Quantum of Solace Review

I must admit that I like this movie a lot better now that I understand what they are doing with James Bond.  When I first saw it, I thought, "oh great.  The dirty, damn hippies have taken over James Bond."  But I now realize that they are trying to make Bond more realistic in leaving behind things like super cars and gadgets and having him escape some pretty stupid situations.  So, instead of gadgets, he has a state of the art smart phone.  Instead of super cars, we get to see eco-friendly Fords.  Instead of Jaws or Odd Job or even a Korean dude with diamonds embedded into his face, we get what is apparently Quentin Tarantino's malnourished and mentally deficient brother.  Instead of exotic locations, we get the Bolivian desert.

Quantum still has some of the hallmarks of a good Bond movie.  We still have two Bond girls.  One who is a bit dim and dies and one who helps him out.  We still have a super villain and even an organization that is determined to cause problems.  But, the villains now seem much more realistic and even if the method for domination is not.  An evil cartel trying to gain control of the world's water?  Sorry.  I'm not buying it.  And that's a good thing because we're never supposed to really buy into the evil plot in a Bond movie.  So, even if it was unintentional, I'm glad they still did something over the top.

Overall, Quantum is well made.  The action is still very good and a bit over the top which is what we want.  It is well acted all around and Daniel Craig steps it up as the gritty, new style Bond.  It will be interesting to see where he takes it in Bond 23.  I thought some of the decisions regarding music, sound and camera work were a bit too much on the artsy side but I can live with it.  Finally, it is a lot shorter than other Bond movies which is good.  I can handle over two hours when it is a ridiculous situation with a womanizing super spy blowing shit up in fancy cars.  When you strip it down like they have decided to do, it would get boring.  Instead, they shortened it and made sure it kept moving.

Like with my review of Casino Royale, I say see it.  It's actually pretty good.  Just be aware that you're going to get a bit of a bleeding heart environmental lecture.  But, if you don't like the direction Bond is going from Casino Royale, you should skip it because it really is more of the same from that.