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Quantum of Solace
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - MGM Home Entertainment/Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (30th March 2009). |
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The Film
 Every year that sees the release of a new Bond film is a year I look forward to, having been a fan since childhood I make every opportunity to see the spectacle on the big screen. Last year was no exception as the eagerly anticipated follow-up to "Casino Royale" (2006) hit the screens. "Quantum of Solace" follows directly where the previous film left off and continues the narrative. For many the film didn't live up to expectations, the reviews seemed mixed as was audience reaction. Upon first screening I wasn't all too impressed with director Marc Forester's Bond entry, and I still think "Casino Royale" was a much better film. However, after several more screenings the film has certainly grown on me (a little), mainly because the film is made all the more better having seen "Casino Royale" directly before it. There are still some gaping flaws, but one thing is for sure - Daniel Craig is the best James Bond we've seen since the original and great Sean Connery. Welcoming a new Bond that best reflects the times now, he's a darker and more aggressive character, which leaves behind the classic Bond in favor of that. As mentioned before "Quantum of Solace" picks up right where we left off in the previous film starting off with an exhilarating car chase sequence and leading to the discovery of the organization "Quantum", 007 agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) is still after those responsible for killing Vesper. With the lines of justice and revenge being blurred, Bond goes rogue with his pursuit of uncovering the organization. In doing so he investigates Environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who is more than he initially appears and could be the villain he's after. Teamed up with Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who is seeking her own revenge against Greene. "Quantum of Solace" takes a new direction, it's the first direct sequel of a previous Bond film, the story line continues to follow the darker, grittier Bond brought to brooding life by Craig. The character's tone seems to dictate the film's shooting style in this case as previous Bond adventures are very slick in their presentation (even "Casino Royale" which although depicted a darker Bond it was largely a well crafted and slickly edited production), "Quantum of Solace" tends to borrow from the Paul Greengrass school of filmmaking and features erratic and rough handheld camera work combined with fast editing. You can easily see the influences of the "Bourne" series (2002-2007) here as director Marc Forester composes a realistic documentary feel to the action. This can be to the detriment of the film at times, as the action is fast and confusing. The slickness that makes Bond Bond is lost. While I welcome the darker character that Craig brings to the table (in fact he's the best of the recent Bond's) I'm not entirely sold on the way this film was structured, shot and edited. As usual, Bond has his bevy of beautiful women to woo... it is expected and we get both the exotic Olga Kurylenko and also Gemma Arterton. Bond beds Arterton's character Strawberry Fields rather quickly, and while it feels like the right thing considering it's Bond and he's a womanizer, it also feels wrong because the film follows his quest to find those responsible for Vesper's death, a woman he clearly loved, yet he's still willing to bang some girl he's just met along his journey for revenge. I'm not sure the writer's were paying attention here... you can't have it both ways, he either goes for revenge and ignores the honey traps or find a way to develop that he's over Vesper then he can have all the action he wants. In many ways it's the story that failed the writers here because this was clearly a case of having your cake and eating it too. I'm sorry to say that these weren't the only things that bothered me about this film, the desert hotel sequence at the end was totally unbelievable... now I know what you're going to say - "It's Bond, the unbelievable tends to happen" but again we find ourselves being bitten by the stylistic choices the filmmaker's have made. The idea here was to relaunch Bond in a realistic and gritty fashion, to connect with modern day audiences. The desert hotel sequence was so totally unrealistic you'll roll your eyes... why would anyone build a hotel so big and expensive in the middle of nowhere that's powered by highly explosive Hydrogen fuel tanks? Surely that's a safety issue... oh yeah it is! And guess what? The hotel explodes! And so easily too... I like the darker Bond, I like the hand-to-hand combat action and the energized opening scene, I like the Bond girls... in fact there's plenty of awesome moments in "Quantum of Solace" but those shortcomings mentioned above are too big and awkward to simply avoid. I really wanted to love this film, as I consider "Casino Royale" as being one of the best Bond films of the entire series, but I only marginally liked this one... I hope that Bond's 23rd outing manages to recapture what made "Casino Royale" so damn good, even if that means bringing back director Martin Campbell.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 in HD 1080p 24/fps and has been mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. Traditionally Bond films have been slick in their presentation, while this film has its slick moments, it's a rugged, more gritty film. The photography takes on that tone and features an image that's a bit grainier than most of the recent Bond films. This doesn't in anyway diminish the film's overall image quality as this disc accurately replicates the film's original presentation and retains the grain and weight the image had theatrically. In saying that the image is still sharp, crisp and incredibly clean without any dirt, specks or flaws. I was impressed with the depth and detail within each frame, colors look solid and muted as per the film's aesthetic. Overall it's a terrific transfer that'll show off your HD set-up perfectly.
Audio
There are four optional audio tracks available on this disc, they are in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as tracks in French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio track. Before I get into the nitty gritty of this track I have to say one thing - "wow!" Bond films are pure and simply action packed spectacles, and this one doesn't fail to impress in the audio department. The action is explosive, aggressive and immersive in every way. The key action scenes seem to pop off the screen, dialogue is clear and distortion free and ambient sound adds further depth to the scenes. Nothing feels out of place, and everything is loud, powerful and bombastic... turn this one all the way up! Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional).
Extras
This film has been released with a collection of extras that include 6 featurettes, crew files webisodes, a music video, the film's original teaser trailer and theatrical trailer. Below is a closer look at these supplements. "Bond on Location" is the first featurette and runs for 24 minutes 45 seconds. In this clip audiences are transported to the various exotic filming locations of this 22nd Bond adventure. We get a healthy dose of interviews with key cast and crew and an ample supply of behind-the-scenes footage from principle photography. Basically it's an EPK clip used to market the film and doesn't go beyond the basics of the film. Following that is the "Start of Shooting" featurette which runs for 2 minutes 53 seconds, this short clip takes a look at the beginning of production on Bond 22 and takes a quick look at some stunt preparation. "On Location" is the next short featurette which runs for 3 minutes 14 seconds, takes another look at the production on location this time in Panama and Mexico, it's largely forgettable and all too brief. “Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase” is the next brief featurette which runs for 2 minutes 14 seconds. Here the newest Bond girl comments on the stunts and shooting the fast-paced jet boat action sequence. And just like the previous clip this is a pretty forgettable clip, that leaves a lot to be desired. I wish the disc producer's would have included more in-depth documentaries about these key sequences. "The Music" featurette runs for 2 minutes 37 seconds, This clip takes a look at the involvement of composer David Arnold and on creating music for an iconic film series, meanwhile collaborators Jack White and Alicia Keys talks about their new song for the film's opening title sequence. "Director Marc Forster" featurette runs for 2 minutes 46 seconds, is a closer look at the film's director, basically it's a vanity piece on the filmmaker and on how he works. "Crew Files" webisodes runs for a total of 45 minutes 30 seconds, this is by far my favorite feature on this entire disc. These clips provides profiles on key members of the crew that made this film possible, it provides a neat insight into the jobs that go on behind-the-scenes and the sheer vast amount of people it takes to pull off such a large scale production. Each member takes us through their responsibilities, these clips were originally viewable on the film's official website chronicling the production and used to promote the film and I'm glad the disc producers decided to includes these clips on this disc. They include: - Michael G. Wilson Introduction which runs for 37 seconds. - James Grant, Location Manager - Panama City which runs for 1 minute 46 seconds. - Ana Andera, Extras Casting - Panama which runs for 1 minute 40 seconds. - Toby Hefferman, Second Assistant Director which runs for 1 minute 16 seconds. - Roberto Schaefer, Director of Photography runs for 1 minute 36 seconds. - Cliff Fleming, Pilot - Aerial Unit-Mexico runs for 1 minute 19 seconds. - Chris Munro, Production Sound Mixer runs for 1 minute 17 seconds. - Skip Evans, DC3 Pilot - Aerial Unit, Mexico runs for 1 minute 22 seconds. - Callum McDougall, Executive Producer runs for 1 minute 21 seconds. - Tim de Zeeuw, Director General - European Southern Observatory, Chile runs for 1 minute 18 seconds. - Guido Cerasuolo, Line Producer - Italy runs for 1 minute 18 seconds. - Naomi Donne, Make-Up / Hair - Bond Girls runs for 1 minute 28 seconds. - Pat Daily, Go-Camera Operator / Rigger runs for 1 minute. - Simon Crane, Additional Unit Director runs for 1 minute 9 seconds. - Jeanine Udall, Unit Nurse runs for 1 minute 14 seconds. - Michael Lerman, First Assistant Director runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. - Chris Lowe, Supervising Art Director runs for 1 minute 38 seconds. - Ben Cooke, Stuntman runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - David Pountney, Artistic Director - Bregenz Festival runs for 1 minute 17 seconds. - Terry Bamber, Second Unit Production Manager runs for 1 minute 46 seconds. - Debbie McWilliams, Casting Director runs for 1 minute 20 seconds. - Dean Bailey, Driver - Ultimate Arm Camera runs for 1 minute 7 seconds. - Anatole Taubman, Actor runs for 1 minute 21 seconds. - Graham Kelly, Picture Vehicle Supervisor runs for 1 minute 16 seconds. - Chris Corbould, SFX Supervisor runs for 1 minute 13 seconds. - Paul Engelen, Make-Up Designer runs for 1 minute 15 seconds. - Eddy Joseph, Supervising Sound Editor runs for 1 minute 11 seconds. - Rick Pearson & Matt Chessé, Editors runs for 1 minute 11 seconds. - Ben Radatz & Tim Fisher, Title Shoot Directors runs for 1 minute 18 seconds. - Kevin Tod Haug, VFX Designer runs for 1 minute 7 seconds. - Alicia Keys, Singer runs for 1 minute 30 seconds. - David Arnold, Composer runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - Paul Brown, Music Video Director runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - Michael G. Wilson Closing runs for 41 seconds. Next up is the "Another Way to Die" music video byJack White and Alicia Keys. It runs for 4 minutes 30 seconds and is your typical video with some clips of the film added. Rounding out the extras is the film's original teaser trailer which runs for 1 minute 51 seconds as well as the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 23 seconds. As well as a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Valkyrie" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "Australia" which runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - "The Day the Earth Stood Still" which runs for 1 minute 53 seconds.
Overall
I'm a little disappointed with the lack of substantial extras on this disc, there's no audio commentary and no in-depth documentary and I'm sure there are some deleted scenes which we haven't seen yet... I suppose that a 2-disc double-dip will be on its way in the coming year or so, after all that's exactly what happened to "Casino Royale" so why not continue to milk the Bond films?
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