Cut that Scene

There is no questioning that the once-great James Bond franchise had run headlong into stale territory. When exactly this happened can be up to debate for some; it obviously happened after 1995’s GoldenEye, but which movie it went downhill with is up to conjecture. Each of the Pierce Brosnan films after that first have been singled out by various people as being the one, from Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997 all the way through 2002’s abysmal Die Another Day. Whichever film it was, the series had degenerated into increasingly ridiculous plots and contrived action scenes by the time Brosnan stepped down in February 2005. It was then that EON Productions and MGM decided to start all over. The result was the casting of Daniel Craig as a younger, newer Bond, and a reboot of the entire franchise. Released two years ago, Casino Royale blew the previous decade of Bond films away, along with the entire history of the franchise, and became the most profitable Bond film to date. Craig’s take on Bond, making him more brutish and less refined early in his career, blasted to dust all pre-release criticisms and concerns about the actor, and it created a James Bond for an entirely new generation. The film took a much-needed entirely new direction with the franchise, tossing out the old clichés, and it paid off in spades. Now, the franchise breaks another convention by releasing the first direct sequel of a Bond film, as Craig returns to the role in Quantum of Solace.

Bond Movie Poser

The film begins roughly an hour after the last one ends, in the midst of Bond racing along the roads en route to Siena, Italy with the nefarious Mr. White (Christenson). After an interrogation reveals a shadowy organization named Quantum that has, as White says, “people everywhere,” the fact is proven in a manner that shocks Bond and particularly MI6 director M (Dench). Bond is sent to track down leads on Quantum, something he is more then happy to do in order to get vengeance for the events of the first film. It takes him to Dominic Greene (Amalric), a businessman who is part of Quantum. His company Greene Planet presents a front for environmental activism, but of course something much more nefarious lurks under the surface. Bond also encounters Camille Montes (Kurylenko), a Russian/Bolivian beauty with a vengeance streak of her own. The two decide to work together in order to take down Greene and Quantum and, by extension, fulfill their vendettas. In doing so, Bond finds himself at odds with MI6, where M is growing increasingly concerned about Bond’s violent streak and near-rogue behavior, as well as many other intelligence organizations who are in bed with Greene—particularly the CIA, where Felix Leiter (Wright, reprising the role from Royale) is keeping an eye on things. As the various intelligence and criminal groups close in on Bond, he finds himself relying on old friends such as René Mathis (Giannini) in order to accomplish his mission and his vengeance.

Quantum of Solace is written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the writing trio behind its predecessor Casino Royale. As such, all the characterizations from the first film remain seamlessly intact. There is zero continuity lost from the previous film to this one, and the lack of incongruity does the film well. This is not to say that is the same sort of film as Royale however. Far from it; where Royale is a much cleaner story; an “origin story” so to speak, Quantum of Solace is dark and muddled. This is a natural progression from the amazing end of the last film; for those who have not seen the first, it is highly recommended that you do before seeing Solace to avoid getting lost. Haggis, Purvis and Wade create a packed film that, in its 106 minutes (the shortest length of any Bond film to date) sometimes seems a little too busy, particularly in the first act that amounts to several action scenes punctuated with plot rather then the preferable other way around, and even once the action settles down and we move into the deeper elements of the plot, it would be difficulty to understand several parts of the film without knowing the story of Royale. There are no flashbacks or periods of exposition to explain the first film; while there are certain plot points from it that become obvious such as the reason for 007’s revenge, the nuances are easily lost without having seen the first.

The good news is that, once the frenetic opening act settles down and moves into the more plot-oriented second, the film really comes into its own. One of the smartest elements of the Bond reboot has been making it relevant for the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world. The biggest problem with the Brosnan films after GoldenEye was that there was simply no way to make them relevant with the Cold War being over, and as a result we got further and further into absurd plot devices. Whether it was the war-starting media mogul of Tomorrow Never Dies, the nuclear explosion-starting oil heiress of The World Is Not Enough or the flat-out stupid plot of a diamond-powered satellite that is going to help North Korea take over South Korea in Die Another Day, the lack of relevance the series had garnered to current events drove it to desperate and painfully bad lengths to keep going. Haggis and company dragged the franchise into the War on Terror world, and in the days of conflicting intelligence agencies, morally gray situations and the idea of spies as real people and not superheroes, the new Bond is a more realistic and thus more engaging and human portrayal.

Of course, as much as the script gives Bond that opportunity to be more human, the lion’s share of the credit there goes to Daniel Craig. Following the events of Royale, Bond is deeply wounded; as villain Greene points out at one point, “damaged goods.” Craig plays this off beautifully, giving 007 a tormented quality. Rather then play it depressed and emotional, as one might do, he instead portrays Bond as a creature of rage in accordance with the thuggish quality he showed in the early points of Royale. Craig’s Bond is a very different beast then any Bond before them, and while this time Craig seems more comfortable in the “tuxedo moments” of the film, he never loses that fury simmering under the surface. He races his way through the movie, using violent methods to achieve his results as a consequence of his anger and pain, and you can see the rage burning in his eyes as he enacts his vengeance alongside accomplishing his mission. The struggle for James in Solace is how he can stay loyal to his mission when he has vengeance on his mind, and Craig walks that tightrope quite ably without straying into hyperbole or camp. It is a credit to the actor, who is further cementing his legacy as one of the best to take on the role, that the secret agent has become interesting and accessible again without losing any of his potency as a character.

The supporting cast all performs ably as well. Judy Dench is an actress whose accolades need not be sung; her body of work does that quite well on its own. Her legacy may never be stronger then in her role as M, particularly in the two newest films. Dench shares a chemistry with Craig that is nearly unmatched, and they work beautifully well off of each other as a sort of acerbic dynamic as comrades in arms, mentor/student, and even, as Bond wryly points out at one point, a spiritual sort of mother-son dynamic. Dench has more to do in this film as M tries to protect Bond from the various intelligence agencies closing in on him while chastising Bond and trying to steer him away from his destructive path of vengeance. She also provides some of the lighter moments in the film, which is much-needed amongst all the darker elements in play. As Camilla, Olga Kurylenko provides a foil and mirror for Bond. She too wants her own vengeance, and one can see Bond’s dark path reflected in Camilla’s mannerisms as portrayed by the Ukrainian-born actress. Kurylenko showed some serious promise in her first film, 2006’s Paris, je t’aime, before disappointing in Hitman and Max Payne. She’s back to form here, and matches up well with Craig. Other standouts include Giannini as Mathis and Wright as Leiter, both of whom provide the same sort of quality they did in the first film, and Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields, a character who is more of homage to the old style of Bond Girls and whose fate cleverly echoes one of the more iconic images in the early films. As Dominic Green, Mathieu Amalric is serviceable as a villain, though he suffers the same problem of Mada Mikkelson’s Le Chiffre in Royale of just being too obviously a lower-level member of Quantum for him to seem matched with Bond.

As good as the film is, it certainly has some flaws. The primary of those is the action sequences. Director Marc Forster, who’s previous work includes Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland and Stranger then Fiction is very adept at capturing moral conflict, but this is his first action film and it unfortunately shows. He commits the sin of resorting to the quick-cut action style that masks inexperience by creating a breathless type of excitement. This style makes several action sequences difficult to follow, including the car chase at the beginning, a gun fight weaved in with moments of an opera taking place nearby, and a chase scene that seems like an attempt to top the amazing parkour-inspired chase from Royale. While it all thrills, it also jars one out of the movie by making the visuals too hectic and confusing to follow. When he’s out of the action sequences Forster does quite well, and his approach to filming the emotional struggle Bond is coming to terms with is quite adept at drawing one in. Action is an integral part of the franchise however, and in this, a more capable director would have done wonders. He is also unable to provide a more even keel for the first act and lets it come on too strong, which creates an initial unsettling feel before things even out after a bit. On the plus side, Forster specifically makes sure that, unlike past Bond villains (including Le Chiffre), Greene is quite normal in appearance and has no grotesquery about him, which is another nod and move toward the more realistic feel of the franchise’s current direction. While this film may take the series further away from the Bond of old, it’s a much-needed and refreshing move.

Perhaps the worst fault of the film is merely that Casino Royale has set the bar for Bond films, and while Solace is a quality movie, it does not quite hold up to that standard. Had Solace been the first film of the new direction then it might compare better; instead it seems like an unsatisfying sequel at times. This is an unfair statement, as ultimately it is a good film that deserves an honored spot in the franchise—just one below its predecessor.