Give Me Solace From This Action (Quantum of Solace (DVD))

Member Name: sdean

Product:	Quantum of Solace (DVD)
Date:	01/04/09 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Action sequences and effects

Disadvantages: The story and the villains, and the gadgets

This is the 2nd Daniel Craig Bond and the 25th Bond film. The title came from a short story in the Fleming Novel 'For Your Eyes Only', but none of the story was actually used.

The Quantum of Solace was the sequel to Casino Royale. James Bond's villain in this film is Dominic Greene who is a member of The Quantum organisation, he is posing as an environmentalist, who is actually gaining control of land in Bolivia to take control of their water supply and sell it back to the Bolivian government at an extortionate price.
Bond is looking for revenge for the death of his lover Vesper (killed off in Casino Royale), he is being helped by Camille Montes, who is also looking to avenge her family's deaths.

Without revealing any spoilers from the movie, here's a quick run down.

We are in Lake Garda Italy, straight after Casino Royale . Bond has Mr White in the boot of his car, Bond is being chased but in true Bond fashion, smashes us a gorgeous car in the first few moments of being on screen. Mr White is then interrogated by Bond and M and we quickly learn Mr White is part of an organisation MI6 have not heard of, who have also got M's bodyguard as part of it. M's bodyguard is subsequently killed and investigations lead Bond to Haiti to meet the bodyguard's contact Edmund Slate, Bond discovers Slate has been sent to kill Camille.
Bond rescues her and follows Greene to Austria and infiltrates the groups' communication systems in excellent fashion - cue action sequence!
Felix appears and helps Bond to find Greene who is deep in the desert at the new 'eco-hotel, another action sequence ensues Coming to the end we are in Russia (I know he gets about a bit) to interrogate Vesper's former lover Yusef Kabira.


-My Take-

It's definitely different from Casino Royale. Bond is known and loved by millions; some of the movies have aged well, some not so much. The newer Bond films will capture a new generation, so it's great it has moved with the times. However there are components to a Bond film, which should never be left out. The ones which were left out were crucial to joining the gap in the generations and making this film loved by everyone.

- The Sex
Some say there wasn't enough for a Bond film. There were nuances and hints; maybe that's not enough for some of you out there!
- Gadgets
What gadgets. Bond gets the best stuff. There was none. At all. A big shame and a let down.
- A Nasty Villain
The character of Dominic Greene, could have been awful, on the outside seemed like a good guy, but his character and meanness was skated over. The general who was responsible for heinous crimes, a guy we could have really gone against, again his character and meanness was not developed enough. I think not enough screen time. He could have benefited with a flashback.



Cast

James Bond - Daniel Craig
Camille Montes - Olga Kurylenko
Dominic Greene - Mathieu Amalric
M - Judi Dench
Strawberry Fields- Gemma Arterton

A fine performance from each actor and they did a great job with what they were given. Their screen time and getting to grips with their character was marred by the script. We were to believe Bond wanted revenge for Vesper's death, but was hiding it 'trying to get the job done'. Which is understandable. But we should have had some quiet contemplating Bond to know he was bothered about her. I didn't see any evidence. Not in Daniel's acting, but in the script.

Daniel Craig put in extra work this time to be Bond including more running and boxing, as this was a revenge film rather than the first film's 'love story' and required a different performance.

Olga Kurylenko, originally from the Ukraine was given the DVD box set of the Bond films as these are not readily available where she grew up. She was picked from 400 women as she was the least nervous. Olga disliked stunts but was inspired by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Mathieu Amaric , who plays Dominic Greene modelled his performance on the 'smile of Tony Blair and the craziness of Sarkozy' noting that Sarkozy 'walks around thinking he's in a Bond film'.

Gemma Arterton was given the role out of 7000 candidates, because she was fresh and young and not a femme fatale. Gemma paid homage to the 1960's Bond women in her character. Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman being her favourites. Her character's first name is never said throughout the film.


Music

Along with the world recognised Bond Theme, Another Way to Die was recorded by Jack White from The White Stripes and Alicia Keyes. Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse were scheduled to have this honour, but her substance related issues prevented it being completed (what a shame!).

Song choice and singers/composers, I think could have been stronger. Who are these people anyway. Usually the theme is taken by the hottest acts around (like Winehouse), but instead we had second best. What resulted, in my opinion was a second rate song. The title didn't match the film name, I know it must have been difficult to rhyme with Quantum of Solace, but hey, they get paid to write songs! This won't be one that will stick in my mind. As a revenge film, it should have had something stronger - think 'Live & Let Die' with that amazing build up, in that Paul McCartney was offered to write the song, but turned it down. 'Another Way to Die' was actually awarded Best Song at the 2008 Satellite Awards (whatever they are!).


Product Placement

I noticed a hell of a lot of product placement in this movie, so deciding to look it up, I found that Ford, Heineken, Smirnoff, Omega, Virgin Atlantic, Sony Ericcson, and Coca-Cola gave Quantum of Solace a $50 million payday.


~Conclusion~

In conclusion, the effects were great, amazing even, the action sequences were fresh, new and the technology used must have cost a fortune. Daniel Craig did an excellent action hero. But this could have been any old action film. It could have been Mission Impossible. It wasn't Bond. While I celebrated more screen time for Judi Dench, the action sequences and fight scenes, I found it difficult to care about the characters, or hate the villains. It seems a lot of attention was placed on having the film set in more locations than ever before rather than having s great script with character development. There is a scene at the end while in Russia and it doesn't make sense. I don't know about you, but I forget films quite easily, Casino Royale was a while ago and I had to be reminded of what happened last time. I think to almost enjoy the film, give Casino Royale another view before venturing into the Quantum.

Summary: Bond, Jim Bond....