Quantum Of Solace

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

I normally wait for the DVD to do my review of the latest James Bond movie but I thought that I would throw my pennies in the hat for this one. What a hat ! Daniel Craig is back for his second outing as our famous spy in this plot that picks up an hour after Casino Royale, does it really matter ? Having finally said the immortal line at the end of Royale, I at least expected the gun barrel sequence to open events at the beginning of this movie instead we get the helicopter zoom-in shot of the green hills, reminding me of Jurassic Park 3, was 007's next foe gonna be a T-Rex ? We get a too close to the action, car crunching tunnel chase alas lacking style and soon to be forgotten, did we wait 2 years to finally see a darker DBS just do this ending parked in an Italian underground tunnel.

After an unimpressive title sequence ( don't ask about the font types ! ) and song, the story picks up with dear old Mr White removed out of the DBS' boot ( he survived Bond's driving ! ) to be interrogated by M & Bond. This M ( Judi Dench ) is tougher and still lacking trust in Bond but do we need the home make-up removal scene, last time we saw her in bed with hubby, alas I'm one of the few who is looking forward to James getting a new boss. Still no air time for Moneypenny or old Q, I think Dame Judi gets that even having a hand screen gadget in her modern office which is very un-M, I was waiting for CSI:Miami team to turn up to aid when using that table gizmo.

So Bond is after an organisation called Quantum who were behind Vesper's death, along the way he needs the help of dear old Mathis ( Giancarlo Giannini ) and Felix ( Jeffrey Wright ) to track down the leader called Dominic Greene ( Mathieu Amalric ) or is he ? After this new weak baddie I was thinking of what NSNA's Klaus Maria Brandauer would have done with the role if was around. On arrival at some airport he meets up with stand straight & proper Agent Fields ( Gemma Arterton ) whom James beds and discovers leaves an oily mess in the morning - a homage to Goldfinger. The main Bond Girl is unhappy Camille ( Olga Kurylenko ) who is after a Bolivian general for killing her family and follows Bond to the explosive end about some diabolical water plot. Do we care ? Well I didn't for the 105 minutes which will fit nicely into a 2 hour commercial time slot on tv.

Director Marc Forster commented that he had a short editing time for Solace and it shows the characters are never given time to develop so everything including the stunts just past in the wind even Producer Wilson's cameo reading a paper in a run-down hotel. Arnold's score is unmemorable, his music for the Ka/bike chase sounded like taken from 80's tv The Professionals. Do we need the six locations with the awful titles, no just an understandable and enjoyable script. Sorry I don't blame Craig for this one but the producers should stand up and be counted, shame on you tagging that new barrel sequence on at the end, how original. I don't care if the next script is child's play to follow just bring back some humour for Craig's miserable Bond, a bedroom romp and the trade-mark scenes with Moneypenny, Q & M - the latter just stays in her old office !

After so much expectation, I was disappointed and not along for the ride on this adventure, here's hoping for better luck next time.

The Two-Disc Special Edition of the movie comes in the usual boxed container repeating front & back covers but with layered movie title. For the first time due to length of the movie, the pop video of Another Way To Die and 2 movie trailers are included on the first disc. Like with CR there is no commentary from director Foster & producer Wilson.

For the Extras on the 2nd disc we only get one of the two half hour documentaries shown numerous times on UK TV: Bond On Location and not Planning Bond's Downfall And Other Stunts. Instead we are offered 5 short featurettes which almost repeat the short documentary and ends with Crew Files which are the 32 personnel blogs shown on the official movie site during filming and introduced/closed by producer Wilson.

With the missing documentary & commentary we can expect another 3-Disc Deluxe Edition like with CR which is unfair on the fans who have paid full price for this product, thankfully I purchased online for a lot less. This later product is 'milking' the movie which leave a sour taste with this reviewer. So another for the 007 DVD library and after another movie viewing won't alas be needed too often.