Movie Review

007: Quantum of Solace is the highly anticipated sequel to the successful Casino Royale, directed by Marc Forster and features a muscled-toned Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria. In this latest installment, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of an evil organization who poses as an environmentalist while staging a plan to take control of Bolivia. Bond is joined by Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), a former Bolivian secret agent, hell-bent on revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd and General Medrano, respectively.

Continuing from where Casino Royale left off, Bond is behind the wheel of an Aston Martin attacked by a chasing car from Lake Como to Siena, Italy with the captured Mr. White in the boot of his car. After skillfully evading his pursuers, Bond and M, interrogate White regarding a mysterious organization called Quantum but he escaped after being double-crossed by M’s trusted bodyguard Mitchell. Bond chased Mitchell on foot across the streets/ roof of Siena, a fierce tussle ensued and kills him. Through tracked banknotes, Bond heads to Haiti to find Mitchell's contact, Edmund Slate and kills him in cold blood. Posing as Slate, Bond learnt that Slate was sent to kill Camille under orders from her bed partner, Dominic Greene, the ruthless chairman of Greene Planet and a member of Quantum. Bond pursues her by motorbike and watches her meet with Greene, learning the businessman is helping General Medrano, murderer of Camille's family in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert wasteland.

As the story unfolds, Bond reunites with his old ally René Mathis, who now lives in a hilltop villa awarded to him by MI6. In La Paz, Bolivia, they are greeted by Strawberry Fields, sent by M from the local British Consulate. Although she explains Bond must return to the UK on the next available flight, he disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite. That night, they attend a fund raiser being held by Greene, where Camille reappears to dampen his night. Bond and Camille drive to the location of Greene's intended land acquisition, surveying the area in a Douglas DC-3 propeller plane but were intercepted by a chopper and a fighter plane sent by Medrano. Crash-landing, both Bond and Camille jump from the crippled plane and then freefall-parachute into a sink hole. There, they discover Greene is not interested in oil but has been blockading supplies of fresh water, hidden in underground rivers.

Bond meets his CIA ally Felix Leiter at a local bar, who informs Bond of where Greene is set to complete his deal with Medrano and flees when other CIA agents arrive to kill him. Bond and Camille go to an eco-hotel powered by hydrogen fuel cells, located in the Bolivian desert, where Greene is finalizing the coup. As the various parties depart, Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis and sets off a chain of explosions when a hydrogen fuel tank is destroyed. Camille finally kills Medrano and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of oil, payback for what he did to agent Fields. Bond and Camille drive to a train station, where they finally kiss before she departs.

Bond goes to Kazan, Russia where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former boyfriend, Yusef for some form of closure. Yusef is a Quantum henchman who specializes in seducing high-ranking women to get them to give up government assets and is doing the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau. Leaving Yusef's apartment, Bond is confronted by M who is surprised that he did not kill Yusef. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA, and Greene was found in the desert shot dead with motor oil in his stomach. Bond sets out into the cold night, aware that Mr. White is still on the loose, throws Vesper's necklace in the snow.

Ratings: 4 out 5