ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

CASINO ROYALE took the James Bond franchise back to basics. Daniel Craig’s 007 was not the suave man of the world that we know and love. Instead, he was a raw, untried secret agent learning the demands of the job and the moral responsibilities that accompany it.

Craig brought a gritty edge to the familiar old formula and earned a Best Actor BAFTA nomination for his terrific performance.

Quantum Of Solace is set one hour after Casino Royale, and is an even riskier reinvention of the series. A steely, focused revenge thriller, it dispenses with many of the favourite Bond ingredients from the ingenious gizmos to the exotic lovelies and the sardonic one-liners.

This is the shortest Bond film ever, and feels more like a Jason Bourne epic, which isn’t always a good thing. The stuntwork is amazing, the editing deserves an Oscar and the action is non-stop but somewhere along the way Bond forgot to be fun.

Gunning for the men responsible for the death of his beloved Vesper, Bond sets out on a rampage of revenge that leads to Dominic Greene (Mathie Amalric). Greene is a slippery environmentalist, active in the fight against global warming but also seeking to exploit the world’s dwindling supply of natural resources. He also happens to be in cahoots with everyone from the CIA to the British government, which leaves rogue agent Bond fighting a one-man crusade for justice.

Bond is joined by the feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who is using Greene to exact her own revenge on evil Bolivian general Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). Gemma Arteron provides the sole distraction from duty as agent Strawberry Fields, a character that will remind Bond fans of Shirley Eaton’s role in Goldfinger.

The incredible action sequences and the ferocious intensity of Daniel Craig’s performance make Quantum Of Solace a spy thriller for an age where loyalty counts for nothing and only the fittest will survive. A rushed, incoherent ending dulls the impact of the film, meaning that this is a good Bond film but not a great one.

Nationwide release

Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright
Screenwriters: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 106 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2008