Bond for the art-house action film-goer

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2008)

Quantum of Solace - Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond has him in pursuit of Vesper Lynd's killers from the previous movie. He pursues (and is often pursued by) agents of a shadowy organization. The leader of which is one Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric of "Munich") a faux environmentalist who is holding a country's water supply at ransom. Judi Dench reprises her role as "M". Giancarlo Giannini returns as Mathis and so does Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter.
Everyone I have talked to about this movie has one question: Is it better than Casino Royale? No and I'll tell you why. Casino Royale was a fantastic movie that had the novelty of a first-time Daniel Craig and the direction of a seasoned James Bond director (Martin Campbell). This movie does not try to be better and probably could not have been. It tries to be different. The plot, for one thing, actually makes you think.
I was happy with the choice of Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) because I knew he and Daniel Craig would help bring depth to the proceedings and help flesh out the character of Bond so that he is not just another man with a gun in an action film. Daniel Craig is as good as he was in Casino Royale, though this time he is "damaged goods". He has tremendous force of character, and looks like he could kill you with a glare. He escapes by the skin of his neck, and works harder than any of the other Bonds ever had to. He is the best of the Bonds, because he's a real actor, and a damn fine one at that. Roger Moore was not an actor, even by his own admission. Lazenby was a model. Brosnan was a star. Craig is an actor.
Olga Kurylenko gives it a decent run as Camille but she's no Vesper Lynd. And that was the point really, wasn't it? Jeffrey Wright is sly and fun as Felix Leiter. Mathieu Almaric is cruel, weaselly and has an interesting dynamic with Craig.
Right off the bat this film provides visceral action, but it does not try to glorify it. The action is gritty and fast and hard, though not quite as fantastic as the chases and fights in Casino Royale. Bond never caps off a death with a wisecrack, like in the original Ian Fleming novels (he rarely quipped at a death). I'm glad they dumped the sometimes stupid humor from the original movies. It was mostly puns and boner jokes. This Bond is coldly efficient, and when he does joke, it's as ironic and dry as the deserts he spends quite a bit of the film in.
This film is self aware, a new thing for the Bond films. Prior to Quantum, no one, in or out of the movies, seemed to have a problem with the fact that James Bond's love interests tended to die. It just became like the red shirts in Star Trek, a franchise staple. He lost his wife in OHMSS, mourned for 5 seconds, and was off again. In Quantum of Solace a few people venture that Bond is poisonous through his very nature.
The femme fatal used to be more of a way to showcase the latest Hollywood starlet, who came and went before we had the next installment. I think films like The Dark Knight and Quantum are a sign of maturity in our action films, with female characters treated with respect and the understanding that violence has repercussions. Villains want power and money, not global destruction and underwater lairs.
That's not to say that this Bond is all work and no play. It is fun, frequently. Marc Forster has fun deciding when to show and not show bits of violence, until the action gets pretty brutal at the final fights. I enjoyed this film stylistically. The film uses a lot of blues and grays and the occasional yellow. Another thing I enjoyed was the location subtitles. By embellishing these, the globe-trotting was not just a "Bond's gone to Cairo again. yawn." sort of thing.
I was expecting to dislike the fact that this is the shortest Bond yet, after Casino was "too" long and I felt like I still didn't get enough. It turns out that quality is what matters, not just quantity. This was just the right amount of Bond.
It really is a Bond for action lovers and art-house fans alike. I happen to dabble in both camps. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and recommend it to all. It really gives luster to qualities in the James Bond series that repetition has made stale.
A-