With enough rooftop chase scenes to make the designers of Assassin's Creed jealous, and showcasing new touch screen technology rivaling CNN's election coverage, James Bond (Daniel Craig, The Golden Compass) is back in Quantum of Solace, the 22nd installment of cinema's longest-running franchise.
Motivated by revenge over the events that occurred in Casino Royale, Bond is as aggressive and reckless as ever. His enemies are no exception, and when the two clash, the result is an hour-and-a-half's worth of worldwide wild goose chases and well-choreographed carnage.
In Solace, Bond faces the incredulous challenge of stopping a terrorist organization known as "Quantum." It is so elusive that MI6 knows virtually nothing about them.
Quantum's cover man, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), is trying to install a military dictator in Bolivia in exchange for land rights to a seemingly barren Bolivian dessert.
What appears to be a search for oil turns into something more sinister, and it is up to Bond to stop Greene and Quantum from controlling the country's precious resource.
Daniel Craig's (Golden Compass) performance as James Bond has totally revamped the franchise. His steely, sharp portrayal contrasts past performances that have been known to border clich?(c) and cuteness. He remains serious and professional throughout the film, even with the occasional blunders that happen to be cool as well.
Craig offers a rather lethal version of Bond, having the ability to jump on cars and shoot in mid-air without much effort. Craig is in full swing as an international spy and -often overlooked - assassin.
Director Marc Forster isn't known as an action director. While the filmmaker's past works, such as Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, and The Kite Runner, have all been serious dramas, Forster does a more than capable job in the action genre, not lowering himself to clich?(c)s.
However, it does suffer somewhat from a shaky camera and quick editing during action sequences, which seems to be a habit of action and horror films nowadays. The camera shakes so much that it takes away from the action; it's hard to see what's actually going on.
Other than that, the film does a marvelous job of focusing on Bond and the qualities that have made him famous. There are scenes - such as a shootout during an opera - that are reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick more than anything else.
Bond faces a dilemma not usually found in his other movies. The film picks up at the end of Casino Royale, in which Bond's lover, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), killed herself. Bond proceeds to kidnap a prominent figure of Quantum, torn between exacting revenge on the organization responsible for the death of his lover and not letting his emotions muddle his thinking.
Craig, for the most part, does exhibit hints of remorse and anger, but this delicate situation could have been drawn out more. After all, would one really sleep with other women days after his lover has died?
As important as it is to show Bond's Casanova tendencies, it would have served the film better to show an effort to keep them in check. In fact, it's quite ridiculous for him not to do so, but for some reason (perhaps to appease the fans) he goes on to have affairs.
His emotional side doesn't get the better of him, but perhaps it should. After all, while Bond is a cool, calm and collected secret agent, he is also human.
Quantum of Solace is an exciting joyride that continues in the tradition of Casino Royale in reinventing the previously dormant Bond saga. Craig doesn't fail to rock his infamous character.
The film in no way kills off the ever-growing series and will undoubtedly serve as good fodder for upcoming sequels. Bond, no doubt, has troubled times ahead of him. But, as long as the studios keep the franchise alive, Bond too will make it through.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
