Bond's Back, But He's Lost His Sense Of Numour (Quantum of Solace (DVD))

Member Name: spencer_hawken

Product:	Quantum of Solace (DVD)
Date:	21/11/08 (175 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The action is back

Disadvantages: Bond's wit has been surgically removed

It's James Bond's twenty second outing and after the controversy of Casino Royale its only appropriate that The Quantum Of Solace goes out of its way to add a little more controversy, the man that it was thought could never do the role of Bond with any justice Daniel Craig returns for his second outing, a movie that seamlessly slips on from where Casino Royale left off, with Bond still silently grieving his beloved Vespa, and a sinister underground group in place to do a variety of bad things.

t's a most unusual offering this time round for a variety of reasons, the story even though it makes perfect sense is somehow a little shrouded almost as if you're not quite given all the information, or you think somehow you have missed something, it's rather like the Matrix movies, while you see it, may enjoy it, and understand its driving force, you might not quite get every offshoot; but rather like The Matrix you might not go out of your way to let everybody know, there is just this almost accepted level of understanding that your questions might be answered later, in the case of Quantum Of Solace you'll be waiting for Bond 23 for these small unanswered questions.

I found Casino Royale to be very hollow, I enjoy the almost super powered aspect of bond, I also liked the humour, the music, the stunts, and those amazing bases that the villain of the piece ends up squirreling himself into. Casino Royale had little on the action front, making its biggest action scenes around a card table, excluding of course the original construction leaping scene, it lacked humour, and as a result its running time was less than desirable. Quantum Of Solace or I guess rather its director and screenwriter have gone part way to addressing this, putting more action into the first twenty minutes than Casino saw throughout, whereas Casino was about the storytelling Solace is all about the action. This time round you have the traditional Bond violence and special effects, a roof hopping scenario that puts the construction scene from Casino to shame and of course that great base at the end that is aching to be destroyed.

What I found most unusual with this movie was the incredibly short running time, Solace is the shortest of all Bond movies, and 95 minutes in the credits are patiently waiting to roll. I'm sure this will prove to be something quite controversial, in a time where movie makers are throwing more time to movies The Dark Knight with its near on three hour running time, to be taking time away from a franchise that normally prides itself on its length is an unusual aspect, but one that rather successfully works.

Solace is missing that humour you associate with Bond movies, the only slightly mouth curving moments are in the explanations as to why Bond has killed again rather than apprehend and question suspects, Craig's Bond shrugs off these murders implying that his interrogators most namely M (Judi Dench)look towards the future rather than the past. So while the action has returned to the franchise the humour has not, and this proves Bond 22 to be the darkest chapter of all the Bond movies, old friends are despatched by assassins and in terms of one disposed of by Bond himself in fairly humiliating circumstances. An oily death only seems to register in Bond's mind at the very end of the movie, until this point it's all been part of his ongoing journey.

Again as with Casino Bond goes into battle with no funky weapons, no exploding belts, gun watches, no instead he heads into battle armed with just a gun and the most clever telephone devices the world has ever seen. As much as I enjoyed seeing Bond's phone in action it by no means makes up for a car that can drive underwater.

You cannot deny the movie is well put together; you're never 5 minutes away for a scene of action, or at least a good threat of it. When not in a legendary action or stunt scene, director Marc Foster is focusing on the lavish surrounding, if ever a movie would be made for High Definition viewing then this is it, the detail on a boat chase near the start is simply amazing, the colours of the water so vibrant and real you feel as if you could almost reach out and touch the sea.

Craig delivers the goods as Bond, but is capable of so much more, he is naturally a very funny man a few minutes with Craig as he actually is pass like seconds, he is that much fun; so surely he is deserving of a little humour that was afforded to Roger Moore, even the seduction technique used in this movie to pull his one proper romantic entanglement is the sort of line that a fifteen year old might pass off, although in the circumstances it works well it's just not the traditional Bond line that might well stay in your head for some time. The leading ladies in the form of Gemma Arterton, Olga Kurylenko, and of course Judi Dench also deliver the goods too, Dench in particular proving as both a character in the form of M and as an actress herself, a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile Mathieu Amalric provides great support as the movies villain Dominic Greene, a man more ruthless than A View To A Kills Max Zorin (Christopher Walken).

It might sound like I'm bashing Quantum, in my eyes it's a hundred times better than its predecessor, and I'm sure this is a result of fan comment, for last time round the old time Bond fans were left out in the cold and new viewers were warmed in with open arms. There are 22 Bond movies for a reason, as we slowly approach the fiftieth year of James Bond in the motion picture industry you can understand tinkering, but this in my mind is over re-imagining (to use a 21st Century term) the whole James Bond history, almost saying that what passed before is somewhat passé maybe even a bit trite. And before you wonder, no I won't mention Jack White and Alicia Keyes score, hurriedly rushed in to replace one by Amy Winehouse, there are simply some words not appropriate for reviews...

Summary: Bond 22 is slowly returning to the old style