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'Quantum' action-packed fun with Bond
Movie Review: Quantum of Solace
By John Wirt
jwirt@theadvocate.com
Advocate movie critic
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PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
Even if the latest James Bond movie doesn’t top its smashing predecessor, 2006’s Casino Royale, it more than lives up to its action-packed trailer.
Daniel Craig, in his second turn as the intrepid 007, battles through more marathon action sequences and international plots. He also joins forces with a particularly feisty Bond girl. The freshness of this new Bond and his behind-the-scenes creative team wears off a bit, but the film is a satisfying sequel.
Quantum of Solace begins where Casino Royale ends. After Bond uncharacteristically fell in love with Vesper Lynd, a serenely beautiful British treasury agent, she betrayed him only to be killed by her own associates.
The grieving Bond throws himself into the search for the organization behind Vesper’s betrayal. He’s on a personal crusade as well, seeking revenge for her murder. Of course, Bond doesn’t tell M, his prickly but supportive superior, about this, but as the body count he produces grows ever larger, it’s obvious his interest is beyond professional.
Quantum of Solace smashes its accelerator to the floor in the opening sequence. Automatic weapons-wielding bad guys pursue Bond during a ferocious car chase in Italian mountains. Repeating the extreme athleticism of Casino Royale, Bond does the chasing during the rooftop pursuit that follows.
In the Bond movie tradition, Quantum of Solace takes 007 to international locales. Trailing a hitherto unknown crime organization, he travels from Italy to Haiti, where he meets the sultry Camille.
Ukrainian-French actress Olga Kurylenko (action-thriller Hitman was her first English-language role) takes the screen as a determined young woman who, like Bond, seeks revenge.
Haiti is also the place where Bond meets Dominic Greene, an global businessman who’s carefully cultivated an environmentalist image. Greene’s altruistic public personality being pure fiction, French actor Mathieu Amalric plays this realistic, latest Bond villain with cool arrogance.
Judy Dench again plays Bond’s boss, M. Giancarlo Giannini is back as Rene Mathis, Bond’s friend and ally. Having such film veterans, both of whom have meaty supporting roles, in the mix gives the already first-class Quantum of Solace even more class.
But new Bond director Marc Forster, a talented filmmaker who’s work includes such non-mainstream projects as Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland, doesn’t quite have the knack for action, and clarity in action sequences, displayed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. Forster shows his stylishness elsewhere. The film also benefits from Craig’s razor intensity as Bond and the returning writing team of Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The detail, density and contemporary resonance in the Quantum of Solace script surpasses most action movies by leaps and bounds.
