Rent Quantum of Solace (2008)

Quite simply, the biggest problem with Quantum of Solace is that it isn't a "Bond" film... - Quantum of Solace review by TB

Before Casino Royale, James Bond was on lift support. The truly awful Die Another Day had taken Bond and, despite a great opening half an hour with a genius premise, (Bond is imprisoned and tortured whilst on mission, then when freed has to build himself back up again and prove he is relevant and needed in the world he goes back into,) turned 007 into effectively a walking cliché. As mentioned in another review, Jason Bourne's biggest ally with The Bourne Identity was Bond becoming redundant in Die Another Day.

Then along comes Casino Royale which not only revolutionised Bond but emphatically stated and proved that "Nobody does it better." And these words, taken from The Spy Who Loved Me, whilst before thrown around with some sarcasm and triteness, finally had emotional heft and really were the best description.

After Casino Royale, excitement was at fever pitch for what would come next. And whilst Quantum of Solace/QoS is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, the worst thing I can say about it is that it is not a "Bond" film, so all of that effort and achievement so hard won by Casino Royale feels like it is at times been for nothing.

QoS does have lots going for it. Marc Forster, who proved his worth at getting incredible performances out of actors in Monster's Ball, (including guiding Halle Berry to her Oscar,) using the enormous budget to make sure everything looks incredible. And there are some very nice cinematic touches in between events which add some gravitas to the film. The locations are stunning, cinematography beautiful and David Arnold again provides a brilliant score. But that is basically where the good points end...

By far the worst thing about QoS is it is basically what a movie would look like if you took a large number of action scenes, combined with the usual action movie staples (meeting in office, bar scene, love scene, final scene where everything comes full circle,) stuck them in a mixer then put the result on a screen and called it a completed film. It really is a mess of massive proportions. Characters are introduced long enough to be given a minimal back story, then killed off and never spoken about again. The film, trying to convey to the audience the fast moving nature of what could be charitably called a story/script, decides the best way to do that is to quite simply do everything at 5 times the normal speed. The editing is absolutely awful, but you get the real feeling that the director/producers feel that this is the best way to tell this story.

The story itself is very basic in terms of what actually happens, which in many action movies is all that is needed. And to me this is the nutshell of the problems: This is an action movie, it's not a Bond movie. If this was an American studio production where an A-List actor played a secret agent being chased around the world with a budget to match, this would be a 4 star film. But when it is Bond and you have the higher expectation along with the traditional franchise staples, the ground shifts.

People like me who love Bond love it because it IS more than stupid action film schlock. We love this character of Bond, complete with his failings and nuances, alongside being able to walk into any bar in the world and the barman knows his name and how he likes his Martinis, despite him being a secret agent. Whilst some will scorn this, to Bond fans this is our nirvana.

So whilst QoS does try to be something different, like Casino Royale did, it departs so far from what the vast majority of viewers want that in the end it loses any feeling of "Bondness."

And weirdly, the final thing to say is that despite all the action scenes, in many ways it is actually quite boring. Once you lose interest in the story, the frenetic action scenes lose all their heft. And no Bond movie should ever make you feel that.