ode to past bondness

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2008)

I recently saw this latest addition to the evergrowing Bond-cycle in a theatre and it took me a couple of days to form something of an opinion. Because, boy, this is an action-packed movie, I mean absolutely action-PACKED. The film doesn't even kick off with the traditional gun barrel-shot (we get that at the end of the movie). We just fall into the story where it cut off at the end of Casino Royale. And this happens to be a car chase. A chase that doesn't seem to stop throughout the movie. There is some dialogue. It concerns, however, more with Bond's state of mind, his coping with affairs, his dealing with Vespers death (it is impossible to grasp any of the content of this film without having memorised the plot to CR), his trying to tell who is friend, who is enemy, than with the plot.
Originally, the scenario must have revolved around a plot. However, the film as presented, doesn't deal with it at all. It deals with closely following Bond, with hardly any explanation regarding his whereabouts, in rollercoasterspeed. The buildup is connected to the locations. Every 12 minutes or so, Bond moves from Siena to Haiti, to Austria, to Bolivia, etc. And every 12 minutes or so, another action sequence is kick-started all over again.
I've read serious complaints on the lack of Bondness of this flick. As far as some elements (plot, irony) are concerned I can agree, partly. However, there's more to the Bond-tradition than meets the eye. And I think Marc Forster has done a tremendous job in accentuating some Bond-elements that have always been present, but always on the side. The car chase with which the movie opens is very Goldfingerish. Not to mention the oil-covered dead girl, being an obvious ode to the terrific shot (also on an hotel-bed, in the exact same angle) in that movie. The chase on the Siena rooftops takes place during the famed equestrian races. There is an opera scene that is so magnificent, that it is probably the best I've ever seen in any Bond film. It has, in all its visual splendour, "Bond" written all over it.
Apart from that continuity, it is obvious that it's not just Marc Forster who is trying to reinvent Bond. The producers have taken the recent actor-change as an opportunity to not just re-style Bond, but to make him believable, to give him (probably inspired by Bourne) a drive, an ongoing reason to be what he is. Quantum is, in that respect, a worthy follow-up to CR, which was clearly a better movie though.
For every director this 'new Bond' presents some difficulties, but also opportunities, which will make the series more interesting, less predictable, less cartoonish. The main challenge is probably to stick with irony and to steer clear from sarcasm and cynicism. Forster chose to avoid that whole area, which is, for me, the great weakness of QoS. Still, one heck of a ride: 4 out of 5.