Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer
James Bond 007 (Daniel Craig) in pursuit of an M16 traitor in the movie, 'Quantum of Solace'. - Contributed
Last Friday was the world premiere of the highly anticipated Quantum of Solace, the 22nd film in the James Bond series. Patrons who saw the action-packed movie at the Carib cinema in Cross Roads gave it mixed reviews as they still seem to be warming up to the new, edgy James Bond, played by English actor Daniel Craig, which is a departure from the previous debonair Bond characters.
Miss Jamaica World 2007 Yendi Phillipps and Karrie Douglas gave the movie the thumbs up while Danielle Madden agreed it was a good follow-up to Casino Royale and the "storyline was not too cheesy".
Storyline
On the other hand, Damion Barrett said he thought the storyline was weak while another patron said he found the pace of the movie too fast and there were too many chases and little dialogue.
Quantum of Solace picks up where the previous Bond movie, Casino Royale (2006), ended. James Bond (Craig), an M16 agent, commits a cardinal sin in the world of the secret service; he becomes emotionally involved with another agent, Vesper Lynd, who is killed by an organisation unknown to the British Secret Service, M16. Casino Royale ends with Lynd's death and Bond declaring revenge.
Self-destruction
In Quantum of Solace, Bond, hardened by his grief, becomes a one-way ticket to self-destruction. He immerses himself into achieving one goal, revenge for Lynd's death. His search takes him from Italy to Haiti where he meets Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a Bolivian who also has a vendetta against General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), who not only killed her father, but raped her sister and burnt their house.
The encounter with Camille leads to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) a 'geologist' who plans to control the Bolivian water supply, but to achieve this he must first reinstate the dictator General Medrano to power. He would have achieved this despite the CIA's presence in the country and had not Bond unearth his plans.
James Bond's mission of vengeance becomes the mission of the great saver. He must stop the two villains, Greene and Medrano, who are also responsible for Lynd's death. But it is not easy. He must resist the desire to make it a personal vendetta as well as to overcome obstacles created by the maternal head of M16, (Judi Dench) who fears that Bond is out of control and must be stopped.
Magnificent spectacle
Quantum of Solace has all the signatures of a James Bond movie; there is the fast car and the boat and plane chases. The use of high-level technology, for communication between Bond and the M16 headquarters, in this case a large desktop computer and very large wall-to-wall monitors, all provide magnificent spectacle, paralleling a sophisticated society. Oh yeah, and pretty woman in toe.
This high-energy, action-packed movie was shot at various locations - from the beautifully paved streets in Italy, to the glitz of the M16 headquarters in England, to the squalor of streets in Haiti and Bolivia.
The acting is generally superb: Dench presented a convincing M, and, as he did in Casino Royale, Craig continues to silence his critics (disgruntled Pierce Brosnan fans) with a very convincing portrayal of Bond. His innate British characteristic maybe one of the contributing factors to his performance - the outward coldness required of Bond.
There was little womanising by Bond in Quantum of Solace, but the few scenes were well executed by Craig.
Directed by Marc Forrester, Quantum of Solace will be in theatres all of this week. While there is little nudity, the violence depicted in some scenes necessitate that parents pay attention to the 18 and over rating.
