The release of any new Bond movie is always such an occasion, full of expectation from loyal and casual fans alike and it has been this way since the British secrets agent's first appearance on screen in 1962 with Dr No.So I trotted off to the local cinema on opening day for a 1pm showing (no way was I going battle the hordes on a Friday night!) to see if Daniel Craig could repeat the magic created with his debut Bond appearance in 2006's Casino Royale.
The flick follows on from Casino Royale with Bond tracking down the killers of his lover from that movie who are part of a bigger shadowy global organization of bad guys. I won't go into too much detail about the plot, to be honest it is fairly standard Bond fare, but it is very well executed. The acting is excellent and a strong cast keeps the franchise in good health with particularly memorable performances by Mathieu Amalric as lead bad guy Dominic Greene and more screen time for the always fantastic Dame Judi Dench as 'M'.
In great Bond tradition (which was honored so well by the Bourne franchise) we get to travel around the world as bad guys are dispatched, cars are chased, planes are crashed and boats are flipped in Haiti, Italy, London, Russia and Bolivia. Of course being a movie made in the 00's and not the 60's there is a crazy amount of product placement, from mobile phones, SUVs, small cars and a certain British airline! I can understand the classic inclusion of the Aston Martin DBS V12 (I want one!) zooming around Lake Garda as a Bond movie wouldn't be the same with out one but the 'three movie' deal the producers did with a major US motor company doesn't lend a lot of extra class to proceedings.
So this was a good steady movie for the franchise, not quite packing the punch that we so enjoyed in Casino Royale but a decent contribution and Daniel Craig again shows that choosing him to replace Pierce Brosnan was verging on a stroke of genius.
Rating: ***
Quantum of Solace is entertaining at least... a fantastic job with the styling and picture quality, but the movie as a whole could stand to lose six or seven fewer chase scenes
ReplyDeleteYou are right if entertainment was the quest then Forster and co got it right. Just felt they could have tightened things up a little especially the 'menace' factor.
ReplyDeleteI loved it. I have yet to find a Bond film I thought had a plot and this one was no different but in the category of movies that entertain despite lacking depth of character or a plotline, this was tops! I was riveted from beginning to end. It shows particularly well on the HUGE screen - Cine Capri.
ReplyDeletePerfect film for the Cine Capri.
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