The Report Card reviews: Quantum of Solace

I have a confession to make: I am a bonafide James Bond fan! I read some of the Ian Fleming books and watched nearly all the Bond movies. Having said that I’m really excited to review the latest installment in the James Bond movie franchise – Quantum of Solace.

Being a 007 movie, it’s an action adventure movie rated PG due to the intense action and a little sexy scene with Daniel Craig and other Bond girl Gemma Atherton. The movie immediately follows the events of the last Bond movie Casino Royale – 007 is in Italy with the recently captured Mr. White – a man who made a deal with and had a hand in the death of Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl in Casino Royale. Bond brings Mr. White to M for questioning. They find out that Mr. White works for a deadly organization working in the shadows. Before Bond and M learn more about this organization, Mr. White escapes thanks to a double agent in the MI6. Bond then goes on the warpath, hunting down Mr. White. He later finds out that the organization is known only as “Quantum” and through it’s lackey Dominic Greene, played by Matthew Amalric, plans to destabilize the current Bolivian government and take control of its valuable resource. Together with Bond girl Camille Montes, played by Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko, Bond stops Quantum from their evil plans while finding out more of Vesper and coming to terms with her death.

Okay; now for my review, I’m going to review this Bond movie by answering 2 main questions: First, is the movie better than the last Bond movie? Well, story-wise, I’ve got bad news for you: Casino Royale was much better. 2 things I’ll point out here: One, Quantum was written by the same guys who did the script for Casino including Paul Haggis, the award winning writer for Crash and Million Dollar baby. Now personally I felt the team did a much better, more cohesive, more coherent, more evenly paced storyline with Casino than with Quantum. Two, the writers here were treading upon some shaky if not dangerous ground by showing us some contradictions to the James Bond mythos – I mean James Bond not killing the main villain and not going to bed with main Bond girl at the end; what were they thinking?

Okay that wasn’t the second question. This is the second question: Is the movie better than the other Bond movies? I say, in terms of action and character, it’s a resounding yes. I like the way they made Bond more realistic in terms of action and emotion. No fancy Bond gadgets; no special effects (well a few albeit hardly noticeable), no witty one-liners. Bond is cool, cruel and fit as a fiddle.

Speaking of Bond, Daniel Craig is getting quite adjusted to his role as 007. Although he still does appear stiff at times – maybe now that Bond’s gotten over Vesper, Bond’s mood might be a little lighter next time. The only other performer who deserves special mention here is her dame Judy Dench – I’m glad they gave more exposure for M; Judy Dench is the perfect foil for Daniel Craig’s Bond, he the cold killer who cannot be controlled, she the voice of reason, the “mother hen” looking out for her fledgling agent.

The action like I said was really great although I felt the dogfight sequence between Bond's dilapidated plane and the old WWII fighter plane was a bit outmoded. Love the Jack White/Alicia Keys opening theme. Alright, here are my grades for Quantum of Solace:

Story: C (not as good as Casino Royale's storyline)

Action: B (really good action sequences)

Acting: B (kudos to Daniel Craig and Judy Dench)

Cinematography: B (great locales)

Soundtrack: A- (thanks mainly to Jack White's and Alicia Keys' opening theme)

Final Grade: B