Poorly written review of Quantum of Solace (Forster, 2008)

I enjoyed the new entry in the Bond franchise, though it’s mostly due to purposefully ignoring the pitfalls of a sloppy script. It lacked the intensity and character development present in Casino Royale. Though not nearly as relevant to the plot, the lack of further exploration of his character made a lot of his actions and re-actions a little silly and non-sensical. Perhaps if I were able to watch both films, quite literally, back to back it would benefit… but for now, the ideas never seemed to have come together for great effect.

That being said, I really liked Marc Forster’s direction. It was a lot like Bourne, but I think it’s really more like Point Blank, but a bit more shallow. There were some badly orchestrated action sequences, I will admit, but overall I thought his style was extremely evocative and powerful. I especially liked the chase early in the film juxtaposed against the horse race. He was able to maintain this sort of fetish oriented style throughout, and unlike previous Bond entries, instead of focusing on gadgets and objectifying the female form, Marc Forster exploited the surroundings and Bond himself.

I liked both Bond girls too, though I almost think the handling of Camille was too apologetic to the previous Bond entries. Something about the rape angle disturbed me, I don’t know why, but her vengeful attack on the “rapist”, seemed to almost be self-vindicative of the whole series. Maybe I’m reading into it too much, but it’s what immediately struck me while watching the film, and I’m not entirely sure it worked or should have worked in that way. Whatever, it’s a strange and unfounded observation.

I enjoyed it, though it’s a little forgetteable and the script could have been WAY better.