Quantum of Solace

The Holly wood block buster



Director:Marc Forster
Writers (WGA):Paul Haggis (written by) and Neal Purvis (written by) ...
Release Date:7 November 2008 (India) more
Genre:Action | Adventure | Thriller more
Plot:Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country's water supply. | full synopsis
Awards:1 nomination




Story of Quantum of Solace:

Sure, the title isn't exactly thrilling. In fact, I sat through the end credits wondering if I'd see, "James Bond will be back in A MODICUM OF ALLEVIATION."

But "Quantum of Solace" is such a smart and brutal Bond movie that it kicks the "Bourne" movies — which had previously made Bond irrelevant — in the crotch. With a steel-toed boot.

One of the last of Ian Fleming's titles that hadn't been used in the previous 21 movies, it's from a short story that consists of a man-to-man conversation between Bond and an older guy at a dinner party. This is not a movie about a dinner party.



Finally, for the first time in Bond's 46-year movie history, a quantum of continuity. The story opens right after the events of "Casino Royale" with a hair-raising car chase and no foreplay. Bond has taken hostage Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), whom he'd shot at the end of the previous film. The agent's smoldering with rage, and he wants answers about the death of the only woman he'd ever loved.

But before you can say "extraordinary rendition," a mole in MI6 shoots up the joint and sparks an exhausting, parkour-esque chase. He was from an evil organization — not SPECTRE, not SMERSH, but Quantum (no explanation) — that's got people everywhere. With M (Judi Dench) questioning Bond's focus — "If you could avoid killing every possible lead, it would be deeply appreciated," she says dryly — he's pulled out of action and "goes rogue."

With MI6 and the CIA both on his tail, Bond inadvertently hooks up with the only person as pissed off as he is: Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who's sleeping with slimy business mogul Greene (Mathieu Amalric) to get revenge of her own against a sadistic South American general (Joaquín Cosio) who did some remarkably impolite things to her and her family.

Some people who claim to be Bond fans might complain about the absence of a few familiar things: cheesy quips, gadgets (not to mention "Q"), getting it on with the heroine. And Daniel Craig isn't a charming Bond. He's grim and tough, and that's refreshing. The filmmakers appear to be interested in character, which, along with continuity, was never previously a strong point in the series.



They're playing it smart. "Casino Royale" was a relaunch that rescued Bond from being an outdated joke of a cliché. Instead of simply recasting him like the next Dr. Who and getting on with business-as-usual, they showed how Bond started becoming the character we all know.

There's a ruefulness behind his quips, a self-destructive urge behind his hedonism and a pain behind his skirt-chasing that were forgotten as the movies became emptier and sillier copies of each other. Craig's second outing as a hurt and ruthless Bond is another step along the way, and he'll be even closer to Bond's familiar groove in the next one.

There's also a debate running through the story — largely with Bond's CIA ally Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) — about the necessity of doing business with bad guys. Again, refreshing: nicely relevant but not hammered home.

Oscar-winner Paul Haggis ("Crash") collaborated on the screenplay with his "Casino Royale" co-writers, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. It doesn't take a superspy to attribute the quality to Haggis, since Purvis and Wade were also responsible for the awful "Die Another Day" and "The World Is Not Enough."

Known for "Monster's Ball" and "Finding Neverland," Marc Forster seems like a counterintuitive choice to direct an action spectacle. But any doubts I might have had flew out the window and splattered onto the hood of a parked car during an early, hellacious brawl between Bond and a lead he follows to Haiti.

Complaints about the movie all come with qualifications. Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") isn't a particularly colorful villain. He vibes Roman Polanski circa "Chinatown," and I kept imagining him calling Bond "kittycat." But then the time's past for cartoonish Bond villains like Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his actual kitty cat.




Amalric's plot — something to do with real estate and controlling water — isn't so gripping, either. But it's a lot less preposterous than irradiating the gold at Fort Knox (see "Goldfinger").

And Bond is just a little too indestructible. A plane battle and subsequent free fall are too Indiana Jones for the rest of the movie's no-nonsense grittiness. But at least they still show him cut and bleeding. Hey, Roger Moore never even got his hair messed up.

bachna ae haseeno

It’s no wonder rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Sylvester Stallone have flocked to Mumbai for cameo rolls in Bollywood’s sleepless cinema factory. The production values are skyrocketing—what with a hop to Capri and a skip to the Swiss Alps. Add to the blank-check budget a fan base well stocked and willing to get their paws on the supplemental paraphernalia beyond the picture, and you’ve got yourself a venerable industry. Bachna Ae Haseeno will not disappoint those who are craving for some loop in their fruit. A playboy yanks the love strings completely from two buxom babes before getting a bad dose of his own medicine when trying to court a third. Despite the sap spewing from this maple, it will delight sweet-tooth auds near and far; even compelling them to fork-up a couple bucks for the soundtrack.
It takes only a few seconds into the titles to begin the first choreographed music spectacular. Our main man Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), a glorified video game creator, sports a glittery fedora while doing a bronco stampede dance with a harem of female backups dressed in fishnet stockings writhing close with extra pelvic thrusts. Their attire changes with the beat from no-mercy getups a la ’80s neon to Las Vegas disco. At one point, Raj is breakdancing, and you think you’re watching a recreation of Ozone in Breakin’. Then the number ends, and it’s into the story we go. Raj stands before a postcard view along the Italian Riviera and narrates in almost a whisper: “I am a killer.” It takes a while before you realize that the word killer is not going to unreel a story about cloak-and-dagger tactics but lady-killing. It’s present time, and our hushed narrator in his white Elvis duds and aviators is a killer because he woos big-chested women with hearts of gold and leaves them dying at the stake for even a last glance.
There’s Mahi (Minissha Lamba), a youth of privilege who’s Euro-tripping with her family on a train. At 18, Raj is doing the same and chasing tail to boot with his three mates. Ultimately, the two make eyes, and after Mahi misses a train, the two are going by moped through the Swiss Alps to catch-up with her family in Zurich. Love blossoms on a bench, and the two lock lips. The downside is Mahi’s already fixed to be married to another. Raj still pursues her by stealing some chocolate truffles and writing a poem on toilet paper. Such the romantic! The montage sequence layered over a catchy tune where the pair are playing in a soccer match and racing in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race all impress the fact that this guy travels far and fast despite his penniless status. Soon enough, the Romeo blows it by bragging lies about their affair and is caught in the act.
No matter. He’s got a chance to crumble another heart years later when he meets his next-door neighbor, this stunner named Radhika (Bipasha Basu), and puts on the charm. Soon enough, the two are intersecting at the mailbox and in the elevator, borrowing sugar for coffee. After Raj’s career gets a leg up, he must move to Sydney, Australia, he’s in a world of hurt to determine how to break it easy to his live-in girlfriend. He tries to do so through conversation, and she instead wants to get married. Cue the toilet flushing and plate-crashing sound effects. (These corny effects are repeated whenever things go south.) All attempts to wiggle out of the relationship backfire. Wedding bells hover and clearly Raj is not the marrying type. In Sydney, the video-game biz is flourishing, but Raj’s romance is floundering. Takes a wisecracking taxi driver, who happens to be a knockout named Gayatri (Deepika Padukone) to trip up the Indian Don Juan. When all his moves are proved tired, Raj goes for the gusto and tries to win over Gayatri.
The take on an old story of love thrice gotten and lost almost as many times is well and good. Raj goes back to appease the victims he ran over with his love cruiser without even glancing the rearview. Now fallen from grace, his conscience has kicked in and he gives a hoot. Raj promises at one point, “I never want to hurt anybody again.” Seeing him grovel and become a love guru so fast is a hard sell. But this is Bollywood, mind you. Fantasy flows through the water supply.
It’s nice to see a lead whose not injecting human growth hormone between takes. His frame is that of a Joe who sips a beer from time to time instead of Creatine. Then again, Raj is just your average video-game techie boasting voluptuous babes pining for his love and affection. The musical acts during montages are eclectic for this fare—a gondola carries lovers through canals, a deserted beach for two lovers, hip clubs where the revealing outfits the girls wear get the Hollywood treatment. It’s all quite flashy and tight.
In the case of this picture, it’s crucial to look at it with a measuring instrument taking into account the humorous elements and lovestruck plot. Yes, the thing can seem a bit hokey. The lead hunk is trying awfully hard to be this man of mystery. In some ways, he pulls it off. Could be his slick dance moves or the notion that there is good chemistry amongst the cast. You allow the extended music-video soap opera to carry on with its bouncy-ball plot without grabbing at it to stay still. It’s a well-balanced sauce with enough frills and not enough cheese to overwhelm the palette. And despite the long length (over two and a half hours) the film moves.
Director Siddharth Anand had a vision for this film and really took patient paces to mold together a witty and jubilant bit of cinema. The musical tracks keep the head bobbing, and the story has a universal theme that’s easy to grasp no matter how fast the subtitles move. It’s as if time stops, and you just get to play along with this ensemble of beautiful people (some perhaps got a little help from the science of silicon) who are trying to get to reach euphoria. The scenario of boy meets girl (in this case three girls) and finds something special, albeit through plying for scruples in each case, is old but happens to get a new coat in this film. Does the guy have this much sway with gals in real life? You have to doubt that. But at least on the big screen, the guy can have it all and smooch every girl he wants, have the cushy job, and however many times he falls, he still finds romance in the end. A film that can deliver this kind of escape deserves praise. And it will get it.