Quantum of Solace
Dir: Marc Forster
2008
**
Quantum of Solace, the twenty-sixth Bond film of the series, is the first direct sequel of the franchise, as the story follows on from 2006's Casino Royale. The title of the film also comes from one of the short stories collected in Ian Flemming's For Your Eyes Only, although quite typically with Bond films, it has absolutely nothing in common to its plot. Casino Royale rebooted the franchise quite successfully and Quantum of Solace builds on the new direction it set quite well, or at least it does on paper. The overall idea and story of the film is fantastic, it's back to classic Bond territory, full of espionage, suspense and intelligent thinking. It harnesses the idea that this is a new Bond, the beginning of his career, a Bond who had nothing to do with the cold-war. It should have been like the original Sean Connery Bonds but with a shot of adrenaline in the arm, but it isn't. Due to the writers guild of America strike, Daniel Craig and Marc Foster wrote a lot of the script themselves and it really shows. It's hard to say who wrote what but it is safe to say that none of it gels particularly well, with much of the story being quite hard to follow. This isn't helped by the punchy editing that often makes it feel like a perfume advert. The idea behind Gemma Arterton's Agent Strawberry Fields being killed off by drowning in a vat of oil is a very clever nod to Goldfinger's Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton) being killed by being covered in Gold. Oil is the new Gold. This builds Bond's new world rather well, and his quest for vengeance over the murder of his lover from the previous film builds his persona brilliantly. Ian Flemming wrote that "If you don't have a quantum of solace in your relationship than the relationship is over". Bond's loss is shaping him into the character of Flemming's books, an edgier and more believable Bond. At least, this was the aim. I liked the 'Mad Max' style ultimatum the villain was given at the end but very little else. Overall the film is confusing and rather dull, the exciting scenes aren't particularly exciting, it's just that little too violent and it has little of the charm the character is known for. The cast is strong but no one delivers an outstanding performance, Judi Dench is given a particularly rotten script to deliver and in the end I ended up craving all the silliness, humour and nonsense that often ruined the previous incarnations. It feels like that what we all thought we wanted wasn't really what we wanted at all.