In Casino Royale, Daniel Craig stunned viewers with his thug-like character. Unlike the previous James Bond characters, Craig’s brutal “kill first, ask questions later” attitude did not fit the archetypal Bond persona. In past movies, Bond characters tended to avoid confrontation and were high-minded; however, Craig’s character tended to be more like an MI6 brute who almost seemed to enjoy violence a bit too much. However, Casino Royale and Craig’s Bond were met with great approval, which set up large expectations for its sequel, Quantum of Solace.
Quantum of Solace met many of the high expectations, but still was not received with as much acclaim as its prequel. When I think of a Bond movie, I think of a fantastic spy thriller plot-line packed with action and romance. Quantum delivered this fix to me. In fact, not only did Quantum of Solace have both a car chase and a boat chase, it also had an airplane dogfight. In addition, the stunts were absolutely phenomenal. When I heard that one stunt put three stuntmen in the hospital, I thought, “No way!”—but (without giving away too much of the action) I was not disappointed with the “lethal” stunts. However, I was disappointed both with the romance and the plot line. Only once did I see any PG-13 material in the movie, and the plot line was far less than believable: Bond vs. Environmentalist ... please!
The story starts with a car chase just where Casino Royale left off; Bond has Mr. White and is being chased by the members of White’s organization. But before he escapes, we learn through White of a mysterious but powerful organization called Quantum that has ties to every government, and until then was unknown to the CIA and MI6.
Bond, still stinging from the death of Vesper Lynd, sets out to find out about White’s mysterious organization. But, as lead after lead in the case keeps dying without any progress, we begin to wonder if Bond’s motives are not to bring Quantum to justice but to avenge Lynd’s death. As more and more of the action shifts from Europe to an impending coup in Bolivia, it seems that Bond is taking his personal revenge far past the job description as he hunts down the shadowy leader of Quantum—environmentalist Green.
Green’s “environmentally safe plan” seems simply to be to rule the world through his utility company by dominating the natural resources and the world’s fresh water—our most important resource of all. Although it is completely unrealistic, I would say that the filmmakers once again pulled off another Bond movie that is definitely worth seeing. It has something for everyone: action for the action-goobers, a lack of romance for mixed viewers, and an environmentalist villain to attract “those people,” if you know what I mean. Therefore, I would give Quantum of Solace a four out of five, and would definitely recommend seeing it, even though it was not as good as Casino Royale.
