Monday, November 10, 2008

Dart Adams presents The Dartflix Film Review: Quantum Of Solace

"Quantum Of Solace" has quite a hill to climb being that it's not only the second film in the darker, more realistic reboot of the influential world famous Bond series of films but it is following what was easily the best film of the entire series. "Quantum Of Solace" opened on October 31st in the UK and Europe and on November 7th in Asia and India and immediately claimed the #1 box office spot in all of those countries (Thanks to my UK connects I saw the flick this past weekend). It will manage to make an estimated $175-$200 million dollars before it even opens in North America on Friday (Edit: It has made an estimated $190 million in worldwide box office receipts as of Nov. 14th).

Bond is still racked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend Vesper Lynd and is on a reckless campaign to find the person/people responsible. He's catching bodies left and right and he's pushing M's patience to the brink. Following the capture of Mr. White (these events directly follow the ones from "Casino Royale") it's revealed that MI-6 contains moles and a leak. The people responsible for Vesper's murder are still a mystery. Bond isn't amused in the least by this reveal and M wonders who in her circle she can actually trust since one of her own men just tried to off her.

As Bond goes lone wolf and follows some leads he stumbles on to some information that leads him to Haiti. He then encounters the lovely Camille and her on/off boyfriend that doesn't seem too pleased with her. He seems to be conducting some none to kosher business by the pier with a shady character. Bond observes and send his recon photos to MI-6 to get some info on the folks he's shadowing.

He ends up saving Camille before she met quite a disastrous end and he continued in his quest to get leads on who tried to kill M and also try to get some idea as to who was responsible for the demise of the woman he loved. A Bond with actual feelings and a conscience? I can rock with that. He discovers the the man he's after is named Dominic Greene and he was with a deposed dictator named General Madrano. What's the deal? Bond decides to do some more recon to find out.

Bond and MI-6 discover that Dominic Greene is apparently an environmentalist and an activist that is working with several corporations to save lands in some South American countries. He is also a person of interest to the CIA and the American government so something else has to be going on with him and his operations. What's his (Greene's) plan exactly? A weather device that can control the world? A large pyramid that can block electric power to certain parts of the world? Oh...nah, that's Cobra. My bad.

At some point or another Bond discovers what one phase of the plot is and breaks it up. He aslo identifies the main players in the plan and gets a lead that can help him break open the whole operation. He once again encounters Camille after having a tryst with his new *ahem* handler Strawberry Fields (forever!). Oh, did I mention that he went and got Mathis out of retirement to assist him along the way? Shit, I knew I forgot to do something! *Ahem!* SPOILERS!!! LOL.

Bond figures out the entire nefarious (comic book word) plot and he eventually stops it. A lot of stuff blew up in the process, some sex was had and someone's lifeless body ended up in a dumpster and another person was drowned in oil. Bond killed some more folks, used different vehicles to get to some exotic locales, drank some liquor, had a few highly informative conversations and did some parkour/free running along the way as well. Bloody good show!

This film was highly entertaining and there was a gang of action but it fell short of toppling 'Casino Royale" as the GOAT Bond film ever. Either way, I will be copping this the Tuesday it comes out...on Blu-Ray. Fuck the dumb shit. I give this action packed paranoia and insomnia induced thrill ride of killer emo Bond film a mos def. Hopefully, next time I get to see Felix Leiter actually catch a body for a change and earn his paycheck. I expect this to cruise to the #1 box office spot this weekend. Watch the fanboys find a reason to bitch about it! *Checks IMDb*


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quantum of Solace was entertaining for sure, but sometimes i got the feeling that the movie was making fun of itself... everywhere pane of glass Bond crosses was broken, he can't get a gallon of milk from the store without it turning into a chase scene, and every time he punches someone in the face, they die

John Wilson said...

a couple thoughts:

1. i'm seeing a trilogy, because that dude got away from interrogation and was smart enough not to get up and leave during the performance when the auction was blown and the agent who was feeding M info on Bond's body count stated around that auction scene that Bond shot dude and dropped him when he clearly didn't shoot him.
2. the theme song with jack white and alicia keys is meh compared to chris cornell's "you know my name".

good movie overall

Dart Adams said...

@ john wilson:

Definitely what I was thinking about the trilogy as well. It won't be until the next film that Bond really gets his revenge for Vesper's death and they really figure out who or what they're dealing with.

I love this incarnation/treatment of James Bond. Roger Moore and Roger Ebert hate it but I like to see a Bond have feelings and genuinely WANT to kill one of his enemies as opposed to doing it purely in self defense.

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