Reviews Film / Quantum Of Solace

A Quantum of a Good Idea

Poor Quantum of Solace. To its credit, it really does try. Unfortunately it often tries too hard and gets in its own way. If the last film was Bond adapting to a post-Jason Bourne world, this film is Bond trying to be Bourne. That was never going to work no matter what the filmmakers did. The idea of Bond on a rogue revenge quest for the death of Vesper isn't a bad one, but it requires a worthy villain to match him. Unfortunately Dominic Greene is not that villain. Instead he's one of the blandest, most forgettable Big Bads of the franchise. He doesn't even have a memorable henchman to prop the fights up. It's also not helped that between the gratuitous shaky cam and over reliance on fast cuts the action in this movie can be hard to follow. In the Bourne films at least we're meant to be disoriented as a means of connecting us to the character of Bourne. Here it's being done more for the sake of style than substance, and it's a style that's antithetical to the Bond franchise.

But let's switch over to some more positive aspects. Daniel Craig once again delivers a great performance, capturing the emotional turmoil Bond is going through very well. Certain writing choices occasionally undermine this, but Craig always does his best to reel things back in. He also looks his most stylish in this movie. It's admittedly a superficial pro, but Bond looking cool is one of the important appeals of the franchise. I also like the idea of a female lead that Bond doesn't have a romantic relationship with. Camille isn't the most developed character, but Olga Kurylenko gives a good performance and is able to believably stand alongside Craig in the action scenes.

So now lets get into the real heart of the film's strengths and weaknesses: the fact that it's one of the only true sequels in the franchise. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it runs headlong into one problem: it forces the audience to compare it to Casino Royale. That's a comparison that any film would have a hard time living up to. It doesn't matter how good Qo S ended up being, it will by necessity always exist in Casino Royale's shadow. It doesn't help that Casino Royale had a great ending already, making this film feel more like a tacked-on epilogue than a necessary follow-up. As I said before, Bond going on a revenge quest for Vesper is a good idea, but since we already saw that at the end of the last movie it makes this one feel like its trying to recapture past glory instead of blazing its own trail. Bond's story here is good, but it needed to be great. It wasn't.

So that's Quantum of Solace. A flawed movie that was doomed from its conception to live in the shadow of its predecessor. But next time we'll look at a film that bucked that trend and has gone on to be a fan and audience favorite, Film/Skyfall. See you there!