Quantum of Solace (2008) Review

 "The first thing you should know about us is we have people everywhere."

-Mr. White

After capturing Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), James Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Judi Dench) are betrayed by a fellow MI6 agent and White escapes.  Bond embarks on a violent quest for vengeance as he attempts to learn more about White's organization and tries to find the man responsible for Vesper's death.

What Works:

The best part about Quantum of Solace is Daniel Craig's performance.  This is another vengeance based Bond movie, like License to Kill, so of course Bond is pissed off the entire time, but he isn't just angry at the world, he's angry with himself.  This movie is about Bond letting go of his pain and anger and that aspect works well.

I also really like both Bond girls.  Olga Kurylenko's Camille is on her own quest for vengeance and the man she's after is far easier to hate than the film's main villain.  She's really likable and competent.  I would have like more with her.  Gemma Arterton doesn't have much screen-time, but makes the most of what she is given and has some great interactions with Bond.

The return of René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) is a welcome one as he and Both have a very interesting dynamic.  Bond loses a lot of allies over the course of the series, but he usually just finds their dead body during the mission.  This time, Mathis actually dies in his arms.  It's probably my favorite scene of the movie and has some emotional impact.

Finally, the 3rd act battle in the exploding hotel is pretty impressive.  It has some issues, which I'll get to, but seeing all of the fire stunts that went into it is simply spectacular.  It's definitely a dynamite way to end the film.

What Sucks:

The problem with this movie mostly comes down to the editing.  On paper, all of the action sequences are pretty awesome and they all have their moments.  It's just the editing is so quick that's it hard to tell what's happening and where anyone is.  The worst offender is Bond's foot-chase with Mitchell (Glenn Foster) through Siena.  For some reason, the movie keeps cutting back to a horse race.  Sure, the race is making the sewers below unstable, but we don't need to keep cutting back to it.  Establish it and then focus on the action.

This movie was made during a writer's strike, so Daniel Craig and director Marc Forster wrote parts of the script themselves in the middle of production.  That is blatantly obvious and we end up with the worst written movie in the series.  They honestly should have waited for the strike to end.  I would have been fine waiting another year if it meant getting a better script.  At times, the motivations of the characters don't make much sense and it feels like dialogue is missing at times.  The pacing of this movie is relentless, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like they are accelerating through the movie so we don't notice the holes in the script.

Finally, we have our main villain, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), one of my least favorite villains in the series.  The villain himself isn't really the problem and Amalric gives a totally fine performance, it's the elements surrounding him that are the problem.  His evil plan is to hold the water of Bolivia hostage.  Not exactly high stakes.  He's also the final fight in the movie and he's not exactly what you would call physically intimidating.  That's fine, not all main Bond villains have to be, but Greene needed some sort of heavy to be a match for Bond.  He's missing a memorable henchman and a memorable evil plot.  You need at least one of those to be a good Bond villain and preferably both.

Verdict:

While Quantum of Solace is entertaining, it's also very flawed.  Craig, Kurylenko, and Arterton all do a good job, I like the stuff with Mathis, and the 3rd act is fun, but the villain isn't great and there are some major problems with both the editing and the writing.

 7/10: Good 

#1. Octopussy

#2. The Spy Who Loved Me

#3. Casino Royale

#4. From Russia with Love

#5. Goldfinger

#6. Goldeneye

#7. The Living Daylights

#8. Moonraker

#9. Die Another Day

#10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

#11. License to Kill

#12 Tomorrow Never Dies

#13. Live and Let Die

#14. Dr. No

#15. For Your Eyes Only

#16. The World is Not Enough

#17. Thunderball

#18. Quantum of Solace

#19. You Only Live Twice

#20. A View to a Kill

#21. The Man with the Golden Gun

#22. Diamonds Are Forever