Quantum of Solace (12A) Star rating *** Dir: Marc Forster With: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric
When the title of the 22nd James Bond outing was announced there was a universal cry of "Eh?". For a series that boasted such Ronseal, do-exactly-what-they-say-on-the-tin titles as From Russia With Love and Dr No, Marc Forster's film, named after a hitherto obscure Ian Fleming short story, appeared too highfalutin and a tad left field for a Bond movie. Awesome stuntwork aside, the same can be said of the finished product.
It's not that Forster, who helmed the deeply sensitive The Kite Runner, Stranger than Fiction, and Monster's Ball, has infected 007 with the sensible virus. Never fear; the agent licensed to kill has not become a vegan librarian.
On the contrary, Forster has overcompensated for his cv by piling on the blood, snot and tears of sweat, and toning down the subtle, and not so subtle, delights for which Bond is famous.
In short, QoS might just be the most grown up Bond movie ever made, with all the downsides that implies.
After an uncommonly decent opening song by Jack White and Alicia Keys it's straight down to business with a blistering car chase, Bond (Daniel Craig) steering his Aston Martin with one hand and firing a machine gun with the other. Bond is on his way to a regulation, dimly lit cellar where M (Judi Dench) is waiting to have a chat with some international wrong un. One stiff Scotch and another commotion later, it's on to the next chase for Bond.
Blimey. Not even ten minutes in and Craig is once again bloodied but unbowed. Can such a frantic pace be maintained? Yes is the answer, but to what end is what you are left wondering.
Bond and M discover they are on the trail of an organisation called Quantum. This is about the only connection with Fleming's short story, unless you count Bond's flailing around after the death of his beloved Vesper as a search for solace. There's not a second to lose in pondering this or anything else as Bond races from Italy back to London before travelling on to Haiti, Austria, Bolivia, Russia and a blur of other countries. It's head-spinning, confusing, choppy stuff.
Quantum, posing as a green organisation, is really a tooth and claw capitalist outfit intent on buying up the world's natural resources. Its frontman is Dominic Greene, played by French actor Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).
Also on Greene's case, for reasons of her own, is this year's impenetrably accented Bond girl, Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Don't bother trying to find the double entendre in her name: there isn't one. Nor is Amalric given an outward disability, common to Bond villains, which signals the inward rotting of his soul. You'll also search in vain for a "The name's Bond, James Bond" moment.
Shock of shocks, there's barely any beefcake on the menu. In Casino Royale, Craig had both sexes drooling with his Ursula Andress scene in which he emerged from the sea in the shortest of short shorts.
In Quantum of Solace, there's a brief taste of his bare, postcoital torso in a ten-star hotel room, and that's your lot. His pick-up line on that occasion had been, "I can't seem to find the stationery".
It's a radical, make that earth-shattering, departure from the come-hither lines Connery used.
Forster, and the scriptwriting team led by Oscar-winner Paul Haggis, have bravely gone their own way with QoS. In tinkering with many Bond conventions they are dragging the character by the scruff of his bruised neck into a new, brutalist era. This is Bond not as some suave blend of those who have worn the tuxedo before, but Bond as 21st century Jason Bourne, with similar stunts to boot. The echoes don't end there. Where Matt Damon had Pam Landy as a mother superior figure, Craig has Dame Judi Dench.
Forget the sound and fury of the near non-stop stunts. Apart from providing a fleeting wow factor, they signify little to nothing. The real fun in the picture comes from Dame J, who comes close to stealing the movie from the effortlessly charismatic and still fantastic Craig.
The movie also stars Gemma Atherton, who was outstanding in the recent TV adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. She plays a British agent who comes to a sticky end, in a scene that has echoes of Goldfinger.
Quantum of Solace lacks the killer creative touch of Casino Royale, when all was exciting and new, including the fresh out the wrapper Bond. On this, the second date, the lights are little brighter, our gaze steadier, the list of improvements needed clearer.
Quantum requires a leap of faith, but one worth taking if only to see where the character goes from here. Somewhere warm, where it's always swimming trunk weather, would be a start.
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