“You’re not married, but I think it’s the same with all relationships between a man and a woman. They can survive anything so long as some kind of basic humanity exists between the two people…Incurable disease, blindness, disaster—all these can be overcome. But never the death of common humanity in one of the partners. I’ve thought about this and I’ve invented a rather high-sounding title for this basic factor in human relations. I have called it the Law of the Quantum of Solace.”
--Ian Fleming, “Quantum of Solace” (in “For Your Eyes Only”)
The closing scenes of Quantum of Solace spell out the mission of the film – a complement to Casino Royale and the conclusion of the trial-by-fire origin of James Bond, agent 007 of MI6. The penultimate scene shows Bond sitting in a chair, dressed in a black coat, awaiting the arrival of his target, in a striking visual reference to the very beginning of Casino Royale where the agent earned his ‘00’ status with his second kill. The parallel is no accident; the epilogue of Quantum of Solace closes a two-film narrative of the forging of James Bond’s character through emotional disconnection, the salvaging of a soul, love, betrayal, and cathartic affirmation.
Through the chaos of action and fury, Bond’s true mission in this film is to find his ‘measure of comfort’, to confirm if what Vesper, who apparently betrayed Bond and committed suicide in the previous film, and Bond felt for each other was real. As in the books, if it is real, then Bond will truly understand the normal life that is cruelly denied him and will be fully equipped to protect it against the forces that conspire to destroy it.
At the start of Quantum of Solace Bond is filled with rage and pain as he coldly, methodically tracks down the organization represented by Mr. White (Jesper Christensen, also from Casino Royale), to find the answers behind the double cross of Vesper, the woman he loved. As the trail leads to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), and the tenticular tips of a mysterious international criminal organization are revealed, Bond gradually begins to fight for something beyond the personal, while still on the track of his ‘measure of comfort’ and helping another damaged soul, Camille (Olga Kurylenko) find her own. By the end of the film, the personal mission is accomplished, but the bigger one of rooting out the Quantum organization has just begun.
This subtextual emotional throughline and how it deftly combines with a Bondian mission is by far the most intriguing and successful part of Quantum of Sloace, especially in how it dovetails with Casino Royale. A Bond film that could not exist without its predecessor is a first in the 007 series, and the iconoclasm is welcome, accompanied as it is by a comfortingly retro feel to the set decoration and photography.
Unfortunately the producers hired second unit director Dan Bradley to film most of the action sequences. Bradley is one of the foremost practitioners of the shaky cam/quick cut school of action, where disorienting chaotic dissonance substitutes for the geographical clarity and elegance of classic, old school action filmmaking. This technique has its place, I suppose, but its dominance in modern action films is disconcerting and its placement in a Bond film is decidedly unwelcome. The opening car chase, for instance, has a certain adrenaline kick, but it’s almost impossible to tell what vehicle is doing what to whom, which is exactly the point according to Bradley, whose philosophy is that the viewer should not get more than fast, fragmented views of the chaos onscreen. Bradley is welcome to his philosophy, but as far as I’m concerned the practitioners of the shaky cam/quick cut school can shove it. Bring back clarity to action cinema, I say.
That quibble aside (plus a minor plea to bring back title designer Daniel Kleinman for the next one), Quantum of Solace is a fast, stylish, engrossing, superbly-acted bookend to Casino Royale and a tantalizing look forward to the future of the Bond series. Daniel Craig once again owns this role, and he’s matched by the brilliant Judi Dench as M, and a strong ensemble supporting cast.
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“…I should say you’re absolutely right. Quantum of Solace—the amount of comfort. Yes, I suppose you could say that all love and friendship is based in the end on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it’s obviously the end. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero.”
--Ian Fleming, “Quantum of Solace” (in “For Your Eyes Only”)
