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Hollywood Hues The screenplay of Quantum of Solace confuses the viewer with shifting locales and Bond doing the impossible, simply because he is Bond,
writes
Ervell E. Menezes
SO, the James Bond show goes on, it’s the 22nd film and Daniel Craig’s second but he seems to have fitted in the role like a glove. If he was in a chase at the start of Casino Royale, he is no worse here and the opening action sequence lasts for almost 10 minutes. Also, if one goes by percentages, this is clearly the most action-packed Bond movie. But then, that does not contribute to qualitative entertainment. The villain here is Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless businessman who can overthrow governments, and though he speaks of the Green Planet, he is capable of evil designs. It’s not oil he is after but water and poisoning the water resources could lead to a major global catastrophe. But that’s sooner said than done. The screenplay by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade is meant to confuse the viewer as the locales keep shifting, the stunts increasing and Bond doing the impossible, simply because he is Bond. It doesn’t give the viewer time to put on his thinking cap. Director Marc Forster too goes the whole hog where action is concerned and you have characters flitting in and out of the frame like moths to a flame. M (Judi Dench) is more in our face than in the earlier Bond movies and she is at the receiving end of the powers that be. It makes Bond’s life more difficult but he hardly cares. Mistaken identity leads him to feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenco) but he later on finds they have something in common. They have a score to settle with Greene who had killed her father. Together they surmount great odds whether on land (car chases), sea (in speedboats) or air where their plane performs acrobatics. It’s action, action and more action, bodies are disposed of with impunity like Mathis (Giancarlo Gianini) who is literally dumped. Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) is another adversary or at least he appears to be and Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), another female he encounters on his travels. It is 106 minutes of non-stop action, which often numbs the senses and there’s little or no suspense because of the absence of a well-defined plot. It’s just visual razzle-dazzlry and fails to figure among the better Bond films. Daniel Craig’s first film Casino Royale is much more entertaining.
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