Finally...the critique for Quantum of Solace

So, Ebene and myself went and saw the latest Bond film Quantum of Solace. We would have seen it a lot earlier but we where tyring to book tickets at the local gold class cinema and could not get a booking before the next blue moon, so we gave up and saw it in a regular cinema. It goes without saying but so no one has any excuse this post will discuss the plot so if you don't want it ruined for you, don't read this until you see it.

So now that's out of the way, how was it? I liked it, Ebene sort of liked it, and it was not Casino Royale. But then it wasn't really any of the other bond films either, which is why I liked it. The first thing that struck me about the film, probably because the first scene was a car chase, but more importantly because the second scene was a dash across rooftops in Italy and and a fall/scuffle though what I think was a building under construction (well there was scaffolding, so sue me if I'm wrong), was that the cinematography was good. As in really really flipping good. You could see every chip of roofing tile fly across the screen, every shard of broken glass. Having said that Quantum must have set a record for the amount of broken glass in one film.

Next the film showed a Bond you saw a bit of in Casino Royale, and none of in any other Bond that I'm aware of. A Bond that had a range of emotions. A Bond that was torn with regret and betrayal over the death of Vesper, a Bond that had familial attachment to his boss, a Bond that loses sleep over what he has done, and one who holds a mixed conviction of revenge for Vesper, for Mathis, for the attempt on M's life, and for the general rightness of stopping the world powers cutting deals with a Bond villain. He was not some 2D drink that, sleep with that, kill that Bond. Some, like Ebene, would say it was a little over the top, perhaps it was, but I enjoyed seeing a human side to Bond. By the same token, I enjoyed the indecision in M's character was well as Felix. The lines are grey and no one really knows who's a friend and who's not.

Overall I enjoyed the plot line, though I can see how some people would not like it. It was a continuation from Casino Royale though, so I don't get the people that liked the plot line for Casino Royale and not Quantum of Solace. A CEO running the most pervasive criminal organisation that has infiltrated pretty much everything, buying water to hold a third world country, and hints of the world at later stages, to ransom does sound a bit pie in the sky. But not in the order of Moonraker. Greene, the evil CEO, was a decent villain, I preferred Le Chiffre, but Greene was not bad. And the plot was thought out with characters that pursued their agendas with a vengeance. I mean when you look at it, multinational corporations do cut deals with nations over land, mining rights, what have you, and I bet at least once in modern history a large company has if not bank rolled, lent funds to, a coup attempt in a third world country, so that part of it is not completely unbelievable.

Bond did not sleep with the main Bond girl which I think is something to be applauded, though the girl he did sleep with was dressed a bit promiscuously. I mean, if you wear a trench coat and nothing else, it did not seem she had anything on underneath, did seem a bit scandalous. But otherwise it was a more human Bond with a more human support cast locked in a web of deceit and double crossing where every friend could be a member of Quantum, plots to overthrow governments, countries thinking of nothing but oil, ruthless multinational corporations, explosions, a car chase, a boat chase, a plane chase, and lot and lots of broken glass. Did I mention the broken glass?

When you go to watch a Bond film you know what you are going to get, so people stop hating and take it for what it is: A well shot, face paced, piece of escapism. It was enjoyable, do watch it.