James Bond - Quantum of Solace

11 April 2015

Quantum of Solace 2008

• Director:  Marc Forster
• Based on the novels  by Ian Fleming
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Judie Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Craig   – Casino Royale, Defiance, Flashbacks of a Fool, Infamous, Road to Perdition, Elizabeth, Hotel Splendide
• Judi Dench –the other Bond films, Hotel Marigold, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jane Eyre, Cranford, Nine, Notes on a Scandal, Mrs Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, The Shipping News, Chocolat, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown, Hamlet, Henry V, A Handful of Dust, 84 Charing Cross Road, A Room with a View, Macbeth
• Mathieu Amalric – Le scaphandre et le papillon
• Giancarlo Giannini – Casino Royale
• Jeffrey Wright – The Hunger Games, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Source Code, Cadillac Records, Broken Flowers, Angels in America, Hamlet, Homicide Life on the Streets
• Gemma Arterton – The Boat that Rocked, Lost in Austen
• Why? Curious. Hal and I saw several Bond films in a Bond festival in the early 70’s and enjoyed them. Sean Connery is the only Bond we have ever seen.  Friends have said later actors have been good too. And with Judi Dench they can’t be all bad.  So we bought the box...
• Seen:  April 4, 2015   

Now our expectations are raised again. We want and expect a serious Bond.

The opening car chase is even more murderous than ever.  And takes over where the last film left off. James Bond is bitter and, though he denies it, out for revenge.

It’s almost non-stop chase for thirty minutes and it’s very exciting. I have, as so often, no idea what’s going on.

But. We have some very nasty CIA agents. And one who helped Bond inCasino Royale who doesn’t think the US should support fascist coups.

Bond’s demons follow him through the chases and intrigues and M is in trouble because her government doesn’t believe that the villains she and Bond are chasing exist.  Or even worse, they’re not villains, they’re allies.  And it’s all about oil and water.

She is ordered to bring in Bond or the Americans will be allowed to kill him.

It’s the shortest of the Bond films and – could it be? – the best. So far.  There’s one left.

3 ½ * of 5