Quantum of Solace picks up moments after Casino Royale ends. Starting off with a great chase scene complete with Bond’s trademark Astin Martin, Quantum continues to establish the new face of Bond as a colder, more serious agent who is fixated on getting revenge for the events from the previous movie. This time around Bond ends up in pursuit of too good to be true environmentalist Dominic Greene across the world. Perhaps even more suprisingly, NOT sleeping with new Bond girl Olga Kuryleno, who is excellent as Brazillian special agent Camille, who also has a hidden agenda to pursuing Dominic Greene.
22nd in the series of Ian Fleming’s 007 films, Quantum of Solace falls somewhere in the middle as far as storyline. I liked it much better than films such as The World Is Not Enough and Goldeneye but still preferred the Connery and earlier Moore films. Of the Daniel Craig Bond films so far, I felt Casino Royale was far superior in script although both had fantastic cinematography. This is not to say I hated Quantum of Solace or even disliked it, just that I will probably wait a while before revisiting it.
Presented in a a 2.39:1 aspect ratio ratio in glorious 1080p, Quantum of Solace looks great on Blu Ray. Although the movie started out with some grain during the first few chase sequences, this appeared to be for effect only and by design. As Bond hopped across the globe, the film captured an incredible amount of detail. The fight scenes popped perfectly and really put the viewer in the center of the action. The color palette was very deep with vividly colored explosions contrasting against the desert backdrop perfectly. The blacks were deep and skintones looked true to life. Overall, this was a fantastic transfer that pushed the blu ray format a bit to provide a big finale as all hell breaks lose in the desert.
In a rare moment when the soundtrack compliments the video perfectly, Quantum of Solace sports a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that does real justice to the action on the screen. Among explosions, car chases and gunshots there are plenty of opportunities for the movie to utilize all channels and this track does so quite liberally. Sound is clear and resounding although it never overpowers the dialogue on the screen. Also of note the music for the film is really good, right down to the original Bond theme making a full appearance over the closing credits with a note that there will be more Bond Films on the way.
There really is not that much included on the disc in the way of special features. First off is Bond On Location, a 25 minute HD piece that features practically the whole cast and main crew in interviews as they discuss the film and it’s creation. There are some good clips included and overall it was a pretty well done featurette. The longest feature and also the only one presented in standard definition is Crew Files. Clocking in at just over 45 minutes, it is a collection of profiles of over 30 different crew members. Overall this one just didn’t seem to flow well and failed to hold my interest. There is also a collection of 2 to 3 minute featurettes that are pretty self explanitory. These really brief shorts include The Music, Director Marc Forster, On Location, Start of Shooting and Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase. Some were interesting but too brief to really include much material. Finally rounding out the features is the original theatrical trailer and the theatrical teaser trailer. Both of these are presented in HD as well.
If you haven’t seen it already, I definately recommend checking out Craig’s Bond debut in Casino Royale first as Quantum of Solace is a full on sequel that picks up right where Casino left off. I admit I am still getting used to the no nonsense all business approach that Daniel Craig brings to James Bond but I definately prefer Craig to the former 2 Bonds. Overall not quite as good as Casino Royale but better than many 007 films, Quantum of Solace is definately worth checking out for fans of international espionoge films.
Special Features:
- Another Way To Die Music Video
Bond on Location Featurette
Start of Shooting Featurette
On Location Featurette
Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase Featurette
Director Markc Forster Featurette
The Music Featurette
Crew Files Behind the Scenes clips
Theatrical and Teaser Trailers
Quantum of Solace on Blu Ray is available now, courtesy of MGM Studios and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
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