Daniel Craig's second Bond film. Is it worth your time,or is it one of the worse Bond films yet?
M: If you could avoid killing every possible lead, it would be deeply appreciated.
Bond: I'll do my best.
M: I've heard that before.
The story sounds good enough on paper. It follows directly on from Casino Royal, only this time we are dealing with the organisation who hired Le Chiffre who works on a much larger scale. The film picks up directly from where the last film ended, with someone (no spoilers in these reviews) being interviewed by MI6. He escapes with the help of an accomplice and it is Bond's job to track him and the organisation down using the only lead they had. How far will Bond go to stop these people? Possibly too far.
If it sounds so good, why is this film such a let down for the franchise?
The action feels as if the directors are trying to make up for the lack of it in the last film, when they shouldn't. The first scene is of a gun filled car chase with lots of damage, and completely ruined by the new mood of Bond films set by the previous 'reboot'. The filming of many of these action scenes also seems off and wrong. To give a sense of fast action most directors will use quick cuts and move the camera much faster. This is done incorrectly in Quantum of Solace. It makes the film look low budget and amateurish. It can also cause confusion at points later in the story when the cuts of people being shot are so short you can't see who has been killed.
The acting in this film has also gone down hill. The main characters (M, Bond etc) are still well acted and mostly well written but the others just lack talent for most of the film. This is partially because the film is awkwardly written, but at some points there are no emotions shown. The lines are said but there seems to be little to no physical delivery of the lines.
One definite thing that can be said is an improvement over Casino Royale is the music video. Not the song, but the actual video. It looks much better, and a lot more like the Bond films I was brought up with. The song, on the other hand, cannot be called an improvement. It is a duet and sounds rather indie, which I believe does is not suited to a Bond film at all. When people imagine a typical Bond theme song they think of songs like Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever.
This film is such a disappointment After Casino Royale I was expecting a much better film, especially when I heard it continued the story. Of course it does have it strong points. Most of the story works, but the whole thing just isn't good enough. It also shows how MI6 work with other countries' intelligence, but aside from that it feels poor quality.
I think the main problem comes from two things. The first is trying to fit too much story line in the film, with too many characters, something the previous film did almost perfectly. The second problem is it needs to try and follow Casino Royale. Maybe, if they had released them in a different order or with a film between them it would have been better, but the contrast between the two films is so great that the only way you can tell they are connected is by the basic story line and the characters.
The review for the first Daniel Craig Bond film can be found by clicking here
Rating; 5.9/10
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