★★1/2 The twenty-second film in the Eon Productions’ James Bond series. US release date: November 14, 2008. Budget: $200 million. Worldwide box office gross: $591.7 million (US domestic gross: $169.4 million; international gross: $422.3 million).[1] Running time: 106 minutes.

The Setup

Having captured the mysterious criminal operative Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) at the end of Casino Royale, James Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Dame Judi Dench) transport him to an MI6 field office in Siena, Italy. There they are betrayed by Craig Mitchell (Glenn Foster), an MI6 agent who’s been turned by Quantum, the secret international crime organization Mr. White belongs to. Investigating the group, 007 undercovers a scheme by environmentally conscious entrepreneur Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who is secretly plotting to destabilize Bolivia and eventually corner the world’s freshwater supply.

Behind the Scenes

When Daniel Craig was selected to play James Bond in Casino Royale, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson reestablished the international box office success of one of the most storied franchises in film history. It was indeed a new era, and Craig’s first film launched the Bond series to new heights. Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace was a low-octane follow-up. Rather than craft an exciting new adventure, the filmmakers picked up exactly where Casino Royale left off, with Bond throwing the mysterious Mr. White into the trunk of his Aston Martin. Actually, the first twenty minutes of the film are pretty exciting as Bond chases Quantum bad guys, but once main villain Dominic Greene is introduced, the story just falls flat. The series has long centered around charismatic megalomaniacs like Dr. No, Goldfinger, Stromberg, and the like, but Dominic Greene is neither megalomaniacal nor charismatic. His scheme to corner the market on freshwater in Bolivia has to be the most tepid plot in the entire series. And the revenge plot pitting Bolivian mystery woman Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) against Greene’s ally General Medrano (Joaquín Cosio) is tired and cliché.

Quantum cannot be entirely dismissed thanks to star Daniel Craig, who adds value to every scene as a tough and believable double-0, and whose relationship with M (Dame Judi Dench) is well developed. But there’s not much here to recommend. The locations are bland and not very cinematic (particularly the eco hotel location at the end of the film), the characters are one dimensional, and there’s no humor and very little sex. Sadly, it’s a harbinger of things to come.

[1] “Quantum of Solace (2008),” The Numbers, accessed June 29, 2020, https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Quantum-of-Solace.