Quantum of Solace- review
November 24th 2008 11:48
Quantum Of Solace-Review
Since before the age of twelve, I can remember being utterly besotted by the outlandish cinematic escapades of 007. My first Bond was Timothy Dalton in ‘The Living Daylights’ (1987). And as such, I still to this very day, don’t get the fan hate directed towards his portrayal. I thought Dalton was a good Bond, personally. The first time I saw the cinematic classic ‘Goldfinger’ (1964) was on TV in a French hotel room at the age of 14. Of course, the film was dubbed into French and I understood very little of it, but the images alone were enough to capture my undivided attention. The naked, dead, gilded girl; the bowler-hatted cronie Oddjob; the famous laser sequence; all are part of popular culture and cinematic history.
I can recite lines from any Bond script at will; can tell you who performed the title song from each; and could have a fair go at telling you how many actors have played CIA agent Felix Leiter in the series. That’s how hardcore a fan I am. However, towards the end of the Brosnan era, there was definitely a sense of ‘been there, done that’ to the franchise, that even this dyed in the wool devotee noticed. It was time for a change, a rather drastic change. Bond has always been able to adapt itself to suit the times. It is for that reason that the films will probably survive, and continue to produce new outings, for many years to come. The early films were made at the height of the Cold War, and as such, the Russians were often the antagonists. The Moore era, likewise, felt very much at home in the post-Watergate escapist entertainment period of cinema, cultimating in 1979’s answer to the success of the Star Wars (1977) saga, ‘Moonraker’.
2006’s ‘Casino Royale’ brought Bond into the twenty-first century, making him able to compete with upstarts like Jason Bourne and the Mission Impossible films. The film brought the character back to basics, and removed all the familiar trappings of the series (volcanic island hideouts, Q’s gadgetry, whimsical one liners, etc.). Amazingly, this risk paid off. The film could have sunk the franchise if it wasn’t warmly received by fans, but thankfully it was awesome, and the best Bond film in many years. The eagerly awaited ‘Quantum of Solace’ picks up minutes after its immediate predecessor leaves off. Embittered and driven by revenge for the death of his love Vesper Lynd, Bond kidnaps the sinister Mr White and learns of the existence of a powerful international crime syndicate called Quantum. (The producers couldn’t use Bond’s old nemeses SPECTRE, due to an ongoing lawsuit) Heading to Haiti, 007 soon becomes involved in a plot to disrupt Bolivia’s water supply.
The film is a non-stop action rollercoaster, and moves at a breakneck pace. It’s much shorter than CR (Just under two hours long), so the action is very tight and fast moving. The second unit director from the Bourne Identity movies was employed for QOS, which explains a lot. The fights are very gritty, and Bond isn’t portrayed as an invincible muscleman, but a fragile human being. Craig portrays a Bond who walks a very fine line between intelligent and suave; and thuggish hitman. He is undoubtedly the best Bond in years. He carries the dramatic weight of the revenge-filled script very well indeed. There are some very impressive instances of action direction in QOS, including a rooftop chase in Sienna, Italy, a shootout at an opera house (filmed very similarly to Hitchcock’s 1950s remake of ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ ) ; and a plane chase (again, similar to Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’ (1959))
Marc Forster, a filmmaker who usually chooses projects that are based around character drama, like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ and ‘Finding Neverland’; was a very unusual and unexpected choice of director. He handles the dialogue scenes quite well, but falls a bit short when directing action sequences. It’s a similar scenario to 1999’s ‘The World Is Not Enough’ when documentary filmmaker Michael Apted (the 7 Up series) directed Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. Actually this film has a few elements of ‘The World Is Not Enough’ in it (oil pipelines, boat chases, a larger role in the story for M) but fortunately QOS doesn’t feature Denise Richards (ha!) as a NUCLEAR SCIENTIST! (Silliest Bond moment ever, IMHO). QOS also feels a little bit like 1989’s ‘License To Kill’ (Bond goes to South America on a personal vendetta, etc.)
The story is not short-changed. There is a compelling story at work here, penned once again by Oscar winning scribe Paul (‘Crash’) Haggis. Not only does bond go on a globe-hopping adventure, but there is some real dramatic meat to his character in this film, much like in CR. The greatest relationship in this movie isn’t actually between Bond or any of his famous Bond Girls, of which there are a few, but between Bond and M (played impeccably by the great Judi Dench, once again). There is an almost maternal mother/son bond (hehe!) between them. And the rapport between 007 and French agent Rene Mathis (and CIA agent Felix Leiter) is quite good, too.
After going for a terrorist angle in CR, QOS turns its attention upon environmentalists. Bond lives in a world where the moral boundaries are so thin, you could cut them with a scalpel, a world where major world governments will turn a blind eye to exploitation of small countries if they get a share of the rewards. Bond has always been entertainment, first and foremost, not political commentary; but QOS is definitely recognisable as a film of this era. This is definitely set in post 9-11 society. There’s a good moral dilemma for Bond in this picture, as well as an action film. He is searching for his ‘quantum of solace’ (his measure of comfort, of inner peace) after losing faith in a world gone corrupt and mad.
At the end of the film, Bond confronts Vesper’s former flame in Russia, and surprisingly leaves him alive. He displays mercy on the man who led to his lover’s death. Finally able to forgive Vesper for betraying him, he drops her Algerian love pendant in the snow. He has found his quantum of solace.
Fleming purists may enjoy QOS for its gritty atmosphere and greater character focus. Old school Bond movie fans will probably find it rather too humourless and sombre. CR fans might be disappointed, because QOS is a very different story (a revenge narrative, rather than a love story), and contains much more action and violence than its immediate forebearer. I enjoyed it very much indeed, and applaud the new direction the series is taking with Craig’s Bond.
I do still miss Q and Moneypenny, though. Hopefully, they’ll be back in the next one.
Since before the age of twelve, I can remember being utterly besotted by the outlandish cinematic escapades of 007. My first Bond was Timothy Dalton in ‘The Living Daylights’ (1987). And as such, I still to this very day, don’t get the fan hate directed towards his portrayal. I thought Dalton was a good Bond, personally. The first time I saw the cinematic classic ‘Goldfinger’ (1964) was on TV in a French hotel room at the age of 14. Of course, the film was dubbed into French and I understood very little of it, but the images alone were enough to capture my undivided attention. The naked, dead, gilded girl; the bowler-hatted cronie Oddjob; the famous laser sequence; all are part of popular culture and cinematic history.
2006’s ‘Casino Royale’ brought Bond into the twenty-first century, making him able to compete with upstarts like Jason Bourne and the Mission Impossible films. The film brought the character back to basics, and removed all the familiar trappings of the series (volcanic island hideouts, Q’s gadgetry, whimsical one liners, etc.). Amazingly, this risk paid off. The film could have sunk the franchise if it wasn’t warmly received by fans, but thankfully it was awesome, and the best Bond film in many years. The eagerly awaited ‘Quantum of Solace’ picks up minutes after its immediate predecessor leaves off. Embittered and driven by revenge for the death of his love Vesper Lynd, Bond kidnaps the sinister Mr White and learns of the existence of a powerful international crime syndicate called Quantum. (The producers couldn’t use Bond’s old nemeses SPECTRE, due to an ongoing lawsuit) Heading to Haiti, 007 soon becomes involved in a plot to disrupt Bolivia’s water supply.
Marc Forster, a filmmaker who usually chooses projects that are based around character drama, like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ and ‘Finding Neverland’; was a very unusual and unexpected choice of director. He handles the dialogue scenes quite well, but falls a bit short when directing action sequences. It’s a similar scenario to 1999’s ‘The World Is Not Enough’ when documentary filmmaker Michael Apted (the 7 Up series) directed Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. Actually this film has a few elements of ‘The World Is Not Enough’ in it (oil pipelines, boat chases, a larger role in the story for M) but fortunately QOS doesn’t feature Denise Richards (ha!) as a NUCLEAR SCIENTIST! (Silliest Bond moment ever, IMHO). QOS also feels a little bit like 1989’s ‘License To Kill’ (Bond goes to South America on a personal vendetta, etc.)
The story is not short-changed. There is a compelling story at work here, penned once again by Oscar winning scribe Paul (‘Crash’) Haggis. Not only does bond go on a globe-hopping adventure, but there is some real dramatic meat to his character in this film, much like in CR. The greatest relationship in this movie isn’t actually between Bond or any of his famous Bond Girls, of which there are a few, but between Bond and M (played impeccably by the great Judi Dench, once again). There is an almost maternal mother/son bond (hehe!) between them. And the rapport between 007 and French agent Rene Mathis (and CIA agent Felix Leiter) is quite good, too.
After going for a terrorist angle in CR, QOS turns its attention upon environmentalists. Bond lives in a world where the moral boundaries are so thin, you could cut them with a scalpel, a world where major world governments will turn a blind eye to exploitation of small countries if they get a share of the rewards. Bond has always been entertainment, first and foremost, not political commentary; but QOS is definitely recognisable as a film of this era. This is definitely set in post 9-11 society. There’s a good moral dilemma for Bond in this picture, as well as an action film. He is searching for his ‘quantum of solace’ (his measure of comfort, of inner peace) after losing faith in a world gone corrupt and mad.
At the end of the film, Bond confronts Vesper’s former flame in Russia, and surprisingly leaves him alive. He displays mercy on the man who led to his lover’s death. Finally able to forgive Vesper for betraying him, he drops her Algerian love pendant in the snow. He has found his quantum of solace.
Fleming purists may enjoy QOS for its gritty atmosphere and greater character focus. Old school Bond movie fans will probably find it rather too humourless and sombre. CR fans might be disappointed, because QOS is a very different story (a revenge narrative, rather than a love story), and contains much more action and violence than its immediate forebearer. I enjoyed it very much indeed, and applaud the new direction the series is taking with Craig’s Bond.
I do still miss Q and Moneypenny, though. Hopefully, they’ll be back in the next one.
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