Absence of Solace

Rating: Null/10 (14 November 2008)

I believe this is (a) one of the smartest Bond films, (b) one of the most stylistically original Bond films, and most significantly (and this relates to both previous points), (c) possibly the most Flemingesque Bond film.
Points (a) and (b): Prior to seeing the film this evening, reading the criticisms on this website terrified me. I was fully prepared to sit painfully through an incoherent, meandering-yet-abbreviated Bourne-clone. Fortunately, this was not the case. This is a tightly plotted, visually arresting, well acted concussion missile of a film. Things happen at break-neck speed, but nonetheless are executed with a magisterial style and singular wit  the remarkable pre-credits sequence and the Tosca shootout in particular come to mind.
The dialogue  minimally used though it is  also sparkles, and one walks out of the film with a bevy of marvelous thirty-second exchanges still lingering in the mind. While the audience waits for the heroes to begin the inevitable final battle at the desert compound, we're treated to an invaluable piece of Bondian wisdom regarding revenge killings. Certainly a step up from the stern, lecturing voice of Roger Moore in For Your Eyes Only: "Before setting out for revenge, first dig two graves." Not bad, but Bond is no longer didactic or moralizing in the least. And I like him that way.
It certainly is true that the film moves at a good clip. Its brief running time does suggest that director Forster could have spent more time luxuriating in the exotic locales  or examining the milky curves of Ms. Fields' body for that matter  but the snappy transitions (locations stylishly established with appropriately ornate fonts, to boot) and hyper-efficient story-telling (it most certainly does assume you've seen Casino Royale) are part of the film's charm. If you don't hold on, you might not make it. It might just as well be called "Surplus of Chaos".
As for point (c), I'm extremely fond of Casino Royale, and I don't think Quantum of Solace is superior per se, but watching the latter does a better job of replicating the experience of *reading* a classic Bond adventure  which is strange, being an original script. Speaking of which, the friendship with Mathis ranks along side that with Draco in OHMSS, Columbo in For Your Eyes Only, and Leiter in Licence to Kill as one of the most authentic and moving examples of Fleming-style male bonding. It's also nice to see Bond indulge in a bit of troubled binge drinking, possibly for the first time on film. And maybe it's just me, but I think the epilogue screams Fleming, despite the somewhat bizarre presence of M (does she have nothing better to do than follow him around?).
And, indeed, it is the relationship between Craig's Bond and Dench's M that ultimately elevates the film. Don't get me wrong  everything else is marvelous. But the pairing of these two actors is Quantum of Solace's greatest asset. And, to their credit, Forster, Haggis, et al, seem to know it.
In time, I'm sure affection for Quantum of Solace will grow, as it has for all of the Bond films with true longevity, such as On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia With Love, and those from the Dalton era. See it twice.