Quantum of Solace (2008)

I lucked out today, as a movie I've never seen was playing on TV today, so I didn't even have to do anything to get my quota done today other than sit my butt on the couch. Well, I guess that's kinda how it went yesterday too, but this is a big blockbuster, so I think it worked out even better today. That movie was of course Quantum of Solace, the last James Bond film made as of now. I never saw it because I had heard a lot of people were pretty disappointed by it. I really liked the first 007 movie with Daniel Craig as James Bond, so I was interested in seeing what was up with this one. Hit the jump to see if I found it just as disappointing as everyone else.


What I found quite interesting is that this film picks up with the story thread left from the previous film. I could be just ignorant, but I don't think any of the previous Bond films did this. Please correct me if I'm wrong however! The spin that this particular film puts into it's story is that M and the British government start to think James Bond is going rogue do to revenge issues left from the previous movie's ending. Because of this he doesn't get the cool gadgets or really any help as they start cutting him off, and it's more an issue of how Bond can continue with the mission completely on his own. While this was a kind of interesting idea, we've already seen it done far better in the Bourne movies, and the reason why everyone loves Bond is because of his super spy gizmos and ultra high-end lifestyle. Nevertheless, I think it was still pretty cool, just not what I was expecting.

So this is where Kelly went after she graduated from St. Trinian's!

One thing you can always count on in a Bond movie though, are hot girls! We've got two "Bond girls" this time around, which isn't totally new to the franchise, but two is always better than one. Olga Kurylenko plays Camille and Gemma Arterton takes on the role of Strawberry Fields. Camille was by far the more interesting female lead in the movie as she wasn't really just the standard eye-candy of most Bond girls, but her character had a lot of depth and a tragic history that really informed how she acted and had a big impact on the ending of the film. Ms. Fields on the other hand really was just there as a pretty thing to oogle at it seemed. I mean, she even had the traditional goofy Bond girl type name. It was interesting to note, however, that I last saw Gemma Arterton in the two St. Trinian's movies!

Not to say that there weren't any other good characters though. I really liked the villain who was played by Mathieu Amalric, but mainly because I recognized from one of my favorite movies this year, The Divingbell and the Butterfly. It was so weird to see him so lively and talkative, and he really did make a realistic villain too. He seemed smart and always a few steps ahead with his plan. Of course Judi Dench was great as M, as she always has been. She's such a great addition to the Bond cast, and I'm glad they kept her when they rebooted the franchise.

Olga Kurylenko is one of the more interesting Bond girls I've seen in a while

Rebooting the series also brought it into a more realistic, or down-to-Earth tone. The lack of wacky gadgets is probably the most noticeable, but it's also affected the action. Bond is far more likely to get in a simple yet brutal fist fight than he is to have a laser fight like in the past films. This is where we see the influence of the massively successful Bourne films as well. What's unusual is that the opening few action set-pieces were far more entertaining than the final set-piece. Sure there was more pyrotechnics in the finale, but in the opening we have a crazy car chase and gun fights, then we have a thrilling foot chase and some really great choreographed hand-to-hand fighting. Then we get a kind of average boat sequence and it just seemed to get less impressive as the film went. Not that the action towards the end was bad, but when you've already seen better within the same film, it's hard to get really excited by them.

The action in the film started great, but got progressively less impressive through the movie

Now that I've also seen Quantum of Solace, I find myself in a position where I understand why people were disappointed. However, I remember hearing opinions to the effect that this movie was garbage and bad, and I certainly didn't feel that. It's true that I think Casino Royal was better than this film, but I still don't think this film was "bad". I'd still recommend it, as it think it's a pretty good action movie, and it's nice to see some of those loose ends from Casino Royal closed off. Overall, I enjoyed it.