Too much solace, too little Bond

[Goldeneye]

Thanks to James for the original post.

http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/118110/

Too much solace, too little Bond
By Bruce Watson
Published on November 21, 2008

LIKE its strange title, the film "Quantum of Solace" is bewildering and almost meaningless.

In the wake of James Bond's recent revival as a sensitive and brooding secret agent, "Quantum of Solace"' was much anticipated. Daniel Craig had recast Bond as a slightly sinister, slightly loose cannon, with abs. But the old Bond canon - think Sean Connery - now looks much better.

Unlike the Craig remake of "Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace" adds nothing to the Bond legend. Even fans of the spy-action thriller series will be disappointed as their hero fights not to save the free world but to save the water system of Bolivia. And while the usual "Bond girls" are here, there are just two and they don't dress well. Where have you gone, Ursula Andress?

There is a plot, sort of.

The moderately evil Dominic Greene may look like an environmentalist, but you know how tricky those "tree huggers" are. In reality, he's the mastermind of many coups, aiding overthrows in Haiti, Bolivia and the Middle East, just so his company, "Greene Planet," can corner the market on water or some other scarce resource.

As if Greene's "greenness" were not enough to put him on America's Most Wanted list, he's also French. You might think such a dated enemy wouldn't play well in this era of change, but "Quantum of Solace" easily outpaced "Casino Royale's" opening box office weekend. Some changes are harder to believe in.

Yet audiences will enjoy the usual Bond ingredients - starting with the world. "Quantum of Solace" takes us globe-hopping from Italy to Haiti to Austria to the Bolivian desert with stops in London in between. There's less high tech than usual, but the enlarged iPhonish computer screens that sketch whole diagrams with a single touch are pretty cool. And the chase scenes involve all modern modes of transportation. Bond is chased in cars, in boats, even in a plane.

As in "Casino Royale," this new Bond has more than a license to kill. He also has a license to survive 100-foot falls, to have his head smashed and come up swinging, to leap tall buildings in a single bound. And in "Quantum of Solace," Bond also has a license to bore.

The problem is, all the usual Bondness all but disappears during a half-hour lull. As if director Mark Foster ("The Kite Runner") stepped out for coffee, "Quantum of Solace" treads water in one long middle section that does little more than introduce its villains and cast doubt on Bond himself.

Is Bond out of control? Is he consumed with revenge against those who killed his girlfriend in his last film? Would he even kill his fellow agents?

The answer to these is obvious, hence the scenes spent on them are wasted. As head agent "M" says, with all the gravitas Judi Dench can muster, "When you can't tell your friends from your enemies, it's time to go."

James Bond will never leave us, of course. Ian Fleming's formula of guns, girls and gadgets will be with us for as long as men want to dream. But this Bond, this sensitive, brooding Bond, had better offer more than solace next time.