The lack of storyline kills the movie.
by Keenan Moore
The action-packed James Bond series recently came out with its first true sequel in Quantum of Solace. While it is action packed, the film lacks a coherent storyline and it is often easy to get lost in all the explosions and car chases.
In the previous installment of the James Bond series, Casino Royale, James Bond played by Daniel Craig (The Golden Compass) encounters a terrorist money-laundering situation. It’s up to Bond and his new found lover, Vesper (Eva Green, The Golden Compass) to find out who had set him up. It turns out for James that the saying is true, that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as his lover Vesper is the one who had set him up, and eventually she is killed by the same organization that tried to set Bond up. The movie continues with Bond being completely confused and wondering how things had been going on without him knowing. All that remains for Bond with is a phone number that was left for him on Vesper’s phone with the name of Mr. White. Casino Royale ends up with Bond standing over Mr. White about to interrogate him about the organization that had tried to kill him.
In Quantum of Solace James Bond is now out for vengeance and is looking for the company that forced his lover Vesper to betray him. The movie starts out with Bond and M (Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal) trying to interrogate Mr. White (Jesper Christensen, The Interpreter) about the company that tried to set Bond up. Of course, what type of movie would it be if they had already captured the bad guy right at the beginning? Halfway through the interrogation, that same bad guy manages to escape with the help of one of his inside agents who was posing as a bodyguard for M. The next scene shows a spectacular chase through the city as James Bond tries to capture the assassin.
From there on out it is a perfect example of a James Bond movie with explosions, guns and girls galore. Plus, the viewer learns about some of the many things that have become famous in the James Bond series, such as to why James Bond is a womanizer ,and the origin of the vodka martini that must be shaken, not stirred. However, in between all of the action, it is hard to get a real firm grasp on the actual storyline. The producers do not go into a great amount of detail and it often times leaves the audience asking more questions than when they went into the theater.
Actor Daniel Craig does another stellar job as the new James Bond. The heroine Camille (Olga Kurylenko, Hitman) plays a different role of a female heroine, instead of just being another woman in Bond’s life. Throughout the movie there is good acting, but yet again, the storyline fails to grasp one’s attention.
This movie is not worth the eight-dollar admission price. Even though all the explosions and car chases might keep your adrenaline flowing, the lack of a cohesive plot kills the movie. Even though Daniel Craig might be the new face of James Bond, the series is hanging on for dear life.
