Monday, November 17, 2008

Clearly he'd be better served by a license to chill: "Quantum of Solace"

With one trip to the cinema, I experienced the glorious intersection of two major geek traditions: James Bond and "Star Trek." While waiting for the latest installment of the former, I caught the trailer for the reinvented version of the latter. And. It. Was. Awesome. I never do this, but here's a link to the trailer. Break out the Romulan ale!

OK, back to our original dorky obsession.

So I'm a James Bond fan. You know this. Seen all of them multiple times, and have owned almost all in some form: DVD, VHS or dubbed videotape. Many is the late night where I've been uninspired by my DVR list and thought, "Yeah, time for some 007." Could be "Goldfinger." Could be "The Spy Who Loved Me." Heck, it could be "Die Another Day," which is reaching pretty far down the secret agent food chain. Doesn't matter. I love the guy.

Then it's no surprise that I couldn't wait to take in the latest film, following the well-done reinvention of the character in "Casion Royale." In fact, I rented "Royale" again last week, knowing I'd be able to see "Quantum of Solace" on Sunday and wanting to refresh my memory of Daniel Craig's first turn as Bond. And it was good.

"Quantum?" Not as good, but not as bad as some critics make it out to be. And yes, I know I'm probably biased here.

I actually went into "Quantum" expecting the worst. Bond has turned into Jason Bourne, they say. Craig needs to lighten up. The story sucks. Where's the sex, gadgets and humor?

To those gripes, I say, in order: not really; yes, a bit; it could have been better; and cutting back on that stuff wasn't all bad. Heresy? Maybe.

Our story picks up immediately after the end of "Royale," which saw Bond tracking down a guy connected to the death of his love, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, may her hot body rest in peace). Right away, there's a bang-up car chase, which Bond survives. Unfortunately, MI-6's efforts to interrogate the suspect are thwarted, leading to a bang-up foot chase across the Siena, Italy, rooftops. So if you're counting, that's a lot of action in about 20 minutes. Not bad.

The trail evenutally leads Bond to Haiti and two people: a beautiful woman who has her own agenda, and an environmental businessman who is up to no good. I could look up these two actors' names, but it's no big deal. She's hot, he's slimy. Let's keep going.

After a fight in a hotel room -- the body count starts to mount, to the chagrin of Bond's boss, M (Dame Judi Dench) -- and a boat chase, we bounce to Austria, then to Bolivia, where we learn the bad guy's scheme, which revolves around controlling water supply. We also learn a little about Quantum, the super-secret organization behind the bad stuff in the previous film and this one. Not much, but a little.

Of course, the CIA is around, too, so we get a return visit from Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, a familiar name in the Bond lexicon. Giancarlo Giannini also returns as Mathis, the guy Bond thought was a double agent in "Royale." Finally, we get a fling with a British agent in Bolivia, which keeps the Bong-banging-girls streak alive. Note: He doesn't get with the main Bond girl, to the dismay of some fans, I'm sure.

He also doesn't have much in the way of gadgets -- or anything, I think. Instead, we see the superduper technology that MI-6 has. Touch screens galore! Take that, John King and CNN! But hey, there's an Aston Martin, even if it's beat to hell in the opening scene.

So yeah, let's talk about how this isn't a real Bond movie. I'll admit I didn't like director Marc Forster dropping the traditional opening. I also wouldn't have minded at least one or two little gadgets. Just little ones! Not asking for a mini-jet or a submarine car. And hey, what's with not having an evil henchman? My kingdom for a guy to join Jaws and Oddjob in the annals of enjoyable assassins.

Also, some of the action was shot in a Bourne way: up close and personal. That's OK sometimes, but I think some scenes would have been better with a little distance to show the majesty of the shots. Say what you will about the Pierce Brosnan movies: Some of those big scenes looked great. Love the wide angles.

Those scenes often lacked heart, though, and that's where I think "Quantum" and Craig hold up all right. Yes, the main story is a little boring and incomplete, and yes, Craig could give the steely-eyed thing a break at times. But the guy also is in mourning, and it's right after his woman died -- not six months or a year later. If you focus more on that storyline -- the vengeful Bond -- this movie is OK and moves along fairly well. (It's the shortest Bond ever by running time, by the way.)

And it's not like Craig was humorless. He cracks a few jokes without dropping any painful double entendres. (Brosnan was horrible at that.) And for being a hard bastard, he clearly does have a heart -- not only for Vesper, but this other Bond girl and even M.

In time, I wonder if this movie -- even with its big budget -- will fall into the same category as "Licence to Kill," Timothy Dalton's last turn as Bond. I've come to see that movie as misunderstood. Critics say it's too violent and heartless, and lacks gadgets and humor. (Sound familiar?) But that Bond also wanted revenge after his friend Felix and Felix's wife were attacked. Bond goes rogue, and it's refreshing to see him with a damn-it-all, I'm-killing-this-guy-for-me attitude.

"Licence" has the better villain, with Robert Davi chewing up his role as a Latin American drug lord. Meanwhile, the "Quantum" villan was sleazy enough but pretty one-note and in the end just kind of there. But "Quantum" does give us a Latin babe who isn't as lame as the one in "Licence," and there's no bizarre Wayne Newton appearance -- one of the low points in Bond history.

Final verdict on "Quantum": Not as good as "Royale," but a decent second chapter for Craig. In other words, we still have "A View to a Kill" to kick around for a while yet.

2 Comments:

At 10:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Saw this last night and I was impressed. The Dn Cg movies are about Bond growing and we see it in this film. The one big difference between Bourne and Bond is that Bond isn't running around the world with a confused look on his face the whole time. The shaky cam/ up close thing has to go though.

License is an underrated Bond movie. Bless you my child, but Wayne was not the low point in the movie, the low point was Q doing field work with a walkie-talkie broom.

 
At 11:09 AM, Blogger Jefferson said...

Good point on Q's broom. Oy. That *did* suck.

I also really hated that Latina Bond girl. Easily the worst acting of a Bond girl. Yes, including Tanya Roberts in "View to a Kill."

But Carey Lowell ... woof.

 

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