Hello dear readers, finally got down to penning my QoS review after watching it last at 1.30am last Friday. I'm in a rather cranky mood at the moment so excuse me if there are spelling or grammar errors, also I'm using Google's Chrome to blog for the 1st time as my Firefox is acting up, leaving me without a spell-checker.
Quantum of Solace starts exactly where Casino Royale ends, and by exactly I'm not exaggerating. The movie literally starts where Casino Royale leaves us, with Bond finding Mr White. The movie goes on into a confusing but weak plot about Bond getting revenge for the love of his life, Vesper (Eva Green), from Casino Royale. Along the way he encounters a few allies from Casino Royale and tries to find out who the "Organisation" exactly is. From there he finds Dominic Greene and the plot once again goes double-layered with Camille's interests. Ultimately it's a over-complex story about revenge for Vesper and also for "M".
Who is in the movie?
Daniel Craig makes a return as a new, hardened and more "real" Bond, lending an air of more strength and yet more vulnerability at the same time to the character.
Olga Kurylenko, of Hitman fame, stars alongside him, playing lead actress, Camille.
Mathieu Amalric plays our villain, Dominic Greene and Judi Dench returns as M. There are also numerous appearance from characters of the first movie such as Mathis and Felix.
Why I found the movie ultimately a let down and draggy.
First of all, despite the fact that I wasn't feeling too well and the movie was at 1.30am, I was actually rather looking forward to watching it and dragged my lazy ass out to go see the movie. Maybe the time and my mood will have affected my review of the movie but I'm pretty certain if I watch it again (which unless I'm strapped down to the seat, I won't) in a cinema, I'll have pretty much the same view.
Now, first things first, Daniel Craig. Is he made out to be our James Bond? After the stellar Pierce Brosnan, I very much doubted if anyone could outdo him as James Bond. And I think the producers felt the same way. While they couldn't beat Pierce Brosnan, they went around him, recruiting no-nonsense Daniel Craig and shaped a new role for him. A new-age James Bond which is more real, more down to earth, much bigger size and very no-nonsense. Don't get me wrong, as Casino Royale proved, Daniel Craig is a very accomplished actor and has proved that he CAN act. Does he portray the Bond role perfectly? In my opinion no and here's why.
James Bond to me has always been this larger than life character, which is what appeals to me.
Even before you watch the movies you know he will come out victorious in the end, with martini in one hand and hot girl in the other. James Bond to me is a secret agent that kills people with no regret, gets out of trouble with his various futuristic gadgets, has a martini and a laugh about it later with a hottie that he seduces. Pierce Brosnan, who is as suave as the character suggests, and fits the description down to a T, was almost born to play Bond. No matter how old he is, he always has that rugged good look to him. Enough about Brosnan though. The new James Bond feels like a watered down Jason Bourne. He has no gadgets, in fact they took out Q, one of the more interesting characters in the movies, as well as Moneypenny. Our new Bond fights his way through everything, earning himself a few scars and bruises along the way. He's direct, rough, and has a very dry sense of humour although seldom showing this in Quantum. Also he's a very vulnerable Bond, is prone to mistakes and also has vengeance on his mind. In short, they've made the character Human. This is why I've found this version of Bond a let down, he simply is not James Bond as James Bond should be.
Down to the actual review of Quantum of Solace. They borrow more from the Bourne series here, mirroring their close-up camera work of the action sequences. While this works in the Bourne series to give us an intense and up-close feel of gritiness, it fails in Quantum. Except for the aeroplane chase scene, all the fight scenes in Quantum feel very confusing and leave you feeling like you wished the camera was zoomed out abit. In the melee fight scenes, I couldn't tell which who was who, frequently only realising when the fight broke and they went into a chase. And then only because when they're running they close-up on their faces. Everything is a blur of flailing limbs or cars in the car chase.
Apart from that, the plot is just a huge mish-mash of build-up that whimpers down to an anti-climax and really doesn't go anywhere. If you haven't watched Quantum, I suggest that you watch Casino Royale one day before going, and you might have a better idea of what is going on. I watched Casino Royale after Quantum and I did get a better understanding of the plot but that also made me realise how I liked Casino Royale much better. Casino Royale gives you a smooth build-up that flows flawlessly, making the movie not seem draggy even if it was much longer. Quantum sort of answers all the questions posed in Casino Royale, but they do it in such a way that you don't really care. Instead of going "Ohhhhhh." youre sorta like "oh....yeah". The flow of the plot is choppy, leaving you sort of asking, what's going on, if you're not paying extreme close attention. The humour that Casino Royale provided us is no longer there, the charm of James Bond is missing. The only gadget he has is his handphone, which he uses like a normal handphone. Going back to the plot, they criss-cross too many petty things, making the plot more complicated than it should be. Bringing in Camille's interests when in actual fact, I couldn't give 2 shits if she got what she wanted.
To wrap it up, Quantum of Solace is an all-out action movie. It does have some well put action scenes and the cool factor is still there. However it tries to be smarter than it actually is, overcomplicating a plot that should have been more straight-forward. During Casino Royale, you are glued to the movie, you want to know what happens next. I found myself checking the time a few times in Quantum of Solace despite it being shorter than Casino Royale. Go, watch it, have a good time, eat some popcorn. Try to enjoy it, because it definitely will not blow you away.
7/10
Keep your friends close,
Keep your enemies closer.
