Movie Info:
Writers: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, David Harbour, Jesper Christensen, Anatole Taubman, Rory Kinnear, Tim Pigott-Smith, Joaquín Cosio
Rating: PG-13
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Info:
Theatrical Release: November 14, 2008
DVD Release Date: April 21, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $24.99
I have been a fan of James Bond since I was a kid. I used to watch old James Bond movies with my dad. He was a huge fan of the old Bond, Ian Fleming and the Bond book series. It was something we watched while bonding (no pun intended). Just like any other Bond fan, we had our favorite Bonds. Mine was Sean Connery. He personified Bond. He turned Bond into the international sensation he is. For me, Connery is the definitive Bond!
My dad died in 2001. He never had the chance to see Daniel Craig as Bond, so I have no clue how he would have felt about him being in the role. When I heard the blond Craig was taking over the role of Bond I was kind of put off. I know many fans of the series dismissed Craig in the role of Bond. I must admit that I was one of them. First, I wasn’t that familiar with his work and second, there had never been a blond Bond. It seemed almost funny to change his look along with the actor. I didn’t really want to like him, so I avoided seeing Casino Royale.
Still, I am a Bond fan, so I couldn’t stay away for too long. I ended up watching the movie when it came on television and I have to admit it. I am impressed with Daniel Craig. He brings back a lot of the suave flair that Connery brought to the franchise. He has to be one of my favorite Bonds, and I’m sorry I doubted his ability. Craig has made me a fan, revitalizing the series in ways other actors have failed to do so. Needless to say, I was looking forward to Quantum of Solace.
Unlike most of the Bond movies, which stand alone well on their own, Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale left off. I also had the chance to play and review the Quantum of Solace video game (for the Xbox 360), so I kind of had some idea of the direction the film would head. Of course, video games don’t give away too much and part of it was actually scenes from Casino Royale, with flashback mode to Vesper and where what happened with her leads us to the new movie.
I have watched a few different Bond movies on Blu-ray, to date. I have to say that Blu-ray was made for this kind of movie. The Bond flicks are full of action, suspense, and the soundtrack is the kind that benefits from that movie theater style of sound. The Blu-ray for Quantum of Solace is quite a treat. If you have Blu-ray, I highly recommend getting this version of the movie, because it’s just that good.
The Quantum of Solace Plot
Location! Location! Location! That’s a major part of Quantum of Solace. The movie spans across the globe making this film the Bond film that was filmed the most on location. The film is visually pleasing in large part due to all of the locations Bond travels to, which serve as a central part of the intricate plot.
Leaving off where Casino Royale ends, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is involved in a high speed car chase from the very beginning of Quantum of Solace. He’s driving from Lake Garda to Siena, Italy. Bond is being chased because he has Mr.White (Jesper Christensen) in the trunk of his car. Bond manages to escape, taking White to an interrogation location where M (Judi Dench) is waiting.
White refuses to give them any information on the Quantum organization, other than to say that they have eyes everywhere. Just to prove that point, M’s bodyguard, Mitchell, turns on them and helps White escape. A chase ensues and Bond ends up killing Mitchell, in the process. This makes M mad since they cannot interrogate him. An investigation into Mitchell brings up little save for his Haitian contact, Edmund Slate.
Naturally, Bond heads to Haiti. Along the way, he meets Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko). Camile is the target of Slate and the former lover of the powerful yet mysterious Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). On paper, Greene seems to be a great guy, chairing an ecological organization, Greene Planet. Further examination of Greene shows ties between him and the former Bolivian dictator and general Medrano, Quantum, an advisor to the British Prime Minister and some other big players.
Along the way, Bond travels to Austria, for a performance of Tosca, to Italy, where he reunites with René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), La Paz and Russia. There is a resolution, of sorts, to the entire Vesper mess from Casino Royale, which plays an undertone for the entire movie. He also meets up with M16 field agent, Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), who is trying to get Bond to follow orders from M and his other superiors. Discontented by Bonds apparent lack of care (and frequent killing without giving a chance for interrogation), he isn’t even supposed to be in the field. This is Bond though, so expect him not to listen!
Full of action, adventure, and high speed, non-stop storytelling Quantum of Solace is a fitting successor to the equally as good Casino Royale.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
Quantum of Solace is handled by Fox, a company known for putting out beautiful looking Blu-rays. I find it hard to rate any video the full five stars, but this quality is about as close to five stars as one could get. The 1080p and MPEG-4 video with 2.39:1 aspect ratio gives you a chance to see the true action that drives this movie from start to finish.
There is some grain evident in this movie, but it’s obvious that the grain is deliberate and it is never distracting. Flesh tones look fine, colors are handled well, and the level of detail is amazing. I find it hard to find anything bad to say about this transfer. There were no compression errors, blur, noise, or any other common problems. If you’re looking for a near flawless Bond transfer, Quantum of Solace would be the movie for you.
The sound for Solace is provided by a DTS-HD lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround. The specs alone sound fabulous and the actual audio does not disappoint. In fact, this meets or beats any Blu-ray expectations that you might have. Your speakers will get a huge workout with this dynamic, full force audio. The music sounds crisp and ultimately perfect, especially the opera scene. The dialogue never causes a problem and the sound effects are sure to blow your mind.
If all movies had audio and video like this they would end up being much better than they usually are. Like the video, there is absolutely nothing to complain about in this transfer. In addition to the English audio, there are French, Portuguese, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available in Cantonese, English, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
The special features for Quantum of Solace are decent, but not spectacular. Of course, you’re looking at a film that is most certainly assured to be recycled over time. You can expect this to end up in a set and see a Special or Collector’s Edition in no time. That being said, the powers that be surely did not want to offer too many goodies now when they will be needed later on. Still, what is here is mostly fun.
“Bond on Location”: This 25 minute featurette serves as the basic Making Of and it’s, by far, the best feature on the DVD. Interviews with press and on the set are included in this with the director, producers, and stars (Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, and Olga Kurylenko). They made this before the movie was out, which doesn’t make a lot of difference, but is something that you will notice when watching. The thing that really makes this worth watching though is the making-of footage. There is quite a bit on the location of the film and what went into some of the bigger scenes. Unfortunately, a lot of it is repeated in other features.
There are a series of smaller featurettes. Many of these delve further into the information presented in the making-of featurette. The featurettes include, “Start of Shooting,” “On Location,” “Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase,” “Director Marc Forester,” and “The Music.” These look at Daniel Craig and the stunts he did, his contribution as Bond, the massive work that went into planning and finding locations, shooting in the desert and the dog fight scene, Olga Kurylenko’s contribution to the film (and her praise for Craig, who got her through doing many of her own stunts), information about the director and his filmmaking process, the composition of the music of the film and the orchestral contribution, how they found extras that fit each location, and much more. While these aren’t very long they are chocked full of information.
“Crew Files”: Here you have nearly an hour of somewhat fair crew profiles. I could see listing and profiling some of the major crew, but here you have over 30 profiles. These were originally for the web, offering some behind the scenes footage and an interview in each profile. There isn’t anything overly spectacular here, but it is kind of fun to see what each crew member does . Still, on the whole it’s rather plain and much of it feels promotional in nature.
Other than what is listed, the only other special features are the theatrical trailer and a music video for “Another Way to Die” Music Video. There is also information on the making of this video, which rocks. You don’t expect Alicia Keys to team up with Jack White, but the song is actually very unique. The orchestration is the best part and how the song came to be is explored in the features listed above.
Bonus Features: 
Bottom Line:
Quantum of Solace is well worth the purchase on Blu-ray. The sound quality and video quality are both stellar. The movie is one of the better Bond flicks in recent years and despite my initial hesitation with Craig, he is one of the best Bonds out there. If you’ve seen the movie you know just how worthy of a purchase it is. Ultimately, the decision to purchase will rest on whether or not you want to wait for the ‘chocked full of special features’ edition to come out. If you don’t care about special features, I highly recommend you pick this up. If you do, you might want to wait it out just a bit until something better comes along.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Blu Ray, Blu-ray Review, James Bond, 007, Action, Daniel Craig, Judi Dench
