Quantum of Solace (2008), a.k.a. Daniel Craig's second outing as 007, is a prime object lesson in conspicuous consumption. I say this not because the film is overstuffed with multi-million-dollar action sequences, but because director Marc Forster took some of the best writers, actors, and, particularly, stunt teams in the world today, and then apparently did his darndest to make their work dull, lacklustre, and underwhelming. There's a perverse sort of impressiveness here.
Written by the Casino Royale team and starring the magnificent Daniel Craig, Judy Dench, and Mathieu Amalric (Munich), Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale left off, in this case with Bond's trunk full of the man he kneecapped at the end of that last film. A car chase, interrogation, and attempt on M's life result in the discovery of a rogue intelligence faction that calls themselves Quantum, and if they aren't evil, they're at the very least in conflict with the goals of MI-6. This film also sees Bond in full, soul-dead vengeance mode, and a combination of circumstances and design connect him with a South American intelligence agent named Camille, whose own quest for vengeance neatly overlaps Bond's. Seeing an opportunity to serve Britain and take revenge in one fell swoop, Bond offers to help Camille murder the general who murdered her family, which takes Bond one step closer to Quantum in the guise of French private natural resources magnate Dominic Greene (Amalric).
Sound complicated? If in a negative fashion, that's only because I'm a poor summarizer. In truth, the complexity of this story was a thing of beauty, marred and truncated by a bizarre, unwieldy, and boring action-to-drama ration. The story of Quantum of Solace is a more interesting story than that of Casino Royale, with interesting and mature commentaries on loyalty and vengeance. I hate revenge films as a general rule, not because they're angry but because of all the genre's built-in lies. Quantum of Solace sees Bond admitting/asserting that the idea that he "did it for Vesper" is a load of bull that you'd have to be an idiot to believe - or, as he puts it in the film, "the dead don't care about vengeance." On the topic of loyalty, the film is full of subtle complexities, forging in particular an odd love triangle between Bond, M, and Britain. Casino Royale players Felix and Mathis are also on-screen here, which muddies things further. Long story short, the story and script are fantastic, and I'd love to see the properly developed version.
But, as I implied above, that's unlikely. How Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction) got handed the reigns to this picture is a mystery - the man has no experience with action, and it shows. Case in point, the opening car chase. The Bond stunt team is perhaps the best in the world today, yet instead of showcasing their work and filming, you know, the car chase they staged, the scene consists of alternating shots of the gear shift, the cool dashboard panel, and Daniel Craig's face, and feels for all the world like a car ad. Did I mention it's as dull as it is insulting to the stunt team? All the action is like that, and it kills the film. This is on top of the fact that Forster not only misused these guys, but put in too much action, at least in ratio to dialogue and exposition. And too much action is what? Yes! Boring! Especially when it's so poorly filmed and edited! Managing to make this team's work boring suggests a level of incompetence akin to Joel Schumacher somehow making Kiefer Sutherland - as a the leader of a teenage vampire biker gang, to boot, and fresh off one very badass turn in Stand By Me - completely non-threatening in The Lost Boys.
On the plus side, I've been defending the title of this film ever since it was revealed and the entertainment media and blogosphere became clogged with inane articles to the effect of "I don't get the title, so it's stupid!" Not having seen the film, my response was, "I'm pretty sure this is a brilliant name for a revenge film, and if you don't know what a quantum is, google it, you lazy such-and-such." Having seen the film, I stand by that response, revising "pretty sure" to "100%" sure. The quantum of solace is indeed what one finds in acts of vengeance. It's even highlighted in the opening titles, which stand out from those of every other Bond film by being notably devoid of sex. A girl is formed out of sand about halfway through, and then cloned so that Bond appears to be surrounded by women, but what with there being only one actual woman, and her being a sand sculpture, i.e. passing and easily destroyed, it's a genius way to emphasize what a lonely man 007 is. The only downside to the title is that it appears to be a contractual obligation to work a literal reference into the name of each Bond film (Dr. No! Licence to Kill! Goldeneye!). There doesn't appear to be any necessary reason for the villainous counter-agency to be named Quantum, and this adds a corny element to an otherwise beautiful turn of phrase.
Quantum of Solace had everything it needed to surpass Casino Royale - except, that is, a competent director. Better luck next time, folks.
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1 comment:
I'm not sure that I experienced it on the same level that you have, but I liked the film as an average action film.
To put it another way, I enjoyed watching it, but darnit! Its only lasting impression is that I can't remember a single thing about it ;-)
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