REVIEW: 'Quantum' continues new, realistic Bond

By JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:13 AM PST ∞

Bond purists and casual fans alike can take comfort in the fact that the team behind the longest-running action film series is settling very nicely into the Daniel Craig era.

"Quantum of Solace," opening Friday, picks up where "Casino Royale" left off ---- it is the first pure sequel in the franchise. British operative James Bond is still dealing with the betrayal and death of love interest Vesper Lind from the end of the 2006 movie, and is working with the rest of British spy agency MI6 to find out who is behind the shadowy organization that compromised her.

In both writing and composition (lighting, stage, etc.), "Solace" maintains the gritty realism that made "Casino" such a departure from the campy, cartoonish nature of the latter run of Bond films. In Craig's hands for the second time, Bond still has a rough charm, and remains very capable of thuggishness when the situation demands (and rather often when it doesn't).

Before "Casino Royale," the only Bond film that came close to capturing the dark, brooding atmosphere of creator Ian Fleming's original novels was the often-maligned (except by purists) 1969 entry, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," with the underrated George Lazenby in the lead role.

But that film was an aberration at the time, surrounded by the mild camp of Sean Connery both before and after. With "Casino Royale," producer Barbara Broccoli (daughter of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who purchased the film rights from Fleming and produced all of the films until his death in 1996) very clearly marked a change in direction, and "Quantum" hews to this new path.

With a title taken from an Ian Fleming short story, but an original story line, "Quantum" drops entirely the reliance on gadgetry that the film series always had. Even "Casino" had the tricked-out car; "Quantum" has Bond's brains, toughness and tenacity.

Still, this is a Bond film ---- and the other hallmarks are present, from the opening car chase (one of the best yet in a Bond film) to the beautiful women (Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton) to the exotic locales (Italy, Haiti, Bolivia). The cinematography is gorgeous, the production top-notch.

Judi Dench returns as M, head of the spy agency and Bond's boss, and gets some of the best lines in the film, such as this retort to Bond: "If you could avoid killing every possible lead, it would be appreciated."

As with "Casino Royale," most of the stunt scenes are roughly believable; unlikely, to be sure, but (unlike those in the Roger Moore era) at least physically possible. The one exception in "Quantum" is a parachute scenario that is a bit too over-the-top and detracts from the film's overall sense of realism.

Really, though, this latest installment comes down to the lead actor more than the script or camera work, and on that score, the producers have done very well.

Craig is, along with Lazenby, the most human of Bonds, and the truest to Fleming's vision. This Bond bleeds when he fights, gets bruised when he falls ---- he is no Superman.

More important, Daniel Craig is the Bond who, through melding sheer athletic physicality with some top-rank acting, has made this film series matter again.

A-

"Quantum of Solace"

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Jesper Christensen, Mathieu Amalric

Director: Marc Forster

Studio: Sony Pictures

Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content)

Running time: 105 min.