Movie Review: Quantum of Solace

By / November 11, 2008 /

We’re a sucker for James Bond. From Dr. No to Casino Royale. The action…the women…the cocktails. We prefer our Bond shaken with an edge like Sean Connery and less like Roger Moore. When Daniel Craig burst into the role a couple of years ago he was tailor made for it like a fine British suit. He had the physicality, the roughness, the unorthodox swagger and charm of how we always imagined our Bond on screen. Even in some ways, dare we say, better then Connery.

Casino Royale was a fanboy’s dream come true. No gadgets…no Q…no Moneypenny, just raw and unfiltered action from the best British secret service agent in literature. So, it was with great anticipation that we were fortunate to view an early screening of the latest James Bond installment, Quantum of Solace. The title itself has come under quite a bit of controversy. Too wordy for some and not Bond-y enough for others. After seeing the film, however, the title makes tons of sense and fits quite nicely. The title itself actually comes from one of Ian Flemming’s short stories on the British agent. It has a double meaning in the story line as well.

Unfortunately, this latest Bond offering isn’t quite as good as the last. It’s lacking in story and doesn’t pack quite an emotional wallop as Casino Royale. The villain played by French actor, Mathieu Amalric, does an adequate job. We just never felt he was much of a threat, which is the backbone of any good Bond feature. He just wasn’t that imposing compared to Daniel Craig’s beefed up Bond.

The girls, Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko, are of course, awesome. There is even a nod to Goldfinger along the way, but we won’t spoil it for you.

There are some metaphors to Al-Qaeda and you just want Bond to beat the crap out of every last one of them…and he actually gets pretty close. The action sequences are amazing, but it was hard for us to care that much after the explosions were over. Marc Forster directed with a script co-written by Paul Haggis. We expected an A+ effort with all this talent involved, but after the credits rolled, we were a little disappointed.

Check out a matinee and use the money you saved to rent Casino Royale…and make yourself a martini…shaken, not stirred.