Introduction
Like any true Bond fan, I wanted to check out Quantum of Solace on the big screen, but somehow missed it due to some commitments. The Diwali vacations here gave me a perfect excuse to play catch up and check the movie out.
The Plot
James Bond(Daniel Craig) captures Mr. White(Jesper Christensen) of the criminal organization Quantum and brings him in for questioning. White manages to escape courtesy to a double agent posing as the body guard of M(Judi Dench).
That sets up a wild goose chase for Bond which leads him a person named Dominic Greene(Mathieu Amalric) whose terrorist organization is posing as an ecological organization called Greene Planet. Bond joins Dominic’s ex-lover Camille(Olga Kurylenko) and together they figure out that Greene is helping Bolivian general Medrano(Joaquín Cosio) overthrow the government there in lieu of a seemingly waste piece of land.
What is Greene’s plot behind the waste land? Will Bond foil the attempt of general Medrano and Greene? Check out this movie for the details.
Critic’s Viewpoint
One of the major reasons why I love Bond movies is that it has so much more to offer than just pure action. It has the famous Bond humor and one liners, it has fast flashy cars, gadgets, it has long beautiful ladies, it has romance and it has action and fantastic settings. As a Bond lover, I expected to see all this in Quantum of Solace.
After seeing the movie, I had to pinch myself to remember that it was really a Bond movie that I saw. There were nearly no flashy cars or gadgets in the movie, there were no beautiful bond ladies in the movie to speak of. The movie had absolutely non-existent humor and there were no grand setups where action scenes look fantastic. All in all any element that a Bond lover likes to see was missing altogether! Even the Bond song was so devoid of fun and seemed to be just put in their as it comes as a part of the Bond template.
The movie at times was so slow and dull that I really felt sleepy, then at times the action would explode, but the action was like any other action movie and it definitely was not the action scenes we are used to see in the Bond movies. Even the opening scene which usually acts as a pre-cursor of the plot to follow was so lame here just kidnapping someone and putting him in the back of the car and driving on, it was really disappointing.
Daniel Craig looks good as a Bond and maybe is an Americanized version of Bond, but he definitely does not bring the same Charisma that a Sean Connery or a Pearce Brosnan used to bring it to the screen. He is more a workman like James Bond who does all the hard work and no play. But all work and no play makes James Bond a big bore!
I actually had liked Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell as it rebooted the Bond series to the start. But, I expected the follow-up movies to return to the Bond flavor of fun with action and mission, but sadly Director Marc Forster is way off the mark. At the end of all this I thought Transporter 3 was a better film than this one!
Summary
For me this is sadly one of the worst Bond movies that I have seen till date and really do not feel sad about the fact that I missed seeing it on the big screen.
I would give this movie a low 2 star rating.
(Taken from my review published earlier at https://epinins.com/review/Bond_22_Marc_Forster/content_489239056004)