Despite the reservations of many critics, Quantum of Solace is a solid entry into the James Bond franchise. While the movie itself isn’t quite a strong as its predecessor Casino Royale, Daniel Craig continues to prove himself to be a solid choice to play the vaunted British super spy. While I’m not prepared to say that Craig is the best Bond yet, with two films under his belt, he’s certainly giving Sean Connery a run for his money. Craig brings a real anger and cynicism to the role that neither Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan could muster. This new attitude has helped to give the Bond franchise the reboot it sorely needed.
The film begins immediately after the events in Casino Royale. Having captured Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) Bond brings him to meet with M. (Judi Dench). They question him about the super-secret organization hinted at during the first film but White just laughs and tells M and Bond that the organization has people everywhere. This is quickly confirmed when M’s personal bodyguard of several years reveals that he is an operative for White’s organization. White escapes, nearly killing M and thrusts him into a race to identify those in White’s organization. During his investigation, Bond encounters Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a corrupt environmentalist and member of Mr. White’s criminal enterprise, a mysterious terrorist conglomerate known as Quantum. Bond tracks Greene to Bolivia, where he’ll join forces with a beautiful agent named Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Greene tries repeatedly to kill Camille but Bond is able to rescue her.
Bond begins traveling the world to try and unravel the mysterious organization and determine who tried to assassinate M; as well as figure out Greene’s role in the entire situation. It appears that Greene and General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) are working to place Medrano back into power in Bolivia in exchange for a large desert region to become owned by Greene. It is soon learned that that the CIA is also working with Medrano and Greene to place the General back into power and Bond´s American ally Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) is involved with the plot but being duped by Greene. Bond seeks out the help of his friend Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) after M and the M-16 begin to believe Bond a rogue agent and his passports and credit cards are suspended. Bond is forced to work outside the system to bring information about Quantum to light.
Anyone hoping for a lot of witty one-liners and cool gadgets is going to be disappointed. Quantum of Solace is a fairly serious installment. Bond is anger and completely obsessed with avenging the death of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). His overriding concern is bringing her killers to justice. This Bond is far too busy stalking his prey and delivering serious beat downs to be enamored with a lot of gadgets and tools.
Quantum of Solace is really a ninety-minute third act, which serves as a conclusion to Casino Royale. Those who haven’t seen the previous film may find this one utterly confusing. Therefore, I suggest you watch Casino Royale first. Quantum is easily the most action packed of any of the Bond films and despite rumor to the contrary, actually has an emotionally resonant plot.
Quantum of Solace is a sharp looking film on Blu-ray and the 2.40:1 framed picture is clean. Director Marc Forster and Director of Photography Roberto Schaffer continue to show Daniel Craig´s Bond in a very gritty manner with desaturated colors that helps ground Bond in reality. Detail is exceptional and watching Bond walk through the desert is a testament to how solid the detail is as you can pick out each small pebble. Gunfire and the resulting particle effects look spectacular. Coloring is altered to present Bond is a darker world and colors are far from looking over-processed. Skin coloring is very natural Detail holds up in the few dark sequences and the image is stable throughout the film. The digital mastering is clean and there were no noticeable digital flaws.
The audio of Quantum of Solace is exceptional and the English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix sounds incredible. From the opening sequence where Bond is racing through the twisted Italian streets in a gorgeous car while gunfire erupts all around him to the explosive finale, Quantum of Solace sounds amazing. The film uses all six channels and while most of the heavy lifting is done by the front three channels, the rear surrounds and .1 LFE channel all are given plenty to do and provides a booming and enveloping experience. Bass is deep and directional effects pan perfectly between speakers. Dialogue is sharp. Additional language support is provided with Spanish, French and Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital mixes and English, Spanish, Cantonese, Portuguese, Korean and Mandarin subtitles are included.
There really isn’t too much meat with the included special features:
• Featurette: Bond on Location (HD, 25 minutes) – On-set and press junket interviews are provided with director Marc Forster, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, stars Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric and Gemma Arterton, and other crew. Unfortunately, this was clearly assembled before the movie came out, so it has that weird future-tense-speak going on.
• Additional Featurettes (HD, 15 minutes) – All of these featurettes are culled from the same basic EPK material, and are fine, if thin. The five additional vignettes are: Start of Shooting (3 minutes), On Location (3 minutes), Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase (2 minutes), Director Marc Forster (3 minutes) and The Music (3 minutes).
• Crew Files (SD, 46 minutes) – Despite the substantial runtime, this clutch of thirty-four crew profiles is rather boring. Originally produced for the web, each segment profiles crew member with an interview and behind-the-scenes footage.
• Music Video (HD) – A clip is included for the Jack White and Alicia Keyes duet, “Another Way to Die.”
• Theatrical Trailers (HD) – Finishing the extras are the film’s original teaser and theatrical trailers, both in HD.
