Not Bond, Action

Rating: 3/10 (3 April 2009)

Let me be perfectly clear, this was not a Bond film. It was an action film. This film comes off more as the search for Vheissu from the Pynchon novel, V. Daniel Craig was clearly out of his element; he lacked any suaveness, and, more importantly, he actually showed emotion towards women. Bond's defining characteristic was his undying chauvanism, but in this film, he dropped that attitude for one of respect to women. The plot was, at best, barely existent and towards the end, it became one meaningless sequence after another until it finally ends with a scene that should have ended Casino Royale. The lack of the Bond theme was also disturbing. You may think it nitpicky, but the theme was always a central part of the movie and was always melded to be a part of the film. The director tried to add a sense of depth to the film, especially during a sequence which is tied to the opera Tosca. Bond movies has simplistic directing, tending to focus on merely the characters. This pretension of loftiness only left the viewer with a sense that something inane just happened. They are right. Quantum of Solace bypassed the Bond playbook and tried to pass itself of as a second rate action film, which it succeeded in. It traded suaveness for ruggedness; delightful misogyny for a romantic subplot; simple escapist fun for pretensions of higher film-making. This movie was a disappointment for a strong Bond fan. 6/10 Mediocre