There has been much disagreement on the merits of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the latest entries in the James Bond canon of films stretching to over 50 years and 22 films. These two films represent a more realistic and gritty turn in the series...presenting a more vulnerable Bond who is at the beginning of his legendary career. As a reader of the original Bond stories by Ian Fleming, I have largely applauded this new move, reminding me of the Timothy Dalton films (The Living Daylights, License to Kill), George Lazenby (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and Sean Connery (From Russia With Love).
There are those who miss the super sci-fi gadgetry and the more playboy womanizing aspects of the film character...I missed both for about 5 minutes. The new Bond is much more interesting to me...a professional who, to his sometime detriment, has a soul and a conscience. This Bond feels pain and grief and rage. Sometimes you just had to wonder if Roger Moore felt anything when he would drop his bon mots while kicking butt and taking names!
Now in the flower of my youth, say about age 12-13, I simply adored the Bond who always came out smelling like a rose at the end with flags a-flying along with the beneficent smiles of Queen and Country blessing him....with lots of T and A thrown in for good measure. I loved the gadgetry and looked forward to the Q sequences in which Bond would receive his equipment and a stern lecture on their usage. But further into my dotage (45-46), I began to tire of the same old, same old Bond and have found myself responding well to a new kind of Bond who is unsure of himself at times and even more unsure of his spy masters as well. The only gadgets here are the computers and a handy cell phone.
With Bond 23 coming out perhaps in another year, I returned to watch Quantum of Solace to whet my appetite for another Craig Bond film and to reflect on my enjoyment... and some reservations of this return to brass tacks for a much beloved film series.
Sound confusing? We have touched on perhaps the main problem with QS in that with the new Bond reality of crisscross betrayal and international politics mixed with greed for power and natural resources...the viewer can get caught up in the connections and plot shifts, leaving him distracted and confused. Critic Roger Ebert has written that Bond is not an action film hero...suggesting for me that Bond should never be regulated to a faceless hero merely going through the motions of explosions, gun or fist fights, and car chases. Casino Royale had a nice balance of providing the deepness of motivation and relationship with the gee whiz explosions of the latest action flick. Unfortunately QS trades a bit too much on the intrigue and cross betrayals, and one wishes it would get back to the incredible and professional action sequences which aid the film's attractiveness greatly.
Along with the action sequences, QS succeeds with me ultimately because it continues the angst of Bond, who is struggling to deal with his grief over Vesper's death while searching for revenge. Bond is also realizing that there are no longer white hats or black hats, just the gray, indistinct hats of nations with "economic" or "political" interests...certainly not the good vs. evil struggles of the earlier Bond movies. No wonder this new Bond seems so much more grim and even at times unpleasant...there are just too many people to distrust, including himself.
TH Reviews rating of Quantum Solace: 3.5 stars out of 5...a recommended view!!
