ScreenWize

The back-to-basics reimagining of the James Bond franchise that producer Barbara Broccoli began with Casino Royale in 2006 continues to pay off with Quantum of Solace. Showbusiness industry newspaper Variety reports the film scored the biggest ever opening weekend for a Bond film, taking in US$70.4M, a whopping 74% up on predecessor Casino Royale’s 2006 opening weekend, and easily beating the next Bond opening weekend, when Die Another Day scored US$47.1M on its 2002 opening. While these figures say much about the global need for escapist fare in tough economic times, they also confirm that Bond fans have more than accepted both Daniel Craig as Bond, and the producers gamble in rebooting the franchise.

The producers took a real risk hiring director Marc Forster to helm Quantum of Solace. His previous films Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland were smart, but hardly screamed action, and unsurprisingly action isn’t Solace’s strong point. What Forster has crafted is a Bond more cerebral and dry, lacking in humour but nonetheless a dark, well-paced and enjoyable thriller.

Picking up the story just hours after Casino Royale, where Bond has been betrayed by his ill-fated lover Vespa Lynne, we follow him on a high-speed car chase in the mountains outside Siena, Italy, where he is racing to deliver the Casino Royale bad guy Mr White (Jesper Christensen) to M (Judi Dench) for interrogation. To give the story without giving too much away: White hints that ‘Quantum’, the secret organisation he works for, is greater and more insidious than they might ever imagine, which sets Bond off on a chase through Italy, Haiti, Austria and eventually Bolivia. Bringing Quantum to justice is a task very personal for the grieving British secret agent. After Quantum agents in high places ensure Bond’s license to kill is revoked, he is forced to go underground, and comes to increasingly rely on the very capable Bolivian agent Camille (Olga Kurylenko) to bring to heel the ruthless goals of businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric).

The Bond franchise is famous for many things, killer opening sequences being one of them. Tomorrow Never Dies did it well - Pierce Brosnan wreaks havoc on a terrorist arms bazaar, with Sheryl Crowe’s lush performance of the title song emerging from the explosion. Quantum of Solace’s somewhat limp opening car chase leading in to Jack White and Alicia Keys mess of a theme song Another Way to Die only disappoints.

Fortunately, it is only uphill from here, with a series of past-paced action sequences that thrill even though they seem a little derivative – if you’ve seen the Bourne trilogy, you’ve seen a lot of this stuff before. Still, it’s done well, especially the parcour (free-form running) fight sequences that worked so well in Casino Royale, this time set against breathtaking backdrops, including a horse race in Siena, and a staging of the opera Tosca in Austria. Marc Forster imbues these scenes, and a later mid-air dogfight, with a wonderful sense of drama.

Kudos also to Matt Cheese and Richard Pearson for the frenetic pace of their editing, and to David Arnold for a score that compliments the action, and in places provides tension where the action is lacking. However, there is much to upset the avid Bond fan. I think Cubby Broccoli will turn in his grave when he hears what they’ve done to James’ beloved martini, but there is much that remains true to the franchise, including the misogyny, and the product placement.

As a baddie, Mathieu Amalric’s Dominic Greene is thoroughly believable, which makes him something of a disappointment. He isn’t building a moon base. He doesn’t have sharks with laser beams on their heads. He’s just a commodities trader, though perhaps the writing team had crystal balls when they were shaping the screenplay a good year before our current financial woes.

The Bond women add much to the film. Judi Dench is as classy ever as M. Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko holds her own against Daniel Craig, and her character is a complex construction. Less complex is British Embassy liaison Strawberry Fields, the typical Bond girl, she is the film’s light relief, well played by Gemma Arterton, and her scenes make a welcome change from a film in danger of becoming too morose.

And finally, to the question of Daniel Craig as Bond. I’m going to be controversial, and say best Bond ever, after Timothy Dalton. Craig has a physicality abut him that makes him believable as a trainer killer. He looks good in a tux, he looks good out of it, and his James takes his licks and wears his bruises well. His James isn’t much fun this time around – he is an open wound processing the death of his great love, and there isn’t much solace for him in Solace. Hopefully the next instalment will draw out more of the familiar Bond flair and charm.

CK
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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon