by Tim Webb

Created on: November 08, 2008

The title of Quantum of Solace is taken from a short story by Ian Fleming that was published in 1960 as part of the For Your Eyes Only novel. Basically it was a story about James Bond attending a dinner with the Governor of the Bahamas and discovering a secret about an affair that had taken place, it really has very little in terms of links to the film itself. Except to say that the experiences of one character in the story does parallel that of Bond in this film as he is looking for his place while attempting to find out exactly what part he has to play in life.

This is a first in Bond history, a film that continues on from the previous instalment, and shows a darker and far more violent Bond than what we witnessed in Casino Royale. Now for the purists out there who are thinking that my first sentence is incorrect, well I know the pre-title sequence of Diamonds are Forever cleared up the loose ends of On Her Majesty's Secret Service with Bond thinking he had killed Blofeld for the murder of Bond's wife. But that ultimately turned out to be the plot opener for the film itself anyway. What we have here is the film picking up the story from where Casino Royale finished.

The pre-title sequence begins on an immediate high note with a great panoramic shot of the Italian lakes and road tunnels that eventually pans in and focuses on a highly energetic car chase with Bond in a brand new Aston Martin being chased by a number of black Alfa Romero's, the sequence is top notch in terms of action and until the end of the sequence you aren't actually too sure as to how it fits in with the plot and the story.

At times throughout the film the plot does seem to go off course in places and Bond gets diverted away from where he really wants to go so that other characters can be absorbed into the story, so it does make sense. This is used in quite a clever way to introduce the newer characters and to also opens up a number of sub plots that the films needs to address before the end credits.

Probably my greatest criticism of the film would be the way that Marc Forster has injected a substantial amount of movement in his direction of the film. Personally I have always been against the methods used in the Bourne film as for me the use of a hand held camera to capture a chase scene that gives a lot of kinetic movement on the screen makes me feel nauseous as it's like being on a boat at sea in a gale. In Quantum the direction is kinetic but the cuts remove the "unwanted" gaps in between

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