Bourne. Jason Bourne.

Rating: 6/10 (17 November 2008)

Bond. James Bond.
Not in this movie.
Shaken, not stirred.
Also not in this movie.
What kind of Bond movie lacks those two quotes? A Bond movie that is trying so hard to deviate itself from previous Bonds, that it nearly loses its identity. Quantum of Solace is an action-packed thriller that slows down in the third act, and to make it worse we don't have the sophistication or charisma of James Bond to hold us over before the climax. We don't even have the amazing Bond girl that oozes sexuality and chemistry with our main star. Argue all you want about the plot line, references to previous Bonds, and so-called direction the franchise is transitioning to; this isn't a James Bond movie and even as an action flick it's not one to totally scream about either. The original idea was to revitalize the series and give it a fresh new start; but we wind up seeing a film that closely resembles that of the Bourne franchise.
Becoming technically the first true Bond sequel, Quantum is about Bond (Daniel Craig) trying to stop an environmentalist from taking over natural resources while at the same time secretly seek vengeance for the death of his love in Casino Royale. In the meantime, "M" (Judi Dench) is still having her issues with Bond as he continues to defy the rules and continues causing more problems than solving them. The adventure takes our hero through parts of Spain, Haiti, Italy, Austria, among other locations. With a script fleshed out by Academy Award winner Paul Haggis among other writers, they waste no time in engaging the audience in action scene after action scene. By the end of the first act, we would have experienced two fights, one shootout, and two chases. The first act isn't the problem though; it's the rest of the movie.
The first act looks a lot like Bourne Ultimatum; shaky-cam nice and present, insane editing, crazy amounts of close-up shots, and raw, relentless, intense action. The action itself is impressive, especially with the on-foot chase that nearly topples that of Casino Royale. The stunt team of Ultimatum makes an appearance here, but their work probably isn't going to win them Oscars like the 2007 blockbuster. Daniel Craig continues proving that he's the best Bond in terms of physical ability and fight skills, as he can deliver brutal hit after brutal hit without cracking a smirk. His Bond continues to resemble that of the stories and Timothy Dalton; cold, calculating, and without much of a sense of humor. But Craig's Bond still lacks the sophistication and suave that previous counterparts contained, especially Connery and Moore. The rest of the cast did decent job acting, with special mention to Judi Dench as she remains the only carryover from the Brosnan days.
The second and third acts is where the problems amount. The Bond girls in the movie? They barely qualify. The main villain? Not as entertaining as the average Bond villain. Supporting cast? We don't have that many colorful characters in this grim flick. Crazy plot line? Not quite crazy, a bit down-to-earth actually. So what are we depending on for entertainment as the final climatic battle sets up? James Bond? Not this time, because he's still bitter, still bickering, doesn't talk much, isn't smooth, remains cold as ice, and just resembles more the troubled Jason Bourne than a James Bond. There are way too many similarities to the Bourne franchises in terms of themes and content.
Then the final action scene actually underwhelms and comes by too fast, especially when the previous action sequences were so well-staged. Mark Forster also has this knack of telling more than showing; as we have many instances in which events happen, but you don't see them happen, you are told they happened. For the sake of spoilers, I shall not reveal them, but the running time of this movie is much shorter simply because dialogue replaces action in a few instances. Even the ending of Quantum resembles that of a Bourne movie (Supremacy in this case), in which Bond faces a demon of his past in order to be able to move on with his life.
Bottom Line: The James Bond franchise was (yes, was) escapist cinema, pure and simple. Emotion and realism was replaced with outlandish villains, lush environments, hot babes with clever names, cool gadgets, and a main character that defines dangerous sophistication. For decades (with minimal exceptions) it has been this way, and the formula worked for the most part. Quantum of Solace contains absolutely none of this, as they morphed the franchise into a similar series of intense spy movies with cold main characters seeking closure and vengeance because of the past. This isn't Bond, and topping Bourne isn't going to happen unless you can draw out elements from the classics. Yes, Die Another Day was a signal that we needed a change, but is this really what's best for Bond? Turning him from a lovable hero into a torn individual that could kill?
Even the running time is condensing to match the mainstream; and because of this the movie suffers even more. There was amazing scenery, but we saw little of it because Bond was running amok. The villain was lightly interesting, but could have been more if he had actually gotten more screen time. There's plenty of complaining here, but this is a cinema fan seeing another beloved franchise growing serious and moody and forgetting the reason we came to see their films in the first place: to escape real life. Just like recent Batmans, they had forgotten to include the fun. Casino Royale/Daniel Craig Bond fans however shouldn't be disappointed, but if you are waiting for a big change, it's not happening here. This movie isn't a ridiculous disaster, but could have been much more, and is spiraling Bond towards a path I personally don't like.