Could Do Better (Quantum of Solace (DVD))

Member Name: worst_trip

Product:	Quantum of Solace (DVD)
Date:	03/07/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Running time is about 90-odd minutes, so won't take too long to watch

Disadvantages: Obscurely plotted and scripted; not a lot of fun really

Does any Bond film fan ever give a thought to poor old Timothy Dalton?

When the franchise was in a somewhat creaky state back in the mid-1980s, following a declining series of films starring the excellent, but let's face it by that time more-than-a-little-way-past-it-for-this-role Roger Moore, in swept Timothy Dalton as 'the new James Bond' and the fans and the critics and everyone went crazy about how this was a 'back to basics' new start for the series, and how Timothy Dalton's James Bond was exactly like the character in the Ian Flemming books, and there would be no more mucking about in the films with bad schoolboy double entendres, etc. etc. etc.

Then, following Dalton's successful debut in the critically, quite well-acclaimed 'The Living Daylights' the film-makers went and made 'Licence to Kill' - a excruciatingly low-budget-looking, poorly plotted and scripted follow up that was universally - quite understandably, hated. Timothy Dalton as James Bond sunk without trace as a result and the franchise temporarily disappeared from view.

I see a lot of parallels in the case of Dalton as Bond and the current scenario. After a lattely declining series of increasingly ridiculous Pierce Brosnan James Bond films (featuring such low points in his last one as an invisible car; a fight in an ice-castle; soft-porn-style slow-mo shots of seawater sliding off Halle Berry, etc.) the franchise gets revamped with a fresh new (critically acclaimed) actor who stars in a really rather good new film - 'Casion Royale' - which is described as being 'back to basics' and featuring a character exactly like the one written by Ian Flemming in the books.

With 'Casino Royale' one of the highest personal recommendations for it that I heard came from one of the admin staff where I used to work, who said that the film was so good she was going to see it a second time, and that it wasn't like a traditional James Bond film at all - because in fact she didn't even really like those films in the first place. And it is; 'Casino Royale' doesn't rely on its audience having any prior knowledge about the main players and so it is - as far as a James Bond film can be - quite character driven, which I though was one of its best points.

While it may seem unfair to place 'Quantum of Solace', the second Bond outing featuing Daniel Craig, in the context of its excellent predecessor 'Casino Royale', 'Quantum of Solace' is a direct sequel to the previous film; it starts a few hours after the action in 'Casino Royale' ends. Furthermore the film, as the second installment in a series featuring a new James Bond actor, had a lot to live up to in terms of maintaining the high quality of story as well as standards of action that had been begun in the prequel.

In both these regards I thought 'Quantum of Solace' absolutely fell flat. The storyline took the form of a generic 'evil genius wants to controll global / Bolivian supplies of commodity X' template (was it oil he was after? and / or water? I found the film so vaguely plotted - and scripted - that I am having difficulty remembering). Daniel Craig did his best but there was not really that much in terms of actual acting - as opposed to running about and jumping on and off things - given to him to do. The further character development of James Bond following on from 'Casino Royale' - which I was hoping to see - didn't take place. And the 'Bond girls' - of whom there were two, they were also, unlike the excellent Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in 'Casino Royale' bog-standard carbon-copy editions; despite a failed attempt to give a tragic backstory and some revenge-fuelled motivation to the pretty South American character, they both turned out to be pick 'n mix Bond girls, who could've been lifted from any one of the earlier films. So little or no character development was possible for either of the female leads there. The English one ended up left dead on her hotel bed - just like thingy Masterson in 'Goldfinger', only instead of being murdered and covered with gold paint, she was murdered and left covered with crude oil. Why did they do that? Unless they've totally run out of ideas, presumably that was supposed to be some sort of homage, but oh, please. That part stood out for me as being particularly rubbish.

Almost as rubbish as the painful 'justification' that was attempted in the film for its own given name; 'Quantum of Solace' is the title of an Ian Flemming short story featuring James Bond; it's one of those slighty weird non-standard ones (the others that leap to mind in this genre are 'James Bond in New York' - basically a travelogue about things to see and do in the Big Apple, and 'the Hildebrand Rarity' which - I forget; but it has something to do with tropical marine fish - the surprising thing about James Bond in print that I've always found being the amount of accurate nature study notes that Ian Flemming was able to include in between all the seductions, spying, tussling with Voodoo priest-types and other action that takes place in the books) in which James Bond isn't really a main character; in the 'Quantum of Solace' short story he takes the role of a listener to a man telling him a story about the mutually destructive, deteriorating relationship between one of his colleagues and his ex-air-hostess wife. In 'Quantum of Solace' the film, the evil genius is a member of one of those global conspiracy evil organizations like 'SMERSH' - only this one's called 'Quantum'. 'Quantum'. I ask you.

The climax of the film features big explosions at an installation deep in the Bolivian desert - where the baddies, with flagrant disregard for even the most basic health-and-safety precautions, have conveniently but very carelessly left large quantites of some flammable gas-based compound lying about in canisters within 007's pistol range....the end of the film, where James Bond +1 limp out of the desert reminded me very unfavourably of the end of 'Licence to Kill' - Timothy Dalton's last effort, the final set-piece of which also featured the explosion of a large gas-tanker in the desert.....

I see on the IMDB website - where you will find many, many devotees of this film and can read lots more positive reviews - that they're giving Daniel Craig another chance at making a James Bond film - and a good thing too. While his first Bond film 'Casino Royale' was excellent, I thought 'Quantum of Solace' was on the whole, below average, and it'll be nice seeing the film makers trying to pull their socks up with the next effort.

I bought my DVD of this when Tesco's were selling it for £8 when it was first released - after watching it twice to check I hadn't missed anything that would improve my impression of it, I quickly recouped my losses by listing it on Ebay. I would advise anyone who doesn't already know for a fact they like this film not to spend a lot of money buying the DVD; rent it or borrow it first, or wait a few months till it's priced around the £4 to £5 mark instead.

Summary: An average James Bond flick. Nothing to write home about.