003. Quantum of Solace

You can watch the trailer here.

 In case you don't know, there has been a new James Bond for a while now. They got rid of Mrs. Doubtfire's Pierce Brosnan and replaced him with a much better guy named Daniel Craig. Anyway this is the second movie of the relaunched series--the first one being Casino Royale-- and it is good while remaining unable to match the quality of its predecessor.

 Now to be fair, I watched Casino Royale a couple of years ago and the constant callbacks to the plot of the previous movie were a bit jarring for me. I barely remembered Vesper, let alone whatever it was that led to her death. That turns out to be a somewhat important part of this plot. They also mentioned the americans being mad about Le Chiffre (or whatever his name is) and I have no idea what they meant. At some point Quantum of Solace does become its own movie and you can follow along easily enough with no prior knowledge but the first part could use some work. I'm looking forward to the next Bond film but I really wish they make it a bit more independent.

 This movie has Judi Dench-- who I love since watching Notes on a Scandal. She was born for this role and is in fact perfect whenever she's on screen.This woman plays M so well (and has been playing M for so long) that I often forget M has been a man in other movies. In Quantum of Solace, they give her a very maternal relationship with Bond (while retaining her edge) that works particularly well-- probably because of the chemistry between Craig and Dench.

 Now for the cons (and there are a couple). They replaced Eva Green's sexy Vesper with the inferior (still hot just inferiorly so) Olga Kurylenko. Olga also happens to be a much worse actor than Green, and there are a couple of scenes where the script really calls for some heavy emoting that just received some heavy eye rolling from me. Hopefully next time they find the right Bond Girl.

 There are a couple of over the top ridiculous moments that could be done without. The initial car chase is fantastic and already pushing several boundaries. The Bourne-esque chase on the rooftops, while not entirely original is still a treat. The fighting on the ropes conclusion of this very intense opening? That was too much for me. I can believe the 00s get trained in all sorts of thing but fighting while on a rope? C'mon.

Also the plot. And this next line is going to be a spoiler so skip this paragraph if you haven't seen the movie. The story revolves around the most secret of organizations simply known as the Quantum. This group is so fucking awesome that MI6 has no real knowledge of them (its implied that the CIA is also in the same boat) Cool build up right? They then decide to destroy all sense of "awesomeness" achieved in the first act by revealing that the group's plan is to sell water at a high price. A reveal met by me taking a huge swig of water and having most of it miss my mouth and just flow on my bed. Whatever. It's water. While it might make economic sense (I'm not even entirely convinced it does), one thing it definitely is not, is exciting sounding. I guess oil and diamonds are a bit of a cliché these days but there has got to be some middle ground between oil and water.

Ultimately Quantum of Solace is still a good movie and while its not as good as Casino Royale, its miles ahead of the Brosnan flicks (which I guess still have some cute corny moments but thats like saying Street Fighter is good. Its not.). Its enjoyment is probably enhanced if you remember the plot of Casino Royale when watching Quantum of Solace which I didn't.

Recommended if you liked Casino Royale. Also recommended if you're a huge fan of water.