Truth at 24 frames per second
By: Steve Sedlak
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: The Arts
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"Casino Royale" seemed to me like a return to a more classical form of storytelling. It had plot with a little action on the side. People and things were shiny, like a film from the 1930s. Meanwhile, "Quantum of Solace" is the incarnation of the inverse relationship of the equation between plot and action; altogether the film seems li
ke action with bits of plot tacked onto it at opportune moments. But since this is an international spy thriller, it works.
It would have been nice, however, to have had a little more elucidation on exactly what was going on most of the time in the plot. I am certain that viewers not watching the films consecutively on DVD will be a little bewildered by the car chase scene of the first ten minutes of the film (which apparently occurs only one hour after the ending of the "Casino Royale"). I sure was, maybe because I couldn't remember who Mr. White was (with a bland name like that it's difficult).
As for the plot, there is really only so much I can say without ruining the whole thing for people who haven't seen the film yet. Bond is angry that Vesper (the love interest of "Casino Royale") had to die, and the only way for him to get relief is to find out why it had to happen. At the beginning of the film, we find out that the man Vesper betrayed Bond for is in fact still alive. This sets up the motivation for the next two hours of spy thriller storytime.
There's a certain '60s chic to the film. There's a squabble on motorboats (this might just be me associating the vehicles with the postwar period via films like "Crazed Fruit"), and stylized titles to introduce the exotic locales that the events of the film take place in. A smattering of crazy, new modern technology, like glass wall computer screens and fuel cell technology, also decorates the film in the same way the Bond films of yesteryear excitedly gave Bond crazy up-to-date gadgets to work with.
One of my favorite moments in the film had to be the incredibly obscure reference to "Tosca," an opera by Giacomo Puccini. The film cuts between shots of the actions on stage (Tosca stabbing Scarpia to death) and Bond getting caught in a gunfight in the halls of the opera house where the work is being performed. I don't really know what the producers of the film were thinking, because I doubt that very much of the viewership would be familiar with "Tosca." It was still pretty awesome though, so I advise reading the Wikipedia article on Tosca before seeing the film. It provides the scene with a fun nuance. You can also appear more cultured to your friends (which is why Wikipedia exists, I think).
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