An afternoon off during a long holiday weekend resulted in the viewing of the next James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The new theater in Burlington with a wine bar was the destination. (The wine bar was underwhelming and you couldn't take anything into the theater, but it did have Sam Adams Winter Lager so it wasn't a total loss.) Before my thoughts, the trailer:Fueled by rage and the thirst for revenge (see 2006's Casino Royale), Bond returns to make even the score. The discovery of the secret organization Quantum, seemingly all around and bent on controlling the world, is a twist.
This Bond film diverts from the "usual template": no gadgets, a Bond girl who has no intimate interaction with the hero, and a further stretch from the Bond who uses violence only when he has to. Sure, the Daniel Craig version is a darker, more ominous Bond, but are box office figures so flat for the franchise that they must thrust Bond into a "Jason Bourne" idiom: shaky camera angles, thrilling rooftop-to-rooftop leaps, personal marital arts bust-ups?
For the Bond virgin, this film wouldn't be a good standalone movie to see. This film obviously requires Casino Royale and the upcoming film to completely tell the tale and have Bond "make sense" to a newbie. That being said, we are seeing before our eyes the transformation of Bond from rogue-ish killer who acts in his own self interest to one who devotes his actions to Crown and country. Just a few more pieces to eliminate before Bond has nothing to work for but his nation.
Score? A solid Matinee.
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