Are you Mr Bourne or Mr Bond?

Rating: 5/10 (5 November 2008)

Following up to Casino Royale was an unenviable task, given that reboot of the Bond franchise proved so entertaining it ranks in the top 3 Bond films made, thus it comes as no surprise that despite its strengths, Quantum of Solace is a multi-flawed, high octane action picture that pales in comparison to its predecessor. My first qualm over how it would fare was upon the realisation of the running time, clocking in at 106 minutes it is half an hour shorter than Casino Royale, and why it is so short is mysterious, for the running time contributes to the muddled plot of QOS. Twenty minutes more at least would not have gone amiss, instead action (some just for the hell of it) is crammed into relatively little time, the plot taking a back seat. It is quite obvious that the beleaguered script (completed just before the writers' strike) underwent on set re- writes, and it shows. Development and purpose of characters such as Felix Leiter or Dominic Greene don't even take a back seat, instead they are replaced in favour of the superfluous (Gemma Arterton's Fields maybe a homage to the 60's Bond girl, but she could have been given additional screen time) and the lack of purpose (Bond's fight with Mr Slate in Haiti comes and goes at such a break neck pace one can't dwell on just why that all happened). Mark Forster, while a cracking director who has revelled in exploring the relationships of his central characters doesn't deal with balancing character dialogue with the action set- pieces, though the film does succeed in painting 007 in a gloomier light following on from Vesper's death. However Greene and Bond girl Camille have the potential to be far more absorbing characters yet they're severely restricted and shall not be as memorable as they could and should have been. Despite the obvious refusal to accept it on the filmmakers' behalf, Bond is becoming more like Bourne, from the absence of the gun barrel at the beginning of the film to the swift fight scenes that see Bond use objects to attack his opponent in moments of improvisation to the constant globe trotting to the rooftop leaping sequences. It is entertaining fare but James is in danger of alienating his loyal following, a fight sequence a la that of Connery and Shaw in From Russia With Love or Brosnan and Bean in Goldeneye would be better suited. Granted, this Bond is a working process, Craig's Bond is still working his way to familiarity with the audience, so it will be no surprise that the producers will most probably bring back Moneypenny and Q come Bond 23 given the manner in which the film ended. Like Brosnan, Craig has experienced an excellent debut followed by a largely mindless action-oriented film that struggles to engage you or feel for any of the characters throughout the duration. And it is Craig, depicting a darker and more dangerous Bond, willingly putting his neck as well as his Tom Ford tailoring on the line, who should take credit for avoiding a disaster.