Bond, evolving into James Bond

Watching Casino Royale in 2006, I was struck by how it asserted itself against the other films in the franchise. It was James Bond rebooted. First, there was the mind-blowing foot chase. Second, there was the unexpectedly very short car chase scene—if you can call it a car chase at all. Third, there was the still-rough-around-the-edges James Bond, recently promoted to 007 status, falling in love. I think I gave Daniel Craig two thumbs up, despite Pierce Brosnan still owning my heart. I remember writing I’d be looking forward to the next installment. Well, the time has come. Behold, Quantum of Solace.

Over the weekend, I made sure to catch Craig’s second take on Bond. I came armed: I had a grande Toffee Nut Latte, a hot crab sandwich, a bag of buttered popcorn and a cup of orange juice. Any Bond film is supposed to be entertaining stuff, right? Well, right. And wrong.

It opens interestingly and “Bond-ly” enough with a thrilling car chase through the mountain roads of Northern Italy. Bond is becoming the Bond we know—but not just yet. First, he has to get over an emotional bump that has him looking like crap because he can’t sleep at night.

Quantum of Solace is unique in that it’s actually a sequel to Casino Royale—the first in the long line of Bond films to be one. In fact, it starts just a few hours after Bond introduces himself to Mr. White in Casino Royale, and Bond’s still seeking vengeance for the death of Vesper Lynd, the woman he almost left MI6 for, leaving M worried that he’s taking his mission too personally to be worth trusting.

In this installment, we get an even bigger glimpse of the international organization Quantum. It’s still as mysterious as ever, but from making the acquaintance of its majordomo, Mr. White, in Casino Royale and now seeing how far its reach is in the form of one of its leaders, Dominic Greene, in Quantum of Solace, it’s starting to give me the creeps. There’s an unsettling, albeit absurd, scene in which the leaders of Quantum meet and make arrangements during an opera—meaning, they had their meeting, communicating via nifty little gadgets, while watching Tosca.

We also see an angry James Bond who’s on his way to his being business-only. I don’t know what imprint it will leave on the career of Craig, who is, no doubt, a gifted actor. What I do know is that, compared to his first outing, he already shows less of his acting chops this time around. But then again, we’ve always known Bond to be the smooth, unflinching, unemotional type.

Story-wise, however, nothing seriously riveting is going on. Bond continues on with his quest to find out more about the truth behind Vesper’s death and Quantum and to plug the dangerous leak in MI6. He meets a girl who’s also out for vengeance, Camille (Olga Kurylenko). They team up to get to their common target: Greene. He wants to get to the bottom of the truth; she wants to use Greene to get to a man who killed his family. They’ve got chemistry, but it’s too soon for Bond to really get involved with a new woman. Still, he gets a big kiss. (What do you expect? He’s still Bond, womanizer extraordinaire.)

Truth be told, halfway into the film, I missed the old Bond girls and villains who were larger than life. I missed the amazing gadgets. The hot, well-utilized cars. The big action stunts. I missed the popcorn-flick Bond. But—and that’s a big but—I also appreciated that Bond and his friends are becoming more true to life. Greene’s quest, for one, is disturbing. It seems like Quantum is Global Capitalist Evil personified, with Greene out to control a valuable natural resource of an already embattled country—for money.

I’m up for a third Bond film and more of Quantum.

Email your comments to [email protected] or text them to (63)917-9164421. You can also visit my personal blog at http://althearicardo.blogspot.com.