Review: Quantum of Solace

Bond is back – but he’s not back in style I’m afraid (well apart from the Tom Ford-supplied wardrobe). While its opening weekend figures are higher than Casino Royale in every territory, including a whopping $25m three-day total in the UK, Quantum of Solace trails behind its predecessor as a film.

There are a number of essential problems, not least a leaden plot, a damp squib of an ending and an awful theme from Jack White. The all-too Bourne-esque fight scenes are just that, and while the prologue is bravely teased out (cross-cut, with no sound, between closing helicopter shot and extreme fast-cut car-to-car action), it’s not a patch on the inventive opening to Casino.

Some bold decisions were taken with the script. Conceptually they are intriguing, but they’ve been poorly developed and realised. Judi Dench’s M is now Bond’s moral compass and effectively the only woman he has anything close to a relationship with. The laughably awful Gemma Arterton makes for the flimsiest of Bond girls that the current James has seduced, while Olga Kurylenko as the vengeful Camille is interesting but doesn’t have quite enough to do (or is it simply the creative team trying to be realistic?).

Bond’s mission of revenge is hollow – he learns no lesson from it. His target, eco-magnate Dominic Greene is played by Mathieu Amalric without any charm – and seems a rather flimsy, light-weight villain (but, as the plot reveals, he is only a small cog in a very large wheel).

Having said all that, there is still much to enjoy. While the fight scenes are Bourne-esque, Bond still has to suffer (indeed Daniel Craig must have done himself an infinite number of injuries), adding realism, while the anti-US undercurrent of Casino is developed to become a strong sentiment running throughout Quantum.

The Tosca sequence (in counterpoint to the opening) is artfully staged and edited together, and concludes with a satisfying punch (and one of a number of passing nods to previous Bonds).

Bond is also called on to do some actual spying and detection work rather than just killing everyone in sight while searching for the McGuffin.

And let it be said: Daniel Craig is Bond, he absolutely owns the role. Two more Bond movies with this level of performance and physical commitment and he will be pushing Connery for the title of best Bond.

And yet the two-part conclusion to his Quantum mission is thoroughly unsatisfying. Many have said this film feels like the second part of a trilogy – and I’d agree with that.

Ultimately this is a disappointing affair: the creative team could have done so much better. But Bond is Bond, and, like the films of David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman, it’s hard to measure the film other than by its own established yardstick.
Score: 6