BEFORE: Daniel Craig carries over, in what I believe is a direct sequel to "Casino Royale". After this, I'm going back to the past for the Cold War-era Bond.
THE PLOT: James Bond descends into mystery as he tries to stop a mysterious organization from eliminating a country's most valuable resource. All the while, he still tries to seek revenge over the death of his love.
AFTER: The first cut is the deepest, and it looks like Bond never got over Vesper. Everything here spirals out from Bond tracking down her enemies, tying up the loose ends left from his origin story. There is an additional plot beyond that, but it involves drilling rights in Venezuela or something. (Yawn!) Where's the poker tournament?
QUANTUM is the name of the criminal organization Bond battles, but it also can mean "a small amount". So Bond is looking for a small amount of comfort here, that's all. Is that too much to ask for, in between rooftop chases and killing enemy agents?
This film seemed rather lackluster, at least when compared with the non-stop, high-stakes action of "Casino Royale". I admit I dozed off a couple of times, and that shouldn't happen with an action film.
The relationship between Bond and M clearly has a lot of layers - it seems to go beyond boss and employee somehow, or maybe not. This would be like having a boss that you respect a great deal, only they're always riding your ass and second-guessing you and making your job impossible - not that I'd know anything about that. But here's my first real glimpse at how convoluted my proposed Bond continuity is going to get - Bond's supposed to be younger here, at the start of his career, but the same actress will be playing M much later in his career, and she's going to look younger at that point.
It's a rather cynical view to suggest that people who deal in "green" technology only do so when it's profitable. However, I think that's not too far off the mark. I remember how New York City once suspended its recycling collection because it wasn't cost-effective. But it's not SUPPOSED to be cost-effective, it's a city service that serves a purpose. Would you suspend the the fire department or EMS Services because they're not turning a profit? Of course not.
NYC just started up one of those bike-sharing programs, with thousands of low-gear bikes available for 45-minute trips across town. Putting the ridiculousness of starting such a program just as the thermometer is hitting 90 degrees (who the HELL wants to ride a bike right now?) I predict the program will be scrapped within three months, and I think I'm being generous. Most of the people in this city who want to ride bikes already own one, so I think the segment of the populace that will take advantage of the new system is rather small. I also think that New Yorkers are too ingrained in taking the subway, cabs or buses, especially during the summer when air conditioning is a necessity.
Also, just wait until the first few traffic accidents involving city-provided bicycles, and people decide to sue the city rather than each other - the whole "deep pockets" theory. Combine this with the fact that paying an annual fee for vehicles that don't work well over the winter makes no sense, and you may realize that the actual deployment of well-intentioned "green" technology never quite lives up to the theory.
LOCATIONS: Italy, Haiti, Austria, Bolivia, Russia
VILLAINS: Dominic Greene, General Medrano
BABES: Camille Montes, Strawberry Fields
ALLIES: M, Rene Mathis, Felix Leiter
PASTIMES: The opera, Monopoly (the oil kind, not the property-based board game)
CARS: Aston Martin DBS V12 (still?)
GADGETS: Digital camera with facial recognition software. (That's it?)
THEME SONG: "Another Way to Die" by Jack White + Alicia Keys. (Meh.)
Also starring Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, Jesper Christensen (all carrying over from "Casino Royale"), plus Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, Mathieu Almaric.
RATING: 5 out of 10 speedboats
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