Quantum Of Solace (2008)

While I wasn’t excited about seeing Daniel Craig again as James Bond in Quantum of Solace, I figured I’d probably rent the film at some point anyway. Recently, Heather went out of town, and the oppurtunity presented itself, so I picked up the film at Blockbuster®. Expecting to be disappointed, I sat down to watch Craig’s 2nd attempt at Bond-om.

Daniel Craig still doesn’t fit in with the normal Bond persona. Instead of being smooth and sophisticated like his predecessors, he’s brash and uncouth, and spends most of the film – just like in Casino Royale (2006) on the receiving end of punishment. It’s an odd combination to associate with Bond, and viewers will have a hard time getting their minds around it.

Aside from the always decent Judi Dench, a lot of familiar Bond elements are also missing from Quantum of Solace – most notably gadget-guy Q. While Desmond Llewelyn has passed on, John Cleese took over the reins breifly as the comical gadget guy (Die Another Day (2002)), and that comic relief is sorely missed in this latest film.

The rest of the characters, whether they are enemy combatants or semi-friendly allies, are mostly largely forgettable in Quantum of Solace. They fill up screen time decently enough, but don’t do much to really separate themselves from the crowd. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but not toally unexpected – since the bad guys are an organization and not just one individual, their shadowy presence becomes more of the main opponent than any particular character.

Sure, there’s a bit of the ol’ ladies man in the current Bond, but it seems he manages to worm his way into bed by being more the rough and tumble bruiser women take pity on rather than the suave charmer of old. Why he’s bedding women in this film is never quite explained, since he’s supposedly still wrapped up in the death of his “true love”, but apparently the filmmakers didn’t feel comfortable with removing that classic Bond framework completely as of yet.

While Daniel Craig is not actually that bad as an action hero, he’s just not Bond. If the viewer forgets the Bond tie-in, they should do just fine with the film. Thankfully, that’s rather easy to do, as the film itself is a lot grittier and darker than previous Bond films. Without the sophistication that came so naturally from previous Bonds, Daniel Craig’s films are worlds apart. Maybe it’s the series way of staying in tune with the times – when the most popular action hero of the day is either imbued with superpowers or neglects to spew comical lines between his fight sequences. While it may still be fun to watch, the viewer may long for the suave and sophisticated Bonds of the past by the time the movie comes to a grisly close.

Toss in the lack of the eyehole shot opening sequence (a sequence that’s added in as an afterthought at the very end), and Quantum of Solace distances itself even further from the Bond films viewers have grown with over the years. While the multiple changes may have attracted new viewers, it’s hard for series fans to really get into this new idea of Bond.

Hopefully this is just a brief change, and soon Craig will be replaced with a Bond that more fits the mold of his predecessors, but for now we enjoy Craig’s adventures as what they seem to be – the emergence of a new action star, not a new Bond.