Darkhorizons review

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

I have copied and pasted from Alt007 - the original poster - P. - edited it, and you can read the full version by going to the darkhorizons website.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/quantumofsolace.php

"Following up one of the best Bond films made with one of the worst, 'Quantum' is nothing less than a crushing disappointment - a barely plotted, poorly filmed, hyper-edited and most of all utterly flat vehicle that commits a crime far worse than even Roger Moore's outlandish last few films - it makes James Bond dull.

It's interesting in the way that this new incarnation of Bond is mirroring a pattern created by one of his predecessors, Timothy Dalton, two decades ago. Like Daniel Craig, Dalton came onto a franchise that had become a punch line and in his very strong first effort, "The Living Daylights", delivered a serious and contemporary Bond that still kept many of the hallmarks which made it work (gadgets, naughty humor, exotic locales, elaborate villains, well-filmed action set pieces).

His disappointing follow-up "Licence to Kill" however ditched that in favor of a more realistic and smaller-scope story of 007 going off the grid for revenge against a Central-American drug dealer. The end result was a rather generic 80's Joel Silver-style action film that almost sunk the franchise in spite of a few commendable qualities (such as Robert Davi's effective villain). Just shy of twenty years on a similar situation has occurred, although this time the franchise is in no such economic jeopardy.

What's decidedly missing here is the fun. Both the Bond books and films, even the serious Connery ones, always had various layers of satire to them which unfortunately blossomed into pure farce a few too many times. The casual misogyny, hedonism, materialism, wit, savoir-faire, British sensibility and cold ruthlessness when called for are all key elements that define the character. Unlike the Bournes and Batmans of this world who are tortured by what they do, Bond is someone who has always reveled in it. 'Royale' brilliantly setup the notion of Bond being a brutal former SAS officer who began incorporating those touches into his character as the film went on. Rather than logically expanding on that, 'Solace' goes backwards and reverts him to a thuggish persona that bares only a passing resemblance to Fleming's vision. Also don't be fooled - there's a LOT of reviewers saying Craig fits Fleming's vision perfectly but from their writing have quite obviously not read the books.

I'm a long-term Bond fan, the film series is my personal favorite of all the film franchises out there, and thus I rarely dislike a Bond film and they all mean a lot to me. For those hardcore fans this film is a major disappointment. Those new to the franchise who came in on 'Royale' will also likely find this a lackluster follow-up but be more forgiving of the flaws. Even those easily pleased action fans who prefer this streamlined, filler-free, violence-focused approach to Bond will label it as a lesser copy of the Bourne films which is a fair argument. There's hints of a more complete film here, both in action and dramatic terms, that has been lost to a brutal editing process - leaving this feeling very rushed and unfinished.

Often descending too far into camp, the franchise has gone the other way this time - taking Bond in an all too self-serious, dour and frantic direction where the stakes mean little, the atmosphere is oppressive, and the emotional involvement of both the character and audience is negligible. Some more time for reshoots and new editors may have been able to salvage a solid Bond entry from this - what we're stuck with is a generic action movie that on its own merits is little more than a decent time waster.

Held up in comparison to the 007 legacy though, it is one of the least entertaining of the series and certainly feels amongst the most incomplete. By all means keep the cast regulars, all of them do excellent work, lets just hope next time the producers actually take proper time crafting a compelling story with the right Bond-ian touches and a production crew with a better appreciation of the series and its strengths"