Bottled in Bond

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2009)

This film has an apt title. Quantum taken from the Latin derivative quantus means: "how much", and solace means: "consolation." Bond and his female protagonist, Camile, have very different agendas but share a parallel need for as much solace as they can extract from one another. Their common denominator is the elimination of Greene, and while each seeks to confront their separate personal agendas, both key off of the diligence and connective energy between them which builds faster and faster as the film spools out.
Absent Q, Moneypenny, the high tech gadgets, the one-liners and the other icons we have come to expect, this Bond excels without them. Daniel Craig is different. He is more like an English Jason Bourne. The fights, the chases, the cold blooded action are similar to Boune, however Bond is suave, sophisticated and skillful at romancing. For this Bond, womanizing is a coping strategy and not necessarily a component of the male ego as we have seen in all the other Bonds that preceded. Strawberry Fields is a touch of Fleming without doubt.
The opening car chase is without peer. I can only imagine the preparation it must have taken to put this sequence on screen. The boat chase is another very exciting, albeit difficult, series of scenes to capture. As a pilot, a DC-3 can barely maintain altitude with the critical engine out let alone enter into a steep climb in that configuration. Nevertheless, I loved that scene because out-foxing a high performance prop fighter with a lumbering old relic was really fun to watch and equally as difficult to produce.
The fight scenes are extraordinary in terms of choreography and execution. Craig is tough, brutal and persistent. Camile used her long limbs to great advantage in her tangles, and her expedient response to threats was very impressive. In short, the action sequences delivered with full thrust while the underlying drama, although somewhat difficult to follow, delved into the one constant in all Bond films: one man's thirst for power and control at the expense of others.
Greene is one of the most vile antagonists of all. He is expert at manipulating the corrupt, evading detection, and acquiring wealth by destroying the very things he claims to defend. Bond's killing sprees and his sharp vigilance lead him on a world wide adventure in sinewy back rooms, opulent hotel suites, impoverished villages and high-end biz jets. All the while Bond defies authority, makes his own rules and "will light the fuse on any explosive situation." He eventually unravels the truth.
Both Bond and Camile find their rewards. Camile by execution, and Bond by delivering a fate worse than death to one adversary and slow death in the desert to the other. Killing, as an ironic twist, is a first for Camile while Bond, who could have easily killed both targets, chooses not to allowing a just cause to flourish. All the Bond films are great in their own ways. This one is great because it breaks the mold as Bond matures and will no doubt set forth on another adventure to come.