Movie Info
Movie Name: Quantum of Solace
Studio: Eon Productions/Danjaq LLC
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): October 29, 2008
MPAA Rating: PG-13
I’m gunning for you Greene!
James Bond (Daniel Craig) is angry. He’s out to stop the organization called Quantum behind Vesper Lynd’s death in a search that leads him to an environmentalist named Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). As Bond investigates Greene, he learns that Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) is also hunting Greene. When agent Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) and Bond’s friend Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) are killed as collateral damage Bond must disobey the orders of M (Judi Dench) to uncover Greene’s real goal.
Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace is the twenty-second James Bond film and takes its name from a story in Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only from 1960. The lead song “Another Way to Die” was performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Following Casino Royale in 2006, the movie received mostly positive reviews.
Why does this keep happening to my girlfriends?
Though I did enjoy Quantum of Solace, I didn’t like it as much as the first outing of Craig as James Bond. This was a common complaint about the film, and a just one. The movie feels a bit like filler. The idea of Quantum which was set-up at the end of Casino Royale is a good one since it provides a tie to the story, but it feels like Quantum of Solace is just lead up to the next film.
The vengeful Daniel Craig James Bond is a great switch from the level emotion Bond that usually starts a Bond film. With a continuing plot, Bond still is torn-up by Vesper’s death. The movie also has to resolve this to allow Bond to “get back to normal” for future films, and Bond resolves the Vesper storyline in the last sequence of the film. Bond is free to womanize again without guilt…of course most of his women end up dead.
Lame…me? Ok, I admit it.
With a more real James Bond, Greene seems like a rather emotionless villain. A crazy villain like Blofeld or even Doctor No would seem out of place in a film like this. I would love a more extreme villain (even Mads Mikkelsen from Casino Royale was bit crazier with his bleeding eye). Bond is often only as good as his enemy, and unfortunately for this film, Greene isn’t great (though he does have a nice throwback to Goldfinger by killing Strawberry Fields in oil).
Quantum of Solace continues to demonstrate a good starting run by Daniel Craig. The movie is strong, but not as strong of movie as Casino Royale due to a weaker plot and villain. Quantum of Solace was followed by Skyfall in 2012.
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