wonder when was it that M really got this hands-on in his / her duties. While the film has many impressive (if poorly edited) action scenes, the script more or less comes to feel like a clothsline where any dialogue and development are tacked on as necessary in order to get to the next setpiece, and the 106 minute running time actually makes it the shortest Bond film on record, though the pacing sadly isnât as good as youâd expect. In the end though, the film plays more as an extended epilogue to Royale rather than a stand alone Bond film, and while it may satisfy those who most likely would enjoy seeing some plot elements from the previous film wrapped up, its lack of individuality can be perceived by some as a major weakness, action packed or notâŚ
7/10