Just a Good Action flick, but not at all a Bond Movie!

Rating: 6/10 (9 November 2008)

Jason Bourne is back, dressed in suits! Did I say Bourne? Honestly, I am still confused whether movie makers wanted to show James Bond or someone else. Daniel Craig, less bulky this time reprises his role as an unbridled thug in the garb of the world’s favorite secret agent. This insanity of portraying favorite ‘heroes’ as ‘flawed’ has gutted 007 too! For those who have grown to love bond through the ages, this is definitely not amusing.
Taking off from Casino Royale, the story opens with Bond in a car chase in Italy with Mr. White in the trunk of his Aston Martin. While the MI6 question White on the mysterious organization Quantum, a double agent fires at M causing White to escape. Clues lead Bond to Haiti where he meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko), the vengeful muse of Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) Chairman of Greene Planet and member of Quantum.
Quantum is portrayed as a dark organization with devious means having highly placed people including an adviser to the British PM as members. Older fans of the Bond series would quickly recognize the parallel with SPECTRE that featured in eight early 007 films. For the rest of the film, 007 and Camille get busy foiling Greene’s plans of monopolizing Bolivia’s water supply and of placing a corrupt General as president by staging a coup.
To fit the bill of a secret agent, Craig as Bond takes in a lot of physical damage without a bit of exhaustion and is cold enough to dump a dead friend in a trash can; but is still confused at handling emotions about Vesper. The flip side is worse as he has stripped 007 of all humor and the typical one-liners that Connery, Brosnan and Moore delivered with aplomb and made bond what he is. His lack of looks makes things even terrible.
Olga Kurylenko, picked from among 400 girls who auditioned for the role, is a stunner and is reasonably believable a bond girl. A young Gemma Arterton has too brief a role for any comment. Dame Judi Dench plays boss ‘M’ with perfection in a more elaborate role, thinking with her head and guided by what she believes in. Q and his gadgets are sorely missed as bond sports nothing more than silly phone with GPS and a camera.
Had this starred Matt Damon, it could have easily become the fourth Bourne movie. Action sequences are breathtaking complimented by good and camera work and special effects. Despite this, Quantum of Solace is just not the James Bond movie you expect to see. If you seek clang bang action, go for it; but if you want your cherished suave secret agent, I’d rather suggest you gift yourself a DVD pack of the older twenty 007 flicks.