007: Quantum of Solace

—Review Score: 7/10—

The second movie of Daniel Craig as James Bond, Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale left. The opening scene reflects the whole movie experience: action-packed and fast-paced. From the beginning the viewers are overwhelmed with exciting action sequence, and this movie is all about action.

The action scenes are great, and they looks more natural than pre-Casino Royale era, with believable fisticuffs and somehow a darker side of Bond on dealing with enemies. Daniel Craig did a great job on portraying the new, brawny Bond. QoS forgo the use of high-tech equipment to a bare fist, pure muscle fighting sequence, and Craig is a great choice for this role.

With more emphasis on physical strength, it’s a consequence that in QoS the technology part is not explored well. As a matter of fact, Bond is not equipped with any fancy gadget. He only has a Sony Ericsson Cybershot cellphone that he used to took a nonsensical long range photo of the Quantum possible members. Another interesting piece of technology featured is a Surface-like computer interface used in MI6 headquarters. The use of hydrogen as a fuel is also prominent in this movie, and somehow misleading. How can a hydrogen fuel system is contained in every room of a hotel? Isn’t it will cause many potential dangers since the flammable equipments are scattered all over the hotel, one on each room… That concludes all the technology pieces featured in QoS. Sorry, but no laser-equipped watch, nor missile-equipped car here. And speaking about cars, the Aston Martin DBS used at the beginning of the movie is really cool.

Another consequence of a fast-paced, action-packed presentation is that the story is somewhat hollow. QoS takes you from one action sequence into another, with the inclusion of some dialogue in-between (as well as another signature in Bond movies, sex scene) somewhat feel non-integral with the storyline. It’s as if you can remove all the non-action sequence and still you can get the story.

Taking into account of all these aspects, Quantum of Solace is still an entertaining movie to watch. But hollow plot makes it less shiny, and most viewers will left with the feeling of “That’s all?” by the end of the movie. It’s still recommendable for action movie lovers, and especially if you’re looking for a different take on James Bond franchise.

(Picture Credit: 007 Official Site)