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| Quantum of Solace |
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| Written by Ivan Radford |
| Friday, 31 October 2008 13:48 |
 Director: Marc ForsterBroken, flawed and at times unpleasant, Quantum of Solace echoes the traits of its protagonist. Continuing directly from Casino Royale, the film opens with a car chase. Or, at least, that’s what you suspect it is: crashing, scraping and spinning out of control, the film is torn to shreds, along with the Aston Martin. As is often the case with Bond’s latest outing, it’s hard to tell who exactly is chasing who. In fact, it’s Bond (Craig) hunting down Dominic Greene (Amalric), the supposedly eco-friendly villain he learns about after several cut-and-run interrogations. Shooting first and asking questions later, Bond is off the rails. A bit like Marc Forster. But Bond has an excuse – he’s bitter and heart-broken, a raging bull whose china shop covers the entire globe. Forster is just a fish out of water, wriggling about behind the camera gasping for breath. A tin of tuna could direct a better action sequence. At least it would be stationary. Amidst the frenetic frenzy lies a fragment of plot (a quantum of story, if you will). And it’s a clever and original concept: effect a regime change in a South American country, then hold back the water supply. Behind the plot is Greene, a member of the evil organisation Quantum. According to his colour-coded friend Mr. White, they have people everywhere – a wonderful excuse for a world tour. Terra-trotting the planet, 007 teams up with plummy agent Fields (Arterton) and the revenge-driven Camille (Kurylenko). Bucking the Bond formula, he only sleeps with one of them, too haunted by Vesper to womanise or make frivolous quips; Craig’s spy is engaging as an emotionless engine of ruthless efficiency. The 20% of the movie devoted to the narrative explores his character well, matching the edginess of the modern, guitar-fuelled theme. The other 80% is incomprehensible action – it’s clear they started filming with half a script and even clearer they didn’t finish it. The parts that are written are decent (including a beautifully executed opera sequence) but it’s just not enough; Amalric barely gets a chance to sneer and Dench’s queen of cool has to make the most of her screen time. No matter how flashy MI6 computers get, they don’t disguise the hollowed out Bourne imitation this franchise has become. Even David Arnold's brilliant score is curiously lacking the traditional Bond riffs. If they wanted Paul Greengrass, they should have hired him. He knows how to rein in a second unit. They’re just lucky to have Daniel Craig. Struggling against a shady CIA and an editor with ADHD, he runs, he jumps and he bruises without stopping. It’s just a shame you can’t see him half the time. VERDICT High octane. And by that I mean a highly hazardous compound containing lots of hot air. |
