So, that’s it then. Daniel Craig, in just two portrayals, has wrested the ‘Best James Bond Ever’ title from one Sean Connery (remember him?) and, in Quantum of Solace (2008), director Marc Forster and writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have delivered the first direct Bond sequel. Boy, have they delivered…
We’ll touch on the film’s prowess relative to its predecessor Casino Royale (2006) presently, but first some personal insights into your reviewer’s mindset, prior to sitting down with his Dad and sister, pulse rate suitably heightened, as it always is as the latest 007 adventure starts flickering on the wall. I was concerned - I had not read any reviews, but had heard word that the first critical analyses had been ‘lukewarm’. Plus, I had noted that, for the first time in the history of the films about Ian Fleming’s über spy, the running time was less than two hours. Finally, I had already heard the Jack White-Alicia Keys theme tune, Another Way To Die and, while not appalled, had as yet failed to be energized by it as I
was with Chris Cornell’s previous theme, You Know My Name.
So, omens of doom, then? Really, I needn’t have worried. I mean to say, how likely was it, really, that by-and-large the same team (only the director’s changed) that gave the world the marvellous first Daniel Craig turn as Bond (and the most successful film in the series) were going to let us down? They weren’t. They haven’t.
James Bond, as far as M (Judi Dench) is concerned, has become a very loose cannon since the death of his love, Vesper Lynd, in Casino Royale. He’s convinc ed that Lynd betrayed him as much as she was in turn betrayed by her former boyfriend and the mysterious organization to which he answered, and Quantum of Solace opens (following a pell-mell, heart-in-mouth, well ‘ard car chase that superbly sets the tone for the action sequences to follow) with 007 and M preparing to question Mr White (Jesper Christensen), he who was shot by our man at the end of the previous film. It later transpires that he is a member of Quantum, a terrorist franchise.
Bond quickly discovers that the organisation has tentacles everywhere, when M’s right-hand man reveals himself to be a traitor, freeing White from the interrogation room before fleeing with 007 in hot pursuit. From here on in, M’s intelligence concerning Bond’s movements is based on information that’s sketchy at best - and she knows not whether he is motivated only by revenge or has a higher purpose.
Bond’s quest leads him to friends and enemies old and new, with Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) back for encores, as well, of course, the beautiful, vengeful, femme fatale Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who is looking for retribution for the death of her family. And at the top of the tree, at least for this film, sits Dominic Greene (as predicted, an excellent Mathieu Amalric), an ‘environmental crusader’ with more than just oil on his hands…
Not sure where any of the ‘lukewarm’ movie reviews are coming from, really - the screenwriters have delivered a narrative that is nuanced, intelligent, elegant even, with none of the emotional excesses that were perhaps the only downside to Casino…, while Forster’s sure handling of the action sequences, evenly distributed throughout the film, ensures that the mood hits the right note at all the right times.
In addition, Alamric’s performance as Greene is perhaps the first Bond villain from which all traces of caricature have been removed (topping even Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre), which in lesser hands would have left a gap normally filled with Dr Evil-esque excess and silly one liners, but offers instead a genuinely credible amorality with which Bond must contend - and there is a surprising dénouement to the hero-villain relationship that’s far removed from the stereotype.
It was always going to be difficult for Quantum of Solace to top its predecessor and it doesn’t, but there can be no doubt that, with the combination of the two films, the franchise has been elevated to an all-time high. In addition, in as much as it is possible for the central character to ever be described as realistic, Daniel Craig has finally given the world a James Bond that is completely as Fleming first imagined him - ruthless, determined, scarred and haunted. Carry on, 007…
106 mins.
James Drew.
'Expatica's weekly cinema-review section is brought to you in collaboration with Picturenose.com'
About our reviewers : Putting you in the picture
Expatica 2008
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The name's Drew. James Drew. Picturenose's 007phile raves over the return of everyone's favourite secret agent.
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