Poster © Sony Pictures Releasing. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Mystery
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 46 mins
ReleasedNovember 14, 2008
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMarc Forster
StarringDaniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric
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| Quantum of Solace's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Mystery |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 10/29/2008 (London); 10/31/2008 (United Kingdom); 11/14/2008 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 46 mins |
| Budget | $200–230M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | James Bond by Ian Fleming |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| Quantum of Solace's Interests | |
| General | Siena rooftops, Bolivian desert, a floating opera stage, speedboat chases, Haitian docks. |
| Music | David Arnold, plus Another Way to Die, the theme song by Jack White and Alicia Keys. |
| Movies | Casino Royale (2006). Watch it first. This one is basically part two. |
| Television | 24. Same energy: one furious agent, zero naps. |
| Heroes | Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini). Retired to Italy, still the classiest man in any room. |
| Quantum of Solace's Crew | |
| Director | Marc Forster |
| Writers | Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade |
| Producers | Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli |
| Cinematography | Roberto Schaefer |
| Music | David Arnold |
| Edited By | Matt Chesse, Richard Pearson |
| Production | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Eon Productions |
| Distributed By | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Casino Royale was a tailored suit. Quantum of Solace is that suit after a trip through the paper shredder. The opening car chase is cut so fast you can’t tell which car Bond is in, and the rooftop chase in Italy has the same problem with more roof tiles. Daniel Craig is still great, all clenched jaw and grief, playing a guy who answers every question with a punch. Olga Kurylenko gets a real revenge story, and Mathieu Amalric makes a fine creep, but his master plan would bore a city council meeting. Gemma Arterton’s agent introduces herself as just Fields, and the full name Strawberry only shows up in the credits, which is the best joke here. At 106 minutes it’s short for a Bond and still feels rushed and tired at the same time. A reported $200 to $230 million turned into $589.6 million worldwide, so nobody at the studio cried. A 4.4 because I came for a spy and got a blender. $44.62 says you put on Casino Royale right after this to cleanse your palate.
What works: Daniel Craig’s grieving, furious Bond and Olga Kurylenko’s revenge story give the movie a real pulse.
What doesn’t: The action is edited so frantically that you lose track of who is hitting whom, and the villain’s scheme is a snooze.
Who it’s for: Bond completists working through the Craig era in order who want to see how Casino Royale’s story wraps up.
Greene’s real plan is to take control of Bolivia’s water supply, and Bond leaves him stranded in the desert with a can of motor oil. Camille gets her revenge on the general who wrecked her family. In Russia, Bond tracks down Vesper’s boyfriend, a con man who targets agents, and hands him to MI6 instead of killing him.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) picks up right where Casino Royale left off, ripping along the shore of Lake Garda with Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) locked in his trunk. M (Judi Dench) wants to know who White really works for, and the interrogation goes sideways fast. The trail runs through Haiti to Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), a woman with her own score to settle, and on to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a smiling eco-businessman eyeing a worthless-looking patch of Bolivian desert. Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) is lurking on the CIA side. Marc Forster directs. One hundred six minutes, and not one of them spent sitting still.
Anyone who likes their spy movies lean, fast and allergic to small talk. Bring a spare Aston Martin.
M. Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films anphoto: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons| Daniel Craig | James Bond |
| Olga Kurylenko | Camille Montes |
| Mathieu Amalric | Dominic Greene |
| Giancarlo Giannini | René Mathis |
| Gemma Arterton | Strawberry Fields |
| Anatole Taubman | Elvis |
| Jesper Christensen | Mr. White |
| David Harbour | Gregg Beam |
| Rory Kinnear | Bill Tanner |
| Tim Pigott-Smith | the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth |
| Joaquín Cosío | General Medrano |
| Jeffrey Wright | Felix Leiter |
| Judi Dench | M. Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films an |
| Fernando Guillén Cuervo | Carlos |
| Paul Ritter | Guy Haines |
| Neil Jackson | Edmund Slate |
| Simon Kassianides | Yusef Kabira |
| Stana Katic | Corrine Veneau |
| Glenn Foster | Craig Mitchell |
| Oona Chaplin | Perla de las Dunas's receptionist |
| Lucrezia Lante della Rovere | Gemma |
| Jesús Ochoa | Lieutenant Orso |
| Elizabeth Arciniega | Mr White's girlfriend |