Quantum of Solace

release year: 2008
genre: action/adventure
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/8/19 and theater 11/23/08

synopsis: Right on the heels of the last movie, James Bond pursues the mysterious organization "Quantum" and tries to stop their schemes.

impressions: This was entertaining, and a lot different than the "conventional" Bond movies, but I'm not sure that change is always good. If you swapped a few actors and character names and plot elements, this could have been identical to any recent action movie, with the faster-than-real-time action scenes and camera work that make it impossible to follow the movements of the people in the scenes. Add to that a lack of gadgets and females for Bond to deal with, plus the fact that this Bond is lethally serious, and...well, this isn't the same Bond from the 60s or 70s or 80s or even 90s.

acting: Daniel Craig follows up his last Bond performance with more of the same: he's intense, violent, and all business. Judi Dench continues to be a super-serious "M". Mathieu Amalric is the main bad guy, who looks more weird than anything else. Olga Kurylenko is the main female lead, who Bond never has a romantic moment with. Gemma Arterton is a female MI6 agent who Bond somehow seduces.

chases: boat chase, car chase, 2 foot chases, one airplane chase

neat gadgets: phone that can track other phones after they call it

confirmed Bond kills: again, more than most past movies...probably several dozen...it becomes difficult to tally when he's using a machine gun at times

confirmed Bond seductions: 1

obnoxious female name: Strawberry Fields

defining Bond moments:

casually steals a boat
after eluding bad guys, goes back to where he started
casually steals a truck
wanders into a dressing room and comes out in a tuxedo
breaks off doorknob so nobody can find the guy he knocked out

quotable:

M: "What happened to Slate?"

Bond: “I’m not dwelling on the past. I don’t think you should, either.”

M: "And, Bond, if you could avoid killing every possible lead, it would be deeply appreciated."

Bond: "Yes, ma’am, I’ll do my best."

M: "I've heard that before."

final word: Entertaining but different. When I sit down to watch a James Bond movie, this isn't really what I have in mind.

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