'Quantum of Solace' On Blu-ray/DVD – What The Critics Said (Part II)
Daniel Craig is James Bond in Quantum of Solace
Following up a home video debut in Australia last Wednesday, this week marks the release of Quantum of Solace in the UK, US and elsewhere around the world.
Over the past few days, several media websites have been posting reviews–including those for the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and the Blu-ray disc–of the 22nd James Bond adventure to see how it holds up on the home video format.
CommanderBond.net has compiled together an detailed listing of the various Blu-ray/DVD reviews of Quantum of Solace…
QUANTUM OF SOLACE – BLU-RAY/DVD
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID (PART II)
For Bond fans, this is a must-buy on DVD
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Quantum of Solace marks the second Bond film to star Daniel Craig in the role of 007, and is directed by Marc Forster.
This is a direct follow-up to Casino Royale, as Bond is out for revenge to get the man who took down his love.
What Bond ends up getting in the middle of though in his hunt for revenge could never have been expected. The leader of the criminals this time out is Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amatric).
He goes on his own, without MI6, working with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) as his new girl.
The film is absolutely over-the-top and is one of the best James Bond films these two eyes have seen to date, and I have seem them all. Daniel Craig has blown me away once again in the role of 007, and I cannot wait to see what he does next with the character…
Quantum of Solace does its best to thrill on DVD
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Quantum of Solace is no Casino Royale, but then it never could be that. What made Casino Royale not only the best James Bond film to date but also a great film in its own right was its emphasis on Bond the man, its retelling of how he became 007, and his tragic relationship with the treacherous Vesper Lynd. Those are all unique to that particular story and can never be duplicated. Instead, QoS is content with being an extended but action-packed epilogue to its more thoughtful and romantic predecessor.
The first direct sequel in the Bond series, QoS picks up shortly after Casino Royale and finds 007 (Daniel Craig) investigating the shadowy network that recruited Vesper to serve as its double agent. M (Dame Judi Dench) fears that Bond is merely on a personal vendetta, but the secret agent insists that he is only concerned with doing his duty. During his globe-hopping quest — which takes him to Italy, Haiti, Austria and, finally, Bolivia — Bond identifies several leading members of the mysterious Quantum organization, including eco-friendly tycoon Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric)…
Quantum of Solace may not be as purely satisfying, but it still rocks in its own way [Blu-ray]
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
The villain and the Bond girl aren’t as interesting as Casino and director Marc Forster doesn’t know how to handle this material as deftly as Martin Campbell, but is it fair to compare Quantum of Solace to arguably the best Bond film ever made (and, by extension, one of the best action movies overall)? No, Quantum isn’t as good as Casino Royale, but neither are most action movies.
And Quantum of Solace IS better than at least three Pierce Brosnan Bond movies, both Timothy Dalton movies, and most of the Roger Moore missions. It’s a brutal action-fest that is missing something because it’s naturally all final act – being a continuation of the last film – but it’s still incredibly well-made. The first fifteen minutes alone make it worth a rental. For anyone who calls themselves a serious Bond fan, they make it worth a purchase…
A solid action packed edition to the James Bond franchise [Blu-ray]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
The film looks fantastic in HD on the blu-ray edition. The bonus material for Quantum of Solace however is actually quite disappointing. In the past, MGM studios have always been good in releasing solid bonus features with their James Bond DVDs. Quantum of Solace however isn’t one of those releases that holds up with their previous editions. Casino Royale originally came out as a humble one disc set with very few extras. But MGM has since released it properly with all the bonus material it should have delivered the first time around. One suspects that much like its predecessor, this is just a teaser release with a two-disc Quantum of Solace Collector’s Edition inevitably being released in the near future…
Quantum of Solace is the brooding, cold-blooded dark side of Bond we seldom see [Blu-ray]
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
From the opening moments of the film, I knew Quantum was different from everything that had come before it. The stillness, and the quiet. The graceful helicopter shot towards the cliff. Extreme closeups, accompanied by the sounds of steady breathing and distant engines roaring. All of these things are borderline uncharacteristic of Bond films, and yet I felt more in tune with the world of James Bond than ever before. And in an instant, almost as if we’re shifting with Bond’s focus, we are thrust into the middle of a high-speed chase, the intensity of which is undeniable. This is but one of the moments that makes Quantum unique, compelling, powerful and poetic–my favorite being the Opera sequence midway through.
Quantum‘s one and only complication is that it relies on Casino Royale for the narrative groundwork. Now of course, that no longer presents a problem to the viewer if you’ve seen Casino, but if you haven’t seen Casino Royale, next to nothing will make sense here. If you’re hoping to pick this up and you haven’t watched Casino yet, you’d be well advised to give it a watch beforehand…
A globe-trotting adventure apt to disappoint
Nevertheless, Quantum of Solace does offer about double the amount of gun play, fisticuffs, foot chases and pyrotechnics, plus all the automobile, motorcycle, airplane and speedboat derring-do of the typical 007 installment. The problem is that the movie no longer feels like a Bond film when stripped of its eagerly-anticipated earmarks, but looks suspiciously similar to a high-octane Jason Bourne affair in terms of non-stop stunts and its unflappable protagonist’s inscrutable demeanor.
What does remain intact is Bond’s familiar mission to save the world from a diabolical villain bent on world domination. In this case, the creep is Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) whose benignly-named Greene Planet Corporation has for some reason been quietly acquiring ecological preserves around the planet by any means necessary…
A pretty kinetic and engaging enough action-thriller [Blu-ray]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
If nothing else, Quantum of Solace is an utterly frenetic and doggedly relentless thrill-ride. Director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball) may at first seem an odd choice to helm a Bond film, and he does bring some of his more art school-leanings to this very commercial franchise, but he might as well be director in name only. Solace really belongs to its second unit team, which pummels us with such intense, non-stop (and overly-edited) action that I was often left wrung-out and tired. Solace also aims high in terms of its creative setpieces, with a mid-movie operatic interlude easily the most ambitious and intricate sequence yet seen in a Bond picture. If nothing else, Quantum of Solace is a very fun, very fast thrill ride that never lets up.
Still, it’s hard not to think that Quantum of Solace might have had more resonance had the filmmakers tried a little harder to add some meat to the bones of a such a skeletal, action-heavy narrative. Aside from the very serious Craig, and a few nods to the Bond of yore (M, a typically snazzy credit sequence, and OK title tune by Jack White and Alicia Keyes), there is little in Quantum of Solace that separates it from any generic (if well-made) action flick this side of the ‘Bourne’ series. While I still enjoyed Solace, it’s not the instant classic that was Casino Royale, and only whets my appetite for a return to a more well-rounded and less pretentious Bond the next time around. Quantum of Solace hasn’t entirely let the air out of the tires of the rebooted Bond, but it’s time for the franchise to lighten up just a little bit if it is to maintain its newfound luster…
Quantum of Solace Blu-ray/DVD Overview
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