Quantum Of Solace

A sleek and efficient machine that works as pure entertainment, Quantum of Solace is a worthy addition to the Bond franchise, but it does not rank as one of the best. The film, which at 105 minutes is the shortest Bond movie ever, is an action-packed ride that is consistently engaging, but it does not quite provide the emotional investment or narrative satisfaction that really separate out the greatest examples of the genre.

Part of the problem here is that the inevitable comparison film is the last installment, Casino Royale, which also starred Daniel Craig as James Bond, and for which this film serves as a direct sequel (the action of this movie begins about an hour after that one ended). Casino Royale proved not only a full-scale reinvention of the series but also featured a terrific, comprehensible story, consistently exhilarating action sequences, and the excitement of a completely novel but very successful interpretation of the Bond character. That excitement is inevitably dampened this time out, but the story here is also weaker and ultimately less rewarding, and the film’s coolness distances you from the characters as opposed to bringing you in. Interestingly, this is the first time in the history of the Bond franchise that the filmmakers have chosen to directly continue the story from one film to the next, but unfortunately this actually hurts Quantum, as the comparison ends by highlighting some of its principal weaknesses.

The plot of the film does have an interesting twist, though; this time Bond’s mission is personal, and he is motivated by revenge. In Casino Royale he was betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, and Quantum begins with him trying to learn more about the organization that blackmailed her. Bond is soon led to nefarious businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), whose eco-friendly company masks a much more sinister agenda, as well as the beautiful and mysterious Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman with her own personal vendetta against Greene and his organization. As Bond follows his leads to places like Austria, Italy, and South America, the lines get increasingly blurred between his professional duties and personal feelings, and he even becomes a renegade agent, with his boss, the ever-present M (Judi Dench), cutting him loose and expressing serious disapproval at the lengths to which he is going for this mission.

The story moves along quickly, and as usual with Bond films, much of the fun involves watching Bond hunt down leads and fend off villains in exotic locales; this film apparently had more overseas locations than any of the previous installments. The acting is quite good overall—once again Craig makes a terrific, suave-yet-realistic Bond; Amalric (the great French actor who starred in last year’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is a perfectly malevolent villain; and Dench makes the most of her expanded character and additional screen time, showcasing M’s cool professionalism but also making very clear the affection she has for Bond. Only Kurylenko is a bit weak—she looks the part well enough, but her acting leaves something to be desired; she definitely falls victim to the stilted style that often plagues models who try to act.

The film is very dense with action scenes, and some of them are quite impressive. The director, Marc Forster, is clearly working in the Bourne mode here (one of the editors, Richard Pearson, also edited The Bourne Supremacy), and the action sequences often achieve the chaotic urgency that characterized those films. While these scenes do occasionally lose clarity--and never, for me at least, achieve the exhilarating momentum of the best sequences in Casino Royale—they mostly work at a very high level, and they’re reason enough to make the trip to the theater.

Forster, whose previous films include Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, and Stranger Than Fiction, is certainly a competent craftsman when he wants to be, and that’s exactly what this film is—competent. In a time when so many filmmakers are lacking in some of the most basic storytelling and technical skills required to make movies, competence is really not something to take lightly or for granted. I personally wish there had been more passion and feeling in the film so that I could have really felt Bond’s rage and despair, or cared more about the outcome of the story. However, it’s nice to at least have a movie that knows what it’s doing—not to mention one that’s actually worth seeing.

                                                               David Laub