“Solace” lacks Bond’s charm

Quantum of Solace Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric Director: Marc Forster… Quantum of Solace Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric Director: Marc Forster Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Rating: B There’s something a bit off about the new Bond, and it’s not just the nonsensical movie title. Bond flings action in your face as he jets around the globe killing people and then announcing them to be ‘dead ends,’ but the action and the dialogue are too serious and machine-like for a man who likes to wink and introduce himself as ‘Bond, James Bond.’ ‘Don’t bleed to death,’ Bond commands Mr. White with his first words, perhaps also warning the audience to prepare for a draining two hours of non-stop action. However, dashes of 007 charm still make it more than worth it.’ Perhaps Bond is also admonishing himself, and his broken heart, not to bleed to death. Picking up literally hours after ‘Casino Royale’ left Bond uncertain about Vesper Lynd’s true feelings and with questions about the organization that blackmailed her, the film finds Bond struggling with his duty to his country and his desire for his own quantum of solace. Bond must get to the bottom of the mysterious organization that blackmailed Vesper, known as ‘Quantum,’ which Mr. White reveals is perhaps more extensive than MI6 realizes. One of Quantum’s key players, Dominic Greene, is a morally corrupt businessman who hides his evil machinations behind an environmentally friendly facade. His plan also involves a coup that would place exiled Bolivian dictator General Medrano back into power and threaten the country’s natural resources. Greene is refreshingly unlike the usual mad Bond villain with evil plots against society in the vein of a Dr. No. Instead, Greene is a man who works the system from within. Stealing his scenes with the charm of Mathieu Amalric’s quirky charisma, Greene is a more ambiguously evil villain in a world that realizes right and wrong often come in shades of gray. From corrupt world leaders to politically controlled, inhumane conditions, ‘Quantum of Solace,’ like all 007 plots, injects tension by probing disturbingly close to the hot international political issues of its moment (think 1965’s ‘Thunderball,’with its nuclear bombs and the Cold War). Keep an eye out for a slick reference to ‘Goldfinger’s’ classic woman dipped in gold paint and its updated commentary on what really drives the world’s economy. The female roles in Bond continue to gain more independence, as Camille (Olga Kurylenko), an empowered female agent with interests in Quantum, fights her own fight equal to Bond’s, even if Bond does feel the need to save her at times. Bond’s other female interest, Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), although underdeveloped, flames through her part with a respectable feistiness that entertains. I can live with 007 not introducing himself as ‘Bond, James Bond.’ Fine, maybe it can be redundant. But where are the funky high-tech gadgets from Q? Where are all of Bond’s dashing tuxedos? Without these bits, Bond begins to lose the quirk that keeps him from being simply another witty killing machine. It’s a trade-off for action and grit that finds Bond without his joie de vivre. At one point, Camille says to Bond, ‘There’s something horribly efficient about you.’ And there is something horribly efficient about Daniel Craig’s unemotional wit and impenetrable eyes as, according to M at least, he kills everybody he meets.’ Bond’s response to Camille in the film asks the question you’ll be wondering: ‘Is that a compliment?’ Although this is ultimately a thrilling Bond film that 007 can be proud of, it’s still missing a little too much of that James Bond charm.