Directly after my screening of Quantum of Solace I determined that it was no Casino Royale. It was less funny and less engaging than its predecessor. Things that worked well in Royale worked well in this Bond movie but a curious case of Deja Vu set in. Twenty four hours after I've seen the movie now I have come to grips that it would have been impossible to capture the lightning of Casino Royale in a bottle twice and that while Quantum of Solace isn't a masterpiece it certainly continues being a gritty and dark action experience.
Quantum of Solace essentially has 6 major action scenes. Only about half of them really work however, with the best of the lot being an interesting opera sequence with cuts between a shootout and an opera, almost Boondock Saints style. The worst of the lot would be a boat chase that not only provides little to the movies plot but also isn't done well. It's uninteresting and felt a lot like the Venice scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
However the first major foot chase scene needs it's own paragraph to be talked about in. Remember how you marveled at the first chase sequence in Casino Royale? You remember how crisp it was? The running on the rooftops, the climbing on that crane, the jumping down the elevator shaft? Well Quantum of Solace is for you! Wait. It's...kinda...the same. The jumping, climbing, and rooftop running is all there and the similarities hurt the magnificence of it all. Even the end result of Bond killing yet another bad guy felt lack luster. But Bond will be Bond, and no matter my problems with the action it is still is far and away some of the best choreographed sequences out there.
The plot of course plays little significance to the actually movie seeing as 95 percent of the audience wants to see Daniel Craig kill some guys, 3 percent want to see him take his shirt off and the other 2 wonder when that talking donut will come into play. Essentially an environmentalist ironically named Greene (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly star Mathieu Amalric) is plotting to take Bolivia's water supply. Amalric is good as Greene, sinister at moments and likable in others, but I take umbridge with the character itself. I don't want to see another tiny villain guy who's all brains and simply plans out the villainous deeds. Give me a villain with brains and brawn. When a final inevitable show down occurs between Greene and Bond (Don't think I'm spoiling anything here but stop reading if I am) we know Bond is going to win. It's not a question of whether he can or not and that's the part I didn't like. Of course Bond wins, hes a bad ass whose already killed a million other bad guys tougher than this punk. Give me a villain who stands a chance!
But for a weak villain we of course have the man of the hour, well actually hour and 46 min. Daniel Craig again pulls of the Blond Bond thing extremely well and while we never think he's going to die/get critically injured like he did in Casino Royale, he still gets several scratches. Also the hour and 46 minute running time was a deal breaker when you look at Royales 2 hour 26 min running time. The credits, like all Bonds, are amazing and the theme song by Jack White and Alicia Keys is catchy and subtle.
If you haven't seen Casino Royale then the effect of Solace isn't going to be the same. Quantum of Solace is actually a "sequel" in the truest sense of the word the 007 franchise has ever had. It isn't bad, it's not amazing but it is fulfilling enough for those willing to dip their hand into a post Brosnan Bond. Grade - B-
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