In November 2006, we were treated to “Casino Royale,” a James Bond movie with a new face (Daniel Craig) and a fresh start in a series that had seemed to be losing its edge. Sure, “The World Is Not Enough” was pretty good, and “Goldeneye” had its moments, but there was nothing extraordinary about these films. And let’s face it, “Die Another Day” was simply awful, and Pierce Brosnan was no replacement for Sean Connery. So when “Casino Royale” came out and was actually good, people were excited for more Bond flicks.
While hype can aid a movie, it can also obviously harm one that doesn’t live up to expectations. This is the case when the movie is pretty good but not great. “Quantum of Solace,” unfortunately, is one of the latter. A few minor problems in the movie keep it from becoming one of Bond’s many classics.
Craig comes to reprise his role as James Bond, a secret agent employed by the British government. The plot of nearly all Bond movies is the same: a crazy villain wants to take over the world and some insufferably attractive girl falls into Bond’s hands. Bond blows up a lot of people and manages to keep England safe another day, while no one seems to notice the burning heap of rubble beside them. Also, Bond gets away with various capital crimes including murder, arson and theft. Although this set-up is cheesy and campy, it manages to work film after film, and moviegoers have come to love the formula. Nobody wants to see James Bond lay down his arms and join the side of evil, and they certainly don’t want to see him holding any concern for the woman he loved in his last movie. “Quantum of Solace” tries really hard to fit into the classic formula, but at times it seems the director forgot this was a Bond movie.
“Quantum of Solace” continues the plot of “Casino Royale,” as Bond continues to search for the people who killed his wife and took money from the British government. While continuity isn’t one of Bond’s strong points, it at least provides a backdrop for “Quantum of Solace.” Of course, Bond also finds a “Bond girl,” Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Camille is an interesting character and the story of her past makes her a bit more three-dimensional than some of Bond’s previous girls.
The plot quickly turns in order to show corruption of MI6, with a seemingly trustworthy agency that is revealed to be a pawn to a huge conspiracy. Bond tracks members of this group until he comes across the true villain of the movie: Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). I had a hard time realizing that Dominic was the movie’s villain. Sure, he was mean enough, but aren’t Bond villains supposed to be somewhat sinister? Unfortunately, Dominic is somewhat of a wimp in “Quantum of Solace,” avoiding fights until they are absolutely necessary and whining when he loses. Although no one will sympathize with this jerk, he just didn’t seem all that threatening, just nuts. He is just a plain ole Joe with plans to take over the world — except he never wanted to do that in the first place. No, it seems Bond villains have gotten bored with all the doom and destruction.
The past few Bond films have also centered around terrorism. Perhaps that is appropriate given the times, but it just doesn’t seem to have the same flair the older movies did. Just like the villain in “Casino Royale,” these bad guys are only concerned about money. Sure, Dominic has his environmental side, but he doesn’t want to blow anything up with a giant laser or even launch all the world’s nukes at once, which somewhat lessons the tension of the movie.
Also, as the movie concluded I had to wonder what happened to MI6, that evil group that “had people everywhere.” For the first third of the movie they are the main focus, but they drop off the face of the earth once Dominic shows up. Apparently a half-baked scheme to swindle money out of poor people is more important than a super-evil conspiracy group. But at least this saves a bigger fish to fry for Bond’s next adventure.
One good thing about the movie is its frequent action scenes. They are top-notch. Explosions occur at any occasion they can, and they can be pretty exciting. I found myself on the edge of my seat more than once, sure that Bond wasn’t going to get out of this one.
I suppose the problem with” Quantum of Solace” is that my expectations were too high. I assumed that we were heading back to the old days of James Bond. While Craig is certainly smooth enough to play Bond, and his latest adventures make good movies, I doubt we will see a next golden age of Bond. No matter what, though, Bond movies continue to be enjoyable, cheesy fun. After all, you could cover him with horse dung, and James Bond would still be more charming than any other gritty anti-hero Hollywood wants to churn out of its money machine.
