Quantum of Solace (2008) (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Quantum of Solace (2008) Tobias Hochscherf Quantum of Solace (2008), Directed by Marc Forster. Distributed by MGM and Sony/Columbia Pictures: www.007.com, 106 minutes. The latest James Bond film was eagerly awaited by critics, fans and the public following the media festivities caused by the acclaimed debut of Daniel Craig as 007 two years ago. This time, however, the echo in the press has been varied at most. Many critics argued that Quantum of Solace was based on a thin, sketchy script, that its art house director failed to leave his mark on the film and that it was overtly influenced by the action-packed, fast-paced Bourne films than by earlier 007 films. Moreover, the film was repeatedly accused of lacking many essential elements of the Bond formula -- the absence of "Q" and the usual gadgets (Guardian, November 10), the lack of the series' "traditional sense of humor" (The Sunday Telegraph, November 2), its missing "conversational battles of wit" (The Times, October 30) and last but not least the absence of Monty Norman's signature theme song until the very end of the film (Guardian, October 30). Why all this anger? Much of this disappointment may at least in part be explained by the heightened expectations sparked by the overwhelmingly positive reception of [End Page 77] Casino Royale (2006) and an unmatched marketing and PR-campaign, which made it virtually impossible to escape James Bond in the weeks before Quantum of Solace's release. Yet, much of the critics' and ultimately the audience's discomfort may also be the result of the uncompromising way in which the film continues to reinvent (or "reboot" to use James Chapman's term) the Bond franchise ever since Craig took on the role of Her Majesty's most successful secret agent. Although Quantum of Solace, if seen exclusively by itself, may yield legitimate criticism (perhaps above all the almost complete absence of the series' hallmark representation of British eccentricity) – the film, nevertheless, marks an important moment within the Bond film series in terms of genre and character development. Created as a sequel to Casino Royale, the latest Bond adventure takes up many of the threads from the first Craig Bond film by continuing and cementing the transformation process. In the end, the filmic version of 007 shifted from "gentlemen spy" in the tradition of spy literature (like Erskine Childer's The Riddle of the Sands) or the vast majority of previous Bond films, to more a tough, rugged and uncompromising agent in the tradition of violent hard-boiled detectives. Indeed, the 'new' Bond, who appears to be at once an ambivalent hero, a loner, and a "loose gun," seemingly fits John G. Cawelti's description of the hard-boiled hero as someone who "rejected the ordinary social and ethical pieties and faces a world he has learned to understand as fundamentally corrupt, violent, and hostile." Revolving around the theme of revenge and the tensions between state justice and personal justice, this new Bond universe seems to offer less room for lengthy and snide conversations (such as the many beautifully-scripted conversations between Bond and Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale) let alone romance and bedroom sequences. Owing to the franchise's turn towards a noirish form of cinematic realism driven by action sequences, there is little (or at least far less) orthodox objectification of the two female leads – notwithstanding the understated seduction of the rather unfortunately named Strawberry Fields. In terms of male visual pleasure there are almost no scenes that fetishize the female form or body parts by either elements of mise-en-scène, camera movement or placement (by way of showing figure-hugging dresses, make-up, lips, legs, cleavages, etc.). Having said this, though, there are is also no repetition of the now iconic 'reverse male gaze' of Craig coming out of the sea in Casino Royale. This new Bond, it appears, has no time to spare in his mission to save the world. Although the last Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan, Die Another Day (2002), was popular at the box office and generated a revenue of $432 million, there was certainly a danger of it turning...