Quantum of Solace (2008) Review

Before I go see No Time to Die next week I have some catching up to do and I watched Quantum of Solace today and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees James Bond attempting to take down a mysterious organisation that is attempting to take over a country. 

Main Character

Daniel Craig returns for his second go as Bond and I think he is good here, there isn't as much intrigue or development for Bond but he is fantastic in the action scenes. Also when there is some drama for his character to deal with I think he does it well enough. I think he is let down by other elements of the film but in terms of his performance, I thought it was good. 

Supporting Characters

Judi Dench is back as M and she gets a meatier role in this film and she is good as you would expect. They do build the relationship between her and Bond and both both of them do a good job in doing just that. But the issue is with the rest of the cast, Olga Kurylenko plays Camille and I think there is a decent character in there but it isn't conveyed well enough and the main issue is that she basically just disappears for half of this film which forces them to rush into trying to make you care. Mathieu Amalric plays the bad guy here and he is dull it is unreal, this is just a guy that happens to be in James Bond's way and he could have been any villain and it wouldn't have mattered and thats a big shame. The film brings back Jeffery Wright as Felix Leitner and just wastes him and I forgot David Harbour was even in this film because he was used so little. 

Story 

The story for me is where this film really falls apart, it just isn't interesting at all. It tries to build up this mysterious organisation and Bond hunting them but basically gets pushed to the back to see Bond being chased for some convoluted reason. It tries to balance too many things and it ends up failing at pretty much all of it leading to a real lacklustre finale. 

Script

The script is okay, there are some good dramatic moments and as I mentioned before the relationship between Bond and M is handled maturely and appropriately. But there is a real lack of intrigue and depth to the rest of the drama and this film is incredibly serious, lacking the little subtle bits of humour that Bond films usually have.

Style  

The style has some good action scenes, they are high impact, exciting and for the majority well filmed. But it is also a bit of an issue, there is so much action that it feels like the pacing of the film is off. The film just clocks over 90 mins and it feels way too short and that affects the overall quality of the film. 

Overall

Overall, Quantum of Solace is an average film that really fails to follow on the great work that Casino Royale had done. 

Rating - 5/10