Not even a Quantum of Solace

I have not been blogging for a while now. But then, these are terrible times and I don't write when good things happen.
It looks like I have picked up an uncanny knack of picking up means of ruining my days in the Stockholm autumn. This time it was by watching a movie, unofficially codenamed Bond 22.

It was turning out to be a perfect evening: Seeing Prashanth. Jr. yawning 3 times and then smiling once at me(Oh, by the way, he made his long-awaited debut on Earth 5 days ago), Delicious Upma and Indian tea at the Nayaks and our share of heartful laughs with all of'em. Finally, at around 1830 hrs, Rajesh(Durg) gave me a dump over the phone on the plans for the evening. Tickets for the night show of Q0S(read Quantum Zero Solace) have been booked: 2130 hrs. Reporting time 2045 hrs (India Standard Time) at the Vastra Skogen tunnelbana. More and Mickey were to join in.

The movie begins where it was left in the earlier version of Daniel Craig's Casino Royale.
A terrible car-chase but an excellent opening line from Bond.. Its time to get out!
I should have realised that he was not only referring it to Mr. White in the Aston Martin boot but to the audience as well. Humour apart, the expectations from the movie chandrayaans post this powerful one-liner. A lot was said and written about how Bond in Casino Royale (in his then latest avatar) learns from the scratch the hard way, gets beaten to the core and makes mistakes showcasing everybody is human after all. I would have expected to see a more stylish, delicate yet powerful, sophisticated (in line with the series) and less-bleeding character after the opening one-liner. But then, only fools repeat their mistakes. And this one is. What I got to see in the next 100 mins was a man in pain, who bleeds at the same places where he once did in Casino Royale, seems to cover up the wounds in a jiffy, sports dirty tux, gets punched by a girl on multiple occasions, behaves like a grade-2 moviestar from Kollywood (or Tollywoord or Sandalwood or whatever). Its not a bad idea to get punched. But not again and again. All that you can do to get away from the pitiful position is to somehow get framed for murdering the suspects. How very thoughtful? C'mon Marc and team, you can do better than that.
It looks like this team of movie makers have a liking to rooftop chases. The parkour chase in Casino Royale definitely ranks amongst the best action sequences in the Bond series. You won't be disappointed this time...on the rooftops of Italian province of Seina. The action scenes are tough and look real. Excellent camera work.
The high-end gadgetary was noticeably missing in this movie. Exception was the franchisee Sony Ericsson phone, which seems to promise a high-end facial-recognition AI and a powerful zoom(more powerful than one can ever make :-), that works in pitch-dark surrounding without a Flash and seems to transfer volumes of data faster than one could ever imagine in a primitive Bolivian network(By-the-way, they just got a 3G network couple of months ago). Taste for cars and aircrafts have taken a serious beating in this movie; exactly like Bond's Aston Martin in the opening car chase.
The unique chemistry between the characters - M and Bond is personified in this movie. Powerful statements. Unfortunately, poorly carried over the screen. The face-to-face verbal exchange and thereafter Bond's escape from the Grand Hotel, Bolivia was terribly executed and reminds one of the movies of the bygone era, when Stevan Seagal would easily ward off any knife or pistol attack on him by simply using his culinary skills. Sigh.
I always look forward to see what the new Bond girl brings with her to the table (or to the bed as some would like to say). The character-Vesper was a sea-change to what we've got accustomed to; marking a new beginning. She was awesome. Well, in this case, Camille (played by gorgeous Olga)has done a fantastic job too. Apart from the fact that she can kick some butt and play a very down-to-earth and untouchable by Bond-sort of a character, she also comes as a feminine equivalent of Bond. I only wonder how she manages to pick-up Bond in her petite car each time he is looking out for a ride(I meant a car-ride).
The movie is fast-paced but does nothing to ensure the interest of the viewer is bracketed onto a particular agenda. It goes all over the place and continues to fall down deep into the desert pits of Bolivia every ten minutes. Bond is witty as ever, which was the only other solace (apart from some action). A sexual harassment scene involving the Bolivian General was a big mistake in this movie. For instance, the cameraman forgot that he was shooting a Bond movie and not a Vajramuni-starrer. The focus on the primary sexual organ and nearby areas of the waitress was unnecessary and it meant that this movie should definitely be rated as poorly-made.
Where have all the villains gone? This Greene character can't even talk let alone act.
Some solace: The lingering Bond in Haiti theme in the background, the bloody painful action scenes, short-dose of Bond's one-liners and Camille's accent add upto a score of 3 out of a possible 10. I have been generous, considering that I am a hardcore Bond fan. Bond will have to be recreated all over again in a completely different form from the ashes of this one.

PS: If you have a choice in your region, I recommend watching Max Payne over the weekend instead of this version of Bond. But ensure you take your dose of Valkyr before watching it. Its bad but not terrible.