Thursday, November 14, 2008

Quantum of Solace

by Ari

I don't have enough to say about Quantum of Solace for a full review. It's a decent film, a worthy but somewhat anticlimactic conclusion to the narrative thread that started in Casino Royale. It's high on energy, low on character. Things explode in nearly every scene, people are dispatched right and left by hand, gun, blade, axe, boat, car, etc. I still think Daniel Craig was a tremendous choice for Bond, though his character is oddly under-developed for this particular story (Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper) and given few chances for actual conversation.

....what else? There's a nifty shoot-out cut together with an opera number, a suspenseful set-piece involving two planes and a huge fall....and the opening titles felt like vintage '60s Bond in places, all psychedelic, sexy and slick.

But where's the sexual tension and memorable Bond girl? Where's the humor, the banter, the sense of fun? Casino Royale had all of those things. Quantum of Solace is all muscle and punch.