Quantum of Solace

** Stars

Quantum of Solace has suffered from the Spiderman 3 effect. What's the Spiderman 3 effect? Here's the definition:

The Spiderman 3 effect: a sequel/continuation of a film series whose budget saturates the original story, ultimately destroying its predecessor's hard work and becoming an unnecessary failure.

Examples:

Quantum of Solace budget: $230 million (** Stars) Casino Royale Budget: $150 million (**** Stars)

Spiderman 3 budget: $258 million (*1/2 Stars) Spiderman 2 budget: $200 million (**** Stars)

When I first heard that the follow-up to the greatest Bond film of all time was going to be a direct sequel, I was ecstatic. Casino Royale was a re-boot of the franchise, so why not continue to spice things up after such a wonderful success? Unfortunately, that dream became a nightmare in what I believe is one of the worst Bond films of all time.

And believe me, I'm a huge Bond fan. I grew up watching every single film in the franchise. When Pierce Brosnan ended with Die Another Day, I along with most of the world thought it was time for a change. When Daniel Craig came into the series using a film with barely any gadgets and no Moneypenny, I was feeling a bit skeptical. Thankfully, Casino Royale gave us a new Bond for the 21st century. And the right one.

So why does Quantum of Solace fail? First and foremost, the script is terrible. Paul Haggis, who I have loved for so long, gives us an abysmal approach to a promising theme. Bond is pissed about the loss of his love Vesper from Casino Royale and he is thirsty for revenge. In the opening sequence, we get this car chase that is so quickly cut that I had absolutely no idea what was going on. After that seizure, Bond goes to a building, opens up the trunk, pulls out his prisoner (Mr. White from the previous film) and starts to ask questions. He discovers that Mr. White has his people everywhere. Ok, good to know?

Then Bond goes on several more fast-paced chase sequences, from running on hill tops to jumping on boats with motorcycles. It all sounds really cool right? Absolutely! But like I said before, we don't know what's happening in these key moments because of such painfully quick camera movements. The average cut has to be no more than two seconds. A note to director Marc Foster: Dude, relax. You don't need to tell a Bond film in only 106 minutes. And if you're going to, we don't need to see the development of a villain who really has no purpose but to give Bond something to chase. The villain is named Dominic Greene (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Mathieu Amalric, who is sadly miscast) a ruthless businessman behind the Quantum organization. He is forging a deal with baaaaaaad people to try and take control of a very powerful natural resource.

Now get ready for this. The reason why Vesper was killed and why Bond lost his mind was because of this organization wanting control of, wait for it, water!

Um, what?

Yea, you heard it right. After Bond and the new Bond girl Camille (the incredibly sexy but dull Olga Kurylenko) have an aerial dogfight, they crash land to find a secret stash of water. At that point in Quantum of Solace, I pretty much lost all interest.

The film does have great stunt and technical work. I enjoyed the on-foot chase that Bond endures and wouldn't have minded the others (the opening car chase and aerial dogfight) had they been shot differently. And I will admit that the film ends on a note where the series can get right back on track, but in this installment, Marc Foster went all Jason Bourne on us and turned one of my favorite on-screen heroes into a tantrum-induced basket case. Daniel Craig, you deserve better.