Written by: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright
Rating: [3/5]
Following an absolute crackerjack first film always comes with some difficulties in allowing lightning to strike twice. A first in a storied franchise in its attempts to tell a linear story with emotional throughlines pulling everything forward. Quantum of Solace kicks things off as a result and despite the ways it definitely struggles compared to its predecessor and its sequel later on, this feature still has plenty of merit in what it presents to entertain.
Still heartbroken over the death of Vesper, James Bond (Daniel Craig) continues on with his role as 007 where he learns about a shadow organization called Quantum, who do plenty but not a lot of information exists about them. This leads them to encounter Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who aligns with their mission of stopping the work of this organization and has plans in her home country of Bolivia.
Quantum of Solace sits at an interesting place amongst the Daniel Craig Bond films where it usually sits at the bottom of the rankings and unfortunately rests between the undisputed best ones in Casino Royale and Skyfall. It thus sits as the forgotten middle child and it certainly does itself no favors in living up to the other far superior films.
This feature occurs directly after the heartbreak of losing Vesper, who Bond believed was the love of his life. This story begins a complete descent into cynicism and realizing perhaps he will not have a happy ending in life, which makes him dive deep into this next mission and what he needs to complete. A narrative thread connects these two, which does not occur on too many occasions with the other Bond movies as they had a more episodic structure to them. We have a Bond here with baggage and it certainly dictates some of his decision-making throughout the feature as the two plots run concurrently together. The one directed by MI6 for him to complete as well as his search for final answers of Vesper.
What makes this feature so disliked appears in two elements heavily important to any Bond film: the villain and the “Bond girl.” With a more environmental-leaning plot in this feature, the villain, Dominic Greene, portrayed by Mathieu Amalric just does not leave an impression. The issue he raises through his motives just don’t carry much weight to them nor does he compel as much as Mads Mikkelsen in the preceding feature or Javier Bardem in the succeeding one. Nothing about it necessarily raises any major stakes or some consequence to someone like Bond making it quite forgettable.
When looking at the Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko does not necessarily do a bad job, but the concerning brownface in this casting makes absolutely no sense. The French-Ukranian actor does fine but the fact she’s meant to portray a Bolivian woman to the degree where they definitely darken her skin to sell this entire façade is borderline idiotic. If the feature wanted to take place in Bolivia at the very least they could cast a Latine woman. Why they chose Kurylenko makes no sense, seeing as I can guarantee outside of her friends and family no one was coming to see this movie because she’s appearing as the Bond girl. Not to say the Bond girls are immaterial to the story, but they do not represent the draw more than Bond himself making it absurd to believe they needed to cast her as a Bolivian woman to get butts in seats rather than perhaps bringing in a Latine woman to accompany this feature. One of those decisions where you cannot assume nativity was at play and that these filmmakers just maliciously tried to pull something like this off.
Amid the criticisms, this remains a Bond film directed by Marc Forster, and the action set pieces still dazzle putting Daniel Craig through the wringer. The desert-like setting allows for some nice shots to capture the heat and how it plays a part in what takes place. Each of these moments outside of the villain, as silly as it seems to say, works very well as this organization begins to develop its plan. It ultimately makes it impossible for me to dislike this feature despite the many issues plaguing the production.
Certainly, the very bottom of the Daniel Craig Bond films even if it contains its own merits, Quantum of Solace reminds you of the fun of this franchise amid all the issues it has. We have a vastly cynical Bond allowing Craig to dig deep in showing the emotional turmoil of this man amid this tragic time and how he needs to push through in order to accomplish this mission and receive some closure on Vesper.
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