Quantum Of Solace

Year: 2008
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Almaric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright

I finally made the time to watch James Bond's latest outing yesterday. Quantum Of Solace is the direct sequel to Casino Royale, and like most Bond films, it begins with an action sequence, this time an adrenaline pumping car chase.

The story begins right where Royale left off, with Bond and M questioning Mr White, the man that Bond shot. A traitor in MI6 allows White to escape, so Bond & M trace the traitor's connections to Bolivia. Bond goes there and runs into Camille, a young lady with her own agenda. She in turn leads Bond to Dominic Greene, a man leading a secret organisation known as Quantum. Quantum is currently in talks with an overthrown Bolivian dictator who wants to reclaim his country, in exchange for a piece of land Quantum wants.

However, Bond's modus operandi always ends up with someone getting killed, and M is forced to bring him in. Bond meets up with some old allies to help him follow Greene, and joins forces with Camille who is using Greene to take revenge against the Bolivian dictator.

Quantum Of Solace is directed by Marc Forster, who isn't well known for making action films. But oddly enough, action is what you get in this film, and in spades too. You get a car chase, a boat chase, an aerial dogfight, a foot chase on rooftops ala Bourne and lots of brutal fistfights. Some critics say this film is taking lots of cues from the Bourne trilogy, and I can see why. What's good about this is that it keeps the audience entertained, even if the plot seems quite complicated at times.

Craig plays Bond the same way he did the last time; seriously constipated. He always looks so tense, and ready to kill in a blink of an eye. The film's writers are making Bond vengeful after the death of Vesper Lynd in the last film, so much that Bond has almost no charm in this one. Kurylenko lends strong support as Camille, and I think she's one of the best Bond girls ever. She's sexy, tough and plays off Bond emotionally quite well. Almaric is the weasel type villain Greene, but I do wish he had a better haircut. Giannini and Wright lend some good support as Bond's allies, and you can't forget Judi Dench as M, who is one of the best things about Bond films.

As far as Bond films go, this one is rather cool, and it has a pretty cool theme song performed by Alicia Keys and Jack White. But it loses a point for plot confusion. Watch it for the action. (4/5)