Quantum of Solace (2008) Director: Marc Foster
“When you can’t tell your friends from your enemies, it’s time to go.”
★★★☆☆
A sequel to Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace was released amidst a screenwriter’s guild strike in Hollywood, and unfortunately it shows. This script is simply a drab mess, despite being very loosely derived from Ian Fleming’s short story of the same name as featured in the For Your Eyes Only anthology. In truth, the plot for the film shares almost nothing in common with Fleming’s original experimental short story (it mainly just borrows the use of the title). Quantum of Solace plays out like a bit of cheap plagiarism, a generic action thriller relying heavily on the popularity of the Jason Bourne franchise with endless disorienting quick cuts leading to confusing action sequences, and it is hampered by a forgettable villain. Unfortunately, Director Marc Foster later commented on his lack of admiration for the pre-Casino Royale Bond movies, and lead actor Daniel Craig lamented the fact that he had to re-work the script while filming was already underway.
The film opens with Bond seeking to exact vengeance on those who indirectly caused the death of his lover Vesper at the dramatic end of Casino Royale. Here we see a chaotic, indecipherable chase scene in Siena, Italy obviously plagiarized from the Jason Bourne sequels. Bond has captured Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) –someone who previously appeared in Casino Royale. He brings Mr. White to an underground MI6 location beneath Siena where M begins questioning him regarding an unknown organization called “Quantum,” but then Bond and M are double-crossed by one of M’s bodyguards, Craig Mitchell. Despite facing opposition, Bond chases the double-crosser down and kills him, then he and M search Mitchell’s flat in London which leads Bond to a hitman’s flat in Port Au Prince, Haiti. He kills the hitman named Edmund Slate (Neil Jackson) and quickly meets a woman named Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) while the trail leads to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a somewhat bland, unimpressive businessman who has a plan to stage a coup d’etat in Bolivia via a complex plot to control the country’s water supply. He is in cahoots with both the CIA and an exiled general named Medrano (Joaquín Cosío). At an operatic performance of Tosca –a terrific scene in the film– Bond uncovers the allies of Greene, a contingent of businessmen and international intelligence, all of whom are working on an oil pipeline called “The Tierra Project.” He ignores M’s request to return to MI6 for debriefing and goes off the radar.
This further leads Bond to an organization that once employed Vesper, “Quantum of Solace.” For help, Bond turns to Rene Mathis and they head to Bolivia together where Bond soon is tracked down by another a representative of the consulate, “Strawberry Fields” (Gemma Arterton) intending to bring him back to London –but she is soon brutally killed. We find her dipped head to toe in oil (a nod to the iconic scene in Goldfinger). Sadly, Mathis is also killed in a mix-up with the police, Bond unceremoniously dumps Mathis’s body into a dumpster. We learn about Camille’s troubled familial connection to General Medrano. Bond and Camille then infiltrate Greene’s desert lair in Bolivia in order to prevent his political coup –the facility is actually a large environmentally sustainable desert hideaway. Amidst a firefight complete with explosions, Camille exacts vengeance on General Medrano for what he did to her family, and Bond captures Greene before leading him out into the remote desert where he tortures him for information about Quantum and then leaves him alone with only a can of oil. According to M, Greene is later found shot with two bullets in the head and with oil found in his stomach.
In an epilogue to the film, Bond tracks down Vesper’s former paramour, a man who seduces women in order to gain access to influential people. In this case, he has seduced a woman from Canadian intelligence named Corrine. We are led to believe that Bond tortures him before leaving him alive to be arrested by MI6. Meanwhile, M approaches Bond and asks him to rejoin the ranks now that he has completed his vengeance for the death of Vesper. Bond agrees, claiming he never left, and he coldly drops Vesper’s old necklace into the snow as he walks away.
After a re-watch, I gained a newfound appreciation for Quantum of Solace. Despite maintaining a noticeably bleaker tone than its far superior predecessor, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace serves as an intriguing sequel wherein Bond is haunted by his grief over Vesper Lynd. Quantum is often regarded as the most violent in the Bond saga –it sits squarely in the shadow of the Jason Bourne films, with dizzying cut-scenes and brutal moments of torture. While I do not share the broadly poor view of this film, Quantum does neglect some key Bondian staples, such as the iconic gun barrel sequence and it is also absent the MI6 personnel we are accustomed to seeing, especially Q and MoneyPenny. And lamentably, the film’s theme song “Another Way To Die” by Jack White and Alicia Keys, is not among the best Bond theme songs. I am pleased to see Quantum of Solace gain a certain reappraisal by fans in recent years, though it is far from the best of the Bond films.
Click here to return to my survey of the James Bond saga.
Book Review: For Your Eyes Only (1960) by Ian Fleming
- James Bond actor: Daniel Craig
- Director: Marc Forster
- Producers: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
- Screenplay: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade
- Cinematography: Roberto Schaefer
- Editor: Matt Chesse, and Richard Pearson
- Gun Barrel Sequence: None at the beginning (unfortunately), but there is a brief gun barrel sequence as the credits roll at the end.
- Villain(s): Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), Greene’s second-in-command Elvis (Anatole Taubman), Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), General Medrano (Joaquín Cosío),
- Bond Girl(s): Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), Strawberry Fields
- MI6: M (Judi Dench), M’s chief of staff Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear)
- Bond Gadgets: Sony Ericsson C902,
- Allies: Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini)
- Score: David Arnold
- Theme Song: “Another Way to Die” by Jack White and Alicia Keys
- Locales: Siena, Italy; London, England; Port Au Prince, Haiti; Talamone in Tuscany; La Paz, Bolivia