Quantum of Solace hit the theaters in the United States on Friday and was the top-grossing film in the country. And, make no mistake, it is a thrilling, explosive action pic — a little out of character for the Bond franchise, but a great deal of fun.
But if I had to grade the film, I’d give it an incomplete. The reason? The film does not stand on its own. If you did not see Casino Royale — a top-notch Bond film, one of the best — then QoS will make little sense. That is not necessarily its death-knell, but it does limit its effectiveness.
I see the film more as a bridge from Casino Royale to whatever if is that will follow.
Some other thoughts:
- The title credits, which were so striking in Casino Royale and play such an important mood-setting role in earlier bond films, were dull.
- The theme song, performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, was terrible, far less than the sum of its parts.
- The opening car chase was both thrilling and confusing, a victim of an over-eager editor. Otherwise, the film was brilliantly paced, better in this regard than Casino Royale, which suffered from an overly long aside detailing Bond’s relationship with Vesper.
- We didn’t need the homage to Goldfinger (I won’t say anymore; Bond fans will know what I mean when they see it).
- The Bond character progresses in Qos, grows, and it’s clear that the hard edges are softening, the roughness giving way to a Connery-like charm.
- The film was about 20 minutes too short, the 20 minutes not included being the back-story that would have better fleshed out the narrative.
Recommendation: See Quantum of Solace, but rent Casino Royale first.
Hank Kalet 