A view to a spill

Quantum of Solace
Review by Nathan Weinbender

People will flock to a James Bond movie no matter what. Not even an obtuse title like “Quantum of Solace” will keep them away. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re going to like this one all that much.

This is 007’s 22nd adventure, and the follow-up to 2006’s brilliant “Casino Royale,” which jump-started the withering series and inaugurated Daniel Craig as the first introspective, empathetic Bond.

Craig is, I think, perfect for the role. He has the same rugged appeal as the best of the Bonds, yet he approaches the role with a haunted vulnerability. His Bond is a refreshing change from the smirking ladies’ men of the past; he’s flawed, rough around the edges and deeply wounded, but he can still kick ass.

But here, Craig’s steely-eyed intensity feels hollow. He’s missing the depth and range of emotion he had in the last film—he broods and pouts and doesn’t say much, and the script never allows him to really command the screen.

I never thought I’d say this about Daniel Craig, but he really fades into the background.

The movie opens with a car chase in progress, followed soon after by a foot chase across the rooftops of Siena. Sounds thrilling, but the editing is overkill, often making it impossible to tell who is pursuing who and where and why.

Disappointing, especially if you remember how breathtaking that opening chase scene in “Casino Royale” was.

Bond’s nemesis this time around is Dominic Greene, played by the weasley Mathieu Amalric, the star of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” He’s the chairman of a corporation dedicated to “wildlife preservation,” but, of course, he has a dastardly plan that turns out to be much, much less imposing than world domination.

“Quantum of Solace” is the shortest film of the series, but it feels long and clumsy, with too many ideas, few of them very good, competing for attention.

The story is a mess, the villain unimposing and the editing often unintelligible—director Marc Forster has made some very good films—“Monster’s Ball,” “Finding Neverland” and the overlooked “Stranger Than Fiction”—but he seems to be in over his head here, shooting the action as though he’s being paid per jump cut.

And if you’re going to make a movie in so many exotic locales, let us see the scenery. The movie hops from Italy to Austria to Panama, and it hardly slows down to wow us with splendor of its locations. I imagine a documentary about the making of this movie would be more interesting than the movie itself.

Grade: C

Directed by Marc Forster. Written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Starring Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arerton and Jeffrey Wright. PG-13; 106m.