Logan aka Wolverine

Opening 1 May 2009, watch out for it!

Solace Of Quantum

The latest Bond movie Quantum of Solace (QOS) just hit the screens here this week and I took time off to watch it with a friend after work. Perhaps it was the long day at work, or just fighting to find parking space, I really didn't enjoy this Bond movie at all. Here is a short review and analysis of the movie.

>>> Tons Of Spoilers Below, Read At Your Own Risk! <<<

The film continues from Casino Royale (CR) with Bond driving from Lake Como to Siena, Italy with the captured Mr White stuffed into the trunk of his Aston Martin. After evading his pursuers, Bond and M, interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's trusted bodyguard Craig Mitchell turns traitor – allowing White to escape – Bond chases Mitchell across Siena and kills him. I have to say that his fight sequence with Mitchell was amazing, and had me at the edge of my seat!

Bond ends up in Haiti to find Mitchell's contact, Edmund Slate and kills him. Bond's doing too much killing in this movie! He then poses as him, learning Slate was sent to kill Camille (the perpetual PMS-looking new Bond girl) at the behest of her partner, Dominic Greene, the ruthless chairman of Greene Planet and a member of Quantum. I have to say that although ruthless, his character didn't feel diabolical at all in this movie, making him the weakest villain ever in Bond history.

Greene is helping General Medrano – who murdered Camille's family – to stage a coup in Bolivia, that's a country in South America, and not Europe, like I thought the name sounded, in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert land.

Bond follows Greene, to a performance of Puccini's Tosca at Lake Constance in Austria. This is a clandestine way for members of Quantum to plan the coup, with each member communicating through special earpieces concealed in gift bags. Bond himself obtains an earpiece and disrupts the meeting. He then uses his Sony Ericsson mobile phone (I don't know which model, but I wish I had such a powerful phone that can take photos from so far away!) to take photos of various Quantum members and sends it back to MI6.

Bond and Camille drive to the location of Greene's intended land acquisition, surveying the area in a Douglas DC-3 propeller plane. They are intercepted by a chopper and a fighter plane sent by General Medrano and subsequently shot down. Before crashing, both Bond and Camille jump from the crippled plane and then freefall/parachute into a sink hole. There, the duo discover Greene is not interested in oil, but has been blockading supplies of fresh water, hidden in underground rivers.

Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter at a local bar, who informs Bond of where Greene is set to complete his deal with Medrano. Bond and Camille go to an eco-hotel, located in the Bolivian desert, where Greene is finalising the coup. As the various parties depart, Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis and sets off a chain of explosions when a hydrogen fuel tank is destroyed. Camille kills Medrano and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of oil.

Bond goes then goes to Kazan, Russia, where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former boyfriend, Yusef. Yusef is a Quantum henchman who specialises in seducing high-ranking women to get them to give up government assets as he stages his own kidnappings, and is doing the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau.

M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA, and Greene was found in the desert shot dead with motor oil in his stomach.

This Bond movie lacked the character, as a whole, that Casino Royale had with a stellar cast, especially the most beautiful and enchanting Bond Girl, Eva Green. I can't help but saying that, for the record, they destroyed yet another beautiful Aston Martin again! The Aston Martin car this time was a DBS V12. The latest Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, looked like she was in perpetual PMS, although she had a good figure and great legs, that didn't make up the fact that she was hell-bent on revenge, there was no other side to her, not even a tender side, even her kiss with Bond looked rehearsed. She had a wall up around her that even Bond couldn't get through.

I think the only saving grace of the movie was the excellent car/boat/airplane chases, stunts and action scenes. Otherwise, the movie suffers from a fantastically weak plot and very shallow characters, leaving viewers wracking their brains as to what the organisation Quantum really was. I would think that it is another SPECTRE! Perhaps they will reveal more in the next Bond movie, will it be part of a trilogy?

I only recommend this movie to Bond lovers, otherwise, it's not worth watching at all. I was sorely disappointed, despite the good and positive reviews that I read, praising it as another good movie.

Shall I end with a Bond cliche - this movie left me unshaken, and unstirred!

3 out of 10 stars