Las Vegas Weekly

Breakneck Bond

Quantum of Solace is exciting but sometimes too frenetic

He’s ba-ack.

There are those who like James Bond frothy, and those who like him dark. After many decades of mostly froth, the Daniel Craig era has returned Bond to something close to his literary roots—a tough professional—but even author Ian Fleming’s Bond was never this pissed off.

The series’ first direct sequel picks up shortly after the close of Casino Royale, the most successful entry in the history of the franchise. Still distraught over the betrayal and suicide of the woman he loved, Vesper Lynd, Bond goes on a search for her handlers that takes him to Haiti, Austria and Bolivia, where he matches wits with Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who hides behind environmental philanthropy while secretly engineering a coup to bring an exiled Bolivian general back to power. Along the way he crosses paths with mysterious Bond girl Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who, like Bond, has her own score to settle. Suffice to say, there’s not a lot of time for sex—but plenty of time for Bond to crack skulls from one end of the world to the other, while his boss, M (Judi Dench), tries to reign him in.

Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace.

While Quantum of Solace happily continues Royale’s trend of upending the tired clichés of the franchise, the story never comes into focus, a shame given indie director Marc Forster’s purported desire to play up the drama. Rich characters and dramatic possibilities crowd at the edges of the frame, but Forster and his writers fumble most of them. Amalric is low-key, but isn’t given enough chance to show real villainy. Gemma Arterton looks great as one of Bond’s female colleagues, but is onscreen too briefly to make an impact. And Jeffrey Wright’s CIA man Felix Leiter is criminally underused. Only Dench has the time to shine opposite Craig.

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Quantum of Solace

Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench

Directed by Marc Forster

Rated PG-13

Opens Friday, November 14

Find movie show times

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James Who? (9/8/05)

Shaken, not stirred (11/3/05)

Beyond the Weekly

Quantum of Solace

IMDb: James Bond

IMDb: Quantum of Solace

Rotten Tomatoes: Quantum of Solace

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But okay, you say—forget the story, how’s the action? More frenetic than any movie in the franchise’s history. The film plunges us straightaway into a pounding car chase, where 007’s Aston Martin is finally put through its paces at high speed. There’s a muscular foot chase over the rooftops of Sienna, an amped-up boat chase, an aerial dogfight and plenty of shootouts and dustups in between. Still, the flashy editing—obviously influenced by Paul Greengrass’ Bourne movies—is often too choppy, so intent on rattling our brains that it’s often hard to keep up with. And the film, well under two hours, rarely lets us catch our breath.

The best moment in Quantum is not a balls-out action scene but a triumphantly cinematic confrontation between Bond and Greene at a sleek Austrian opera house. With Puccini playing in the background, hero and villain, both in tuxedos, meet face to face. And Forster manages a pause, a moment of heightened tension, before hurtling us forward again. It’s a witty, sharp, magnificently staged set piece that shows off Forster’s visual flair and Dennis Glassner’s exquisite production design (Quantum is the best-looking Bond in ages).

The rest is a furious and often enthralling mess. Even at his most dour and unsympathetic, Craig’s magnetic Bond is never less than completely watchable, and the film is full of grace notes, including clever nods to Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me. Still, while no one should bemoan the end of 30 years of cheesy one-liners, the filmmakers might consider taking their foot off the gas a bit for the next Bond. We don’t need the return of the frothy Bond, but we do want a Bond who takes a minute to appreciate his meals and his martinis, his women, his friends, before getting to the vicious work at hand. It gives us time enough to appreciate him.