While Casino Royale was an amazing action film with a smart plot, realistic characters and excellent performances, Quantum of Solace is a convoluted mess with mind numbing action scenes. Rarely if ever have I been so disinterested in an action scene when there is a lot happening on the screen. The tone of the action and the movie in general is completely different than Casino Royale. It is trying to be more gritty, yet over-the-top at the same time and it does not work! For the first 30 minutes I had no idea what was going on or why. Not because it was too complex, because it made no sense and was told poorly. The new director Marc Forster completely butchered what could have been a good Bond movie after the fantastic Casnio Royale. While Casino Royale had some great nods and references that made it seem like a Bond movie despite the lack of gadgets, Quantum was nothing that resembles a Bond film except for one minor reference. Also the villain is a complete joke, one of the worst. However, after the first half of the movie, it does start to become much better and interesting when the espionage starts.
Directed by: Marc Forster
Genre: Action, Spy, Espionage
Release Date: 29 October 2008
Running Time: 106 minutes
MMPA rating: PG-13
The Good: Better second half, One clever Bond reference,
The Bad: Confusing action, Convoluted plot, Rips-off the Bourne franchise,
Note: As with all Bond films, there is some seggestive content.
Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
James Bond is driving from Lake Como to Siena, Italy, with the captured Mr. White in the boot of his car. After evading pursuers, Bond and M interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's bodyguard, Mitchell, a double agent, attacks M, enabling White to escape. Bond chases Mitchell and kills him. Bond and M return to London and search Mitchell's flat, discovering through tagged banknotes that Mitchell had a contact in Haiti. Bond tracks the contact, Edmund Slate, and learns that Slate is a hitman sent to kill Camille Montes at the behest of her lover, environmentalist Dominic Greene. While observing her subsequent meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping an exiled Bolivian General, Medrano—who murdered Camille's family—to overthrow his government in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.
After rescuing Camille from Medrano, Bond follows Greene to a performance of Tosca in Bregenz, Austria. En route, the CIA head of the South American section, Gregg Beam, strikes a non-interference deal with Greene to maintain access to assumed stocks of Bolivian oil. Bond infiltrates Quantum's meeting at the opera, and a gunfight ensues. A Special Branch bodyguard of Quantum member Guy Haines, an advisor to the British Prime Minister, is killed while in combat with Bond, and M—after Bond refuses to obey orders to return home and debrief—has his passports and credit cards revoked. Watch the movie to see what happens next.
Plot: 5.7/10- The first half is a complete convoluted mess, nothing made sense. Although, the second half almost started to become interesting. The way it tied into the previous was done very poorly, I almost did not know that it was realted to Casnio Royale.
Action: 7.6/10- There was a lot of action throughout the movie, however the filming made it seem dull. Stuff was exploding but I really did not care what was happening. There were three action scenes were it basically coppied scenes from the Jason Bourne trilogy and I could only think of how it was so similar to Bourne that it made those scenes hard to enjoy.
Acting: 7.0/10- Daniel Craig as Bond was not half as good as he was in Casnio Royale and Judi Dench as M was as great as always. Olga Kurylenko as Camille Montes is the only main "Bond Girl" were she was not the romantic interest, which was refeshing, and her performance was solid. However, all of the antagonist were sub-par at best.
Special effects: 7.0/10- The explosions and everything looked good, but nothing too impressive.
Soundtrack: 6.0/10- I am not even sure if the classic Bond theme was used more than once, one of the worst Bond scores, although "Another Way To Die" was a solid Bond song.
Comedy: N/A- Nearly humorless.
Gadgets: N/A- Except for a cell phone, Bond used no gadgets.
Title Sequence: 7.0/10- Visually the title sequence was cool, but not the best. The song "Another Way To Die" was odd, yet still worked for the movie.
Would I Watch This Again: When I re-watch all of the Bond movies, I will watch this again.
Overall: 6.0/10- Overall Quantum of Solace has its moments, but lacks much of what made Casino Royale great.
Closing comments: Despite being a disappointing sequel, it is still one of the better movies from the James Bond franchise.
Recommended for: Action fans, Spy fans, Espionage fans,
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