Quantum of Solace Review

Quantum of Solace Review- Charlie Brooker style!

 

Quantum of Solace

Okay, so it starts with a fiery car chase; one so choppy that you’re never quite sure who is in what car, which is chasing who and was the editor drunk when heshe hacked at the action scenes?

I am softening towards the theme song even to the point of liking it but the title sequence was unfocused and plain boring. The musical score is alternatively sweeping and subtle with perhaps too much reliance on the Vesper theme to indicate melancholy. It seemed almost as if each time the character was mentioned, her theme would start and I’d be like “Oh, this is where I’m supposed to feel sad.” My eyes watered more during the action scenes.

Daniel Craig is back at his steely, jutting jaw-ed best and Judi Dench with her sternly cool marmy presence. The de rigueur female eye candy is played by Olga Kurylenko with a brief fatal fling involving Gemma Arterton. I’d like to take this moment to rant about her character’s death. It’s not enough to recycle the casual fling’s untimely demise but to exhume the infamous scene from ‘Goldfinger’ by having the random conquest die from suffocationinhalation of the villain’s prized substance! It’s not cheeky; it’s lazy.

The major villain (not the 65 henchmen that Bond kills before getting to him) is devoid of the physical grotesquement required of the everyday Bond villain; unless you count resembling a male Tilda Swinton. Also he wears tropical clothing and has apparently no manual fighting skills (the finale sees him charging at Bond with an axe, amid a shower of water, no less). His demise is neither climactic nor overly aggressive, but caused by the fatal pairing of ‘stranded in the desertness’ and motor oil. I might add we don’t get so much as a peek at his death, but have to be informed of it by ‘M.’ Until then, you have the uncomfortable feeling that he will be picked up by some casual passer-by and survive for the sequel.

For a director like Marc Forster to plunge headfirst into an almost exclusively action film needs ambition and daring. I commend him for that. If only it had played out better. The stunts are big, broad and never-ending; standard Bond fare. However be sure not to blink because you’ll miss Bond leaping across a couple of buildings.

The operaaction scene stands out as a genuinely good bit of filming if a little arty for a Bond movie. Not to mention it ends with people falling off buildings, which I can only assume is one of the themes of the movie.

The title ‘Quantum of Solace’ is relevant to the movie; a rarity in recent Bond history and I like it. Many critics pooh-poohed it but at least it’s not an arbitrary action-y “cool” name.  *Cough* Die Another Day *cough*.

To recap, the action scenes are by no means timid, somewhat drawn out and may cause seizures. The movie’s general tone is not what one would call light-hearted and the plot is on spindly legs; not quite strong enough to stand on its own and ultimately unnecessary for an entire movie to revolve around.

 In the end, you have a tightly wound Bond killing everyone in his path, an apparently super-powerful organization that was exposed and removed of it’s major leaders in an hour and forty minutes and gloomy doom-y nuances. On the pro side, we have an intense brawny Daniel Craig, a not entirely flat lead female character (although the ‘powered by revenge’ act is getting a little stale), fitting music, about 90,000 exotic locations and an ending that nicely ties everything up but seems at odds with the following gun sequence.

This movie is essentially the tail end of Casino Royale. I liken it to a sequel of Citizen Kane in which Orson Welles wheezes ‘Rosebud’ a couple more times whilst a hoard of minor characters kick the bucket.

 

Author's Note

You will be reviewing a review. Ponder that...

Reviews

[TLK]

I refuse to ponder that. I refuse.