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Quantum of Solace (2008)
Director: Marc Forster
Movie review
From Time Out London
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Which, along with mean and lean, is how Daniel Craig plays 007 in Marc Forster’s slightly disappointing, furiously-paced, hi-tech, slash-and-burn sequel to the more leisurely, luxurious first ‘reboot’, ‘Casino Royale’.James Bond – you’ll have to remember his Christian name as the arrogant cad neglects to announce it – is grieving the loss of lover and betrayer Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). You’d best remember the plot – and Lynd’s necklace – of the earlier film, too, as director Forster throws us immediately, eye-smackingly into the frenetic activity and globe-traversing travel that is the angry, increasingly unorthodox, ‘soul-destroyed’ world-saving agent’s way of dealing with betrayal, grief and loss.
Eight minutes of highly impressive, parallel-edited, SFX-assisted, stunt-laden action are up before the ears, eyeballs and brain get their first momentary repose. Before then, our hero chases down Mr White in the Aston dodgem-car through Alpine tunnels. Cough or blink and you’ll miss how our bold spooks link the last film’s Le Chiffre to bug-eyed faux environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a destabiliser of US backyard governments with a laughable, pudding-basin haircut-ed sidekick. Almost immediately, he hops, skips and jumps across Siena’s roofs and the horse-loving, harlequin-ed Palio crowds – and we soon follow Bond ‘running wild’ from the palatial villas of Italy to the slums of Haiti, the neo-Reifenstahl opera houses of Vienna, and the menacingly beautiful, otherworldly moonscapes and deserts of Bolivia.
So much dash, flash and thrill – so many boat chases, tight rope-dangling fight scenes, bi-plane dogfights, architectural flourishes and flat-table computer displays – there’s scant time left for character, let alone, story, fun, seduction, humour or wit. You can sense the older, traditionalist viewers wanting to go home early to take their nostalgia pills. True, there are some cute one-liners – presumably the product of Paul Haggis’s polish of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade’s screenplay taken from producer Michael G Wilson’s first inspirational treatment and itself repeatedly pencil-marked by Forster and Craig.
Also, new Bond Woman Olga Kurylenko is impressive as 007’s Latin helpmeet Camille. But, strange for a supposedly ‘humanising’ franchise, Craig’s Bond comes dangerously close to being a cipher himself: only a ‘Bourne’-again, action superhero could perform his physical feats.
It’s a cynical movie, too: half the Brit agents are double and all the US spies seem untrustworthy – save Felix Leiter, of course, whom the excellent Jeffrey Wright reprises in arguably the film’s sole sympathetic, low-key performance. (Though, intriguingly, Judi Dench’s ‘M’ has gone all maternal – couldn’t she be renamed ‘SM’, for Surrogate Mum?) Okay, maybe real life is, pace Hobbes, brutal, nasty and short – like this movie. But can’t we sneak in the odd moment for some occasional quiet conversation, maybe even a leisurely martini or a game of baccarat, even if we can’t afford luxury rail travel or – God forbid – some protracted, guiltless sex? Go on, Bond, next time, indulge yourself a little more. We like to watch.
Author: Wally Hammond
Time Out London Issue 1993, 30 October – 4 November, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- sarah said...
- Posted on Dec 04 2008 16:42 worst bond film to date. was boring. story line nto very good and didnt apply to anything. the bond girl wasnt a real bond girl, and yh i understand its bout him gettign revenge over Vesper and all but stiil! every bond film has to hav a bond girl. a real bond girl. the best bit bout the film is the Jack White & Alicia Keys song for it. tho i think tht it would be better for Casino Royale.......the song is amazing. the film is crap. i dont recommend it. and theres only one scene with the DBS...which is disappointing.....cos the cars are one of the best parts of the films. all the other cars used jst seem to appear out of nowher like the Land Rover Sport.....where did that coem from?!?!?!! and a ford KA is used......i could probably run one of those out. rubbish. simple as.
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- supercol said...
- Posted on Dec 03 2008 16:13 same goes for you too Max though I think like me you seemed to like the film, yes? As for Johno, well at least you say something...but hey kid,get with the program.Its a modern Bond.you really want the same stuff dragged out time after time? I bet you would be the first to complain.Criticism is about making your point of view known and backing it up with analysis,comments and argument.Come on you lot,make a stand!
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- supercol said...
- Posted on Dec 03 2008 16:06 yeah, I know short posts are very cool and all but agent o and blah blah, care to expand at all or are we to just take your god given wisdom on this matter for granted? .say something. any idiot can post a one worder...doesn't challenge or inform anyone or anything. time wasters.
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- Max Cartwright said...
- Posted on Dec 02 2008 14:06 P.S J.W Riley - SHUT UP.
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- Max Cartwright said...
- Posted on Dec 02 2008 14:06 P.S J.W Riley - SHUT UP.
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- Jonno said...
- Posted on Dec 02 2008 11:49 It is the worst James Bond to date. There are no usually bond catphrases and the bond music doesnt appear to the end. They have changed it too much so to other James Bond phanatics, this film isnt worth it!!!
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- J. W. Riley said...
- Posted on Nov 30 2008 17:41 Daniel Craig is as impressive as before. However, Bond’s attempts at verbal humor are somewhat unsuccessful in this film. Craig’s characterization of Bond is too serious (and rightfully so) for these kinds of poorly scripted remarks, and this made them seem unbelievable. That aside, the film is, for the most part, well structured but lacked that Ian Fleming magic which is so evident in films like the excellent Casino Royale or the tightly scripted Goldfinger. The aerial combat sequence is expertly directed and edited but some of the earlier set pieces were difficult to absorb due to the closeness of the camera to the action and the overly frenetic Bourne-style type of editing. Additionally, I found the age of the Strawberry Fields character (the minor Bond girl role) to be rather irksome. She was far too young to be sent to pick up an MI6 agent, which only served to highlight the implausibility of her character. For the most part, I thought Quantum of Solace was an intelligent and perhaps arty addition to the Bond franchise although too similar to the Bourne films in various respects. The filmmakers need to be very careful of this. They are extraordinarily fortunate to find an actor like Daniel Craig, who so expertly brings James Bond to life. It would be a shame to waste his abilities on Bond films that imitate other action movies. My advice is to keep in line with Ian Fleming’s stories as much as possible. Only then will the old Bond magic return. But well done again, Daniel Craig.
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- Agent Orange said...
- Posted on Nov 30 2008 10:39 Seriously...this movie is a dud!!
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- blah blah said...
- Posted on Nov 29 2008 10:37 rubbish
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- Supercol. said...
- Posted on Nov 29 2008 01:03 After reading the time out reviews for all the films at my local multiplex and the reviews of Quantum of Solace by posters on this site I can only conclude that you are all a bunch of miserable b******s! The former obviously have nothing better to do with their English degrees than wrap themselves up in self aggrandizing cynicism and overly florid syntactical structures (see I have an English degree too) whilst the latter seem unable to enjoy any of the well thought out modernisations and spectacular stunt scenes of the modern Bond movie.I think they would all be better off staring at a big girl in a white bikini or gold spray paint for a couple of hours. time wasters.
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- bob said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2008 16:55 gona wathc it today
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- curmudgeon said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2008 16:19 Experienced 30 minutes of torture watching this movie before walking out. The volume was unbearable. My wife held her hands to her ears. The script none existent. A waste of Daniel Craig's ability.Boring , mindless. Enjoyed most of the bond films made; I wasn't expecting a journey into Lawrence Olivier territory but aside of the section of my brain that enjoys mindless excapism there is a need to feel some involement, some engagement with any film. On this occasion the feeling was that of being in a spin dryer at 110 decibels observing a computer game on fast forward. Save your money. There must be something on T.V.?
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- Gordon said...
- Posted on Nov 28 2008 13:06 Not terrible, but really disappointing considering how many good Bond films have been made over the years. Missed the humour, characters and panache of the older films, this was just 1-dimensional action sequences, so badly shot it almost gave me a migrane.
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- Cassie said...
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Posted on Nov 28 2008 11:45
What a bad name - Strawberry Fields! Oh, My. God. Her (fictional) parents have a lot to answer for! And I thought my name (Cassandra Loryn Atkins) was a bad name! No wonder she didn't want to tell James her full name, I think he would've bust a rib laughing! Who the hell calls their daughter Strawberry, especially if their last name is Fields. I would sue. Seriously. Hahahahahahahaaaa!
As for the film, it was okay. - Report as inappropriate
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- just jack said...
- Posted on Nov 26 2008 14:12 I am going to see it shortly for the sake of my bloke not looking forward to it now think i'm going to take my eye mask.
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Cast & crew
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, Jesper Christensen, Giancarlo Giannini full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Duration: 105 mins
UK Release: Oct 31 2008
US Release: Nov 14 2008
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