Casino Royale pt. 2

Quantum of Solace is getting mediocre reviews and hasn’t stood up as well to Casino Royale as people might have liked but I still enjoyed it and some agree with me.

I should preface this review by saying that this movie only works as a second act of the first Daniel Craig iteration.  There is less character development in this movie and it is – dare I say – artsier?  I’m not sure if I can back up the artsy comment (Back says she can so check the comments).  The character development was definitely less though.  The movie assumed a lot from its viewers and that might have created a problem for movie goers who like being spoon fed action plots.

A further issue I see with this movie is that Casino Royale broke the mold of the previous Bond movies and set the bar extremely high for its sequel.  Unfortunately, that put it between a rock and a hard place.  Quantum had to simultaneously break the mold and live up to the first movie.  In effect, it has to do what the last one did and do it in a new way, while ignoring the fact that the last way worked pretty well.

In a three act play, the second act is darker and perhaps doesn’t end as the viewer might expect it.  While the first presents that plot and the third resolves it, the second act makes it murky.  In that way it can leave viewers less satisfied because there aren’t any easy answers.  What is the Quantum? Was the villain Green – like White -  was just another step up the corporate ladder?  Will Bond ever get over his lost love?  All of these questions are left more or less vague by the end of the movie but I don’t mind complexity.

The “Bond Girl”, Olga Kurylenko, does a decent job in her role and I’d be interested in seeing more of her character but at times her choices seemed not exactly fitting.  Maybe that is a result of the Paul Haggis writing but I’m not sure.  Then again it wouldn’t be a Bond film if there weren’t a few issues that made the moviegoer think there is an easier solution than the characters came up with.

I do have complaints though.  The redhead MI-6 Bolivian desk worker – Fields – was disappointing.  The only way I can reconcile her acting and actions is by saying that her jump into bed attitude was an homage to the Bond of old who slept with three or four women each movie.  Her original costume was absurd as well and she constantly walked as if they had just plucked her off the runway.   Her only redeeming value was literally her exit from the film.  That truly was an homage to Goldfinger (Link is a Spoiler).  The irony that oil is today’s gold and often called black gold may have been lost on some movie goers though.  Also, the credits list the character’s name as Strawberry Fields – she refused to give it in the movie – so that gets a har-har on the laugh scale.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride.  I have recently been told that there wasn’t enough action but I disagree.  Though it had plenty of action it wasn’t one long fight scene and that is good.  There are too many hacks making action movies that think that action (pronounced: explosions) equals plot.

And this:

~Forth