Quantum of Solace is the 22nd James Bond film and second to be played by Daniel Craig, after his performance in Casino Royale. The film begins directly after the events in Casino Royale with a high adrenaline car chase, which is one of my favourite scenes from the movie and a very good opening scene at that, bar the fact that you have to sit through the credits and worst ever theme song for 5 minutes. The theme song should not have been chosen and they would have done so much better in my eyes to just remove that whole opening, and by the time it reached the chorus I could not stand it anymore and had to fast forward it to the action.
In comparison to Casino Royale, there is much more violence and action, with far more shootouts and fist fights than Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace is based around the revenge of the death of one of Bond’s former lovers, whereas Casino Royale is more of a love story and a poker game. I would definitely recommend watching Casino Royale before watching Quantum of Solace, and if you can’t remember the story behind Casino Royale well then go back and watch it, otherwise the storyline is very difficult to follow and can easily become confusing. I had watched Casino Royale a while back, but I could not recall much of it so it was hard to understand the plot for Quantum of Solace as clearly.
In terms of effects, since the last films to feature so much action had been released, there have been develops in film production that would have helped to showcase the breathtaking effects used in Quantum of Solace. In Blu-ray, the effects are truly amazing, and I much prefer the high octane action of Quantum of Solace to the reasonable Casino Royale. However, Casino Royale did beat Quantum of Solace in takings, which surprised me, but it could have been due to a number of reasons such as the fact it is the shortest Bond film yet, and was also not the first by Daniel Craig, so this may have also attracted fewer fans to watch it.
I thought that all the acting in the film was very good from all actors, but particularly Daniel Craig. I have never been able to understand why he has received so much stick for being chosen as the latest James Bond, as he plays the part really well, with a tough attitude and little remorse in Quantum of Solace, but also can act like James Bond was intended to be like as a womaniser.
The biggest disappointment for me with Quantum of Solace was really only the length of the film and the opening credits, other than that I thought the film was really good. However, even though the film was the shortest in the franchise history, it does well to add plenty of action to the film without missing out on any character development. They could have possibly explained the characters in a little more depth, particularly Dominic Greene. I really could not figure out who he was until past half way in the film.
Another little issue I found with the film was the camera angles used when filming fighting scenes. They often used a still camera and rotated it around the fighting which at times made it difficult to keep eye contact through some of the scenes, but the rest of the production and filming was brilliant.
In conclusion, Quantum of Solace really is a must see for both James Bond fans and general audiences alike. The plot was more realistic than some of the other films like Die Another Day and the acting was excellent all round. The film could have been so much better with some little tweaks, or in the case of the theme tune, just completely removing.
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Pictures of Quantum of Solace (Blu-ray)
Theatrical poster
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