by Ran Britt
Just as 2009's Star Trek was criticized for being too Star Wars-esque (the yang to Trek's yin), Quantum of Solace was similarly condemned for taking on qualities more closely associated with a Jason Bourne film. And just as Trek benefited from loosening up a little and moving a little faster, 007 was vastly improved by a little sobering (but not when it comes to vodka, of course). It was high time that the one-liners and comic book villains were retired. The continued absences of "Q", Miss Moneypenny, invisible cars and jet packs are much-appreciated as well.
The truth is, the gadgets and spymobiles did all of the work in the majority of the movies in the franchise. For a long time, any guy with a British accent could've slipped on a tuxedo (including guys who looked as though they'd never been in a fight in their entire lives -- Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan), flashed his "license to kill" and driven his submarine car straight to the bank. Beginning sometime in the 1970s until 2006's Casino Royale, the guy wearing the tux hardly mattered -- and didn't seem the least bit dangerous. The unintended moral of most James Bond movies: The clothes make the man.
Quantum is the first true sequel in the decades-old series and, in fact, picks up mere hours after the end of its predecessor, Casino Royale. The film's main theme is the very real and primal desire for vengeance. 007 isn't on an assignment to dismantle a plot to poison the world's hot sauce supply, he's working independently of MI6 on a quest to personally murder the people responsible for the death of the love of his life. The film shows that superguns don't kill people -- pissed-off, rigorously-trained assassins kill people. Bond as a human works even better than the cartoon version.
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