Quantum of Solace: Stirred, not Shaken

The new James Bond movie is out. Quantum of Solace is getting mixed reviews, some shaken, some stirred. Take it from a Bond fan, the movie is worth seeing. Was it amazingly superb like it’s predecessor? In a word, no, but it worked as a second Bond movie for Daniel Craig.

A few things though. It seems to me that the producers are shying away from the fancy spy gadgets and shifting more towards blunt force. While this movie was a good movie, there really wasn’t anything “signature James Bond” about it. Little to no Bond one liners, no gadgets really at all, and nothing really special about his car except that it seemed to be able to maneuver through the worst traffic during high speed chases, and that’s after a hard crash or two.

While making Bond more down to earth they’ve essentially turned him into a generic spy. The movie could have very well been titled “The Bourne Quantum”. It was good by spy movie standards but not by Bond standards. Sure it’s more realistic but is that really what Bond fans want? As usual I’ve steered away from major plot spoilers in my review, but if you want to go into the movie with a completely open mind then I suggest you go watch it before reading the rest of this review.

Actionwise the movie delivered and then some. It seemed like it was 90% action, 10% plot. The plot was simple enough that you could follow it but it was also pretty predictable. Sure there were surprises and the plot had it’s fair share of suspenseful elements but it didn’t quite live up to the extremely high bar set by Casino Royale. As for plot holes, there really weren’t many if any. The plot was pretty well wrapped up by the end of the movie, save one annoying tidbit that I’m sure will come back in the next movie. I’d almost rather they ignore it however and use the next move as a chance to bring Bond a little closer to the martini drinking, Walther toting, Mi6 agent we are all used to. We don’t need invisible cars to be happy but a few super cool gadgets wouldn’t hurt. And no, hyper reactive parachutes don’t really count as a gadget.

Villainwise, it really didn’t live up to it’s predecessors. Bond villains are usually the essence of evil defined. Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan of GoldenEye comes to mind as one of the greatest Bond villains. Corporate villains just aren’t exciting. The villains in this movie were bad, sure, but they weren’t “Bond bad”. They weren’t the types that make you think to yourself, “Wow, now there’s a villain!” I didn’t really ever find myself disliking or really even being too concerned about the villain in this movie. I wasn’t worried whether Bond would be able to beat him in the end. If anything I was more worried about what incentive Bond had to even bother. The guy really wasn’t that evil.

Musicwise it didn’t quite hit the mark either. Composer David Arnold has been with the Bond franchise since Tomorrow Never Dies. He’s made some of the best Bond soundtracks in my opinion, brilliantly weaving the classic Bond theme throughout. I think Casino Royale is one of the greatest Bond movies ever, but this was one of my complaints about that movie as well. The lack of Bond theme music. At least Casino Royale had an amazing title track that was mixed into the movie themes. Quantum had one of the worst title tracks of any Bond movie so far. It just didn’t work on so many levels. But after all, it’s just the title track. Nothing to judge the movie as a whole on but it did take a few minutes to get over the terrible song as the movie started.

It wasn’t a bad movie if that’s all you wanted out of it. If you wanted to see a Bond movie however then you’ll have to settle for a man named James Bond who lacks most of the elements of the James Bond we have come to know and love. The movie was perhaps a little too stired when really all it needed was a good shaking. I consider Casino Royale to have been a solid 5 out of 5 stars. Quantum of Solace gets 3 out of 5.