Daniel Craig quickly established himself as the new kind of Bond. His spy persona was not the sophisticated bon vivant of Sean Connery, Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan. His mean streak made Timothy Dalton appear dainty. With his second film released, hes outlasted George Lazenby. Casino Royale worked well with Craig playing a barbaric agent who needed to learn manners because the killing came easy. He wasnt merely a clone squeezed inside a tuxedo. The role was tailored for his unforgiving face. However after such an outstanding debut, people wondered what the folks at EON would develop for his sophomore adventure. Brosnan made a great splash with Goldeneye, but waded through a lukewarm Tomorrow Never Dies.
While there have been tons of James Bond films, theres never been a pure sequel. Its always another assignment for 007. The rules have been changed with Quantum of Solace. You cant follow this movie without having seen Casino Royale. Dont even think of cracking open this Blu-ray case without sitting down for the first Daniel Craig turn in the tuxedo. The action opens up not with the usual mini-adventure that plays as an appetizer before the elaborate opening credits. For Quantum, launches with a chase scene that follows the final moment of Casino Royale. Can the action be completely described without being a spoiler for those who havent seen the earlier film? Nope. All you need to know is that Bond is being chased down a picturesque road build in the side of a mountain next to a lake. Cars get torn up pursuit. Bullets are flying. Metal is being shredded. The action is frantic and nasty.
During an interrogation scene with M (Judi Dench), they discover their agency has been infiltrated by a new evil organization that has gone completely under their radar. Quantum isnt an off-shoot of SPECTRE with a new Blofeld petting his fuzzy kitty. Quantum appears to be like Haliburton or The Carlyle Group with evil intentions for the world. They offer the services that CIA used to perform when it comes to bolstering up dictatorships and keeping the masses down. Bond tracks down these new players on the world stage. He wants vengeance. This leads to a dramatic exposure at an opera. One of the members of Quantum is too well connected. No longer can Bond count on his agency for support. Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) is his only help. Doesnt help how he screwed Rene over at the end of Casino as a suspected traitor. The world gets even smaller when his major suspect (Mathieu Amalric) is pals with the CIA. The guy is the French version of Al Gore. He wants to save Bolivia with his green vision of tomorrow. Bond gets a little assistance from the CIAs Max Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). He also suspects the environmentalist has got a nasty scam going down. He slides 007 more than enough information to keep his British counterpart on the trail. Bonds main assistant is Camille (Olga Kurylenko). She also has a bit of revenge in wanting to stick to this mission. She reflects the new vision of Bond since she lacks the playful name of so many other Bond Girls.
The action scenes dominate Quantum of Solace. Theres a ferocity to the destruction thats never been approached in the series. This is not the playful Roger Moore era Bond movie. Its easy to see that Marc Forster and the EON crew accepted the action challenge delivered by the Bourne movies. They go full out in the action scenes taking them longer and harder than any Bond film has ever gone. As a solo film, Quantum of Solace is rather lacking. But if viewed as the third act of Casino Royale, the movies abrupt nature makes complete sense. For your own enjoyment, double feature this Blu-ray.
The video is 2.40:1 anamorphic. The high def image looks as good as seeing it on the big screen. You get the harsh details of Craigs unflinching face. The audio is 5.1 DTS Master Audio. The levels are set to make you feel battered by the end of the film. There a Spanish, Portuguese and French 5.1 Dolby Digital dubs. The subtitles are in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Thai and Mandarin.
Theatrical Trailers (3:10) include the teaser and the full trailer.
“Another Way to Die” music video (4:30) is a duet between Jack White and Alicia Keys. Much better than the theme to Casino Royale.
Bond on Location (24:45) shows us the exotic locales used for Quantum. They really should have Bond travel packages so you can take in these places properly.
Start of shooting (3:12) lets us on the first day they break out the big cameras. Craig looks pumped for this outing.
On Location (3:32) is more talk about the places the crew went.
Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase (2:13) has the Bong Girl talk about the stunt.
Director Marc Forster (3:02) has him talk about trying to go beyond Casino Royale.
The Music (3:06) is a brief recap of the score and theme song.
Crew Files (46:19) collects 34 interviews from various crew people. This was a webisode feature. Its nice to see the faces to the names included in the massive credit roll.

Quantum of Solace continues the reformulated Bond thats played by Daniel Craig. The film is harsh and intense at many moments. This is not the glib Bond that gets monthly marathons on cable. The best way to approach the film is the third act of Casino Royale. The Blu-ray image brings the action up to the next level as Bond goes into extreme overdrive.
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MGM & 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment present Quantum of Solace. Directed by: Marc Forster. Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric & Judi Dench. Written by: Paul Haggis, Neal PUrvis & Robert Wade. Running time: 106 minutes. Rating: PG-13. Released on DVD: March 24, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
