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Quantum of Solace stars Daniel Craig as agent 007 and continues the story of Bond‘s quest to discover Mr. White‘s affiliations. At the end of Casino Royale, Bond has tracked White down and is ready to bring him in for questioning.

Solace begins with a crazy car chase through the Italian countryside, ending up in the city of Siena. Here, White‘s interrogation starts, and ends in seconds: a traitorous MI6 agent aids his escape. In Royale, the movie got underway with a spectacular chase scene on a construction site in Madagascar. In Solace, it’s a similar chase, this time taking place on the rooftops of Siena. It’s one of many similar set pieces, and it makes the movie appear less fresh and less interesting than Craig‘s debut in Casino Royale. The British Secret Service never seems to get to grips with White‘s affiliation with the mysterious Quantum organization, whose main player is Dominic Greene.

As a Bond villain, Greene is decidedly pedestrian. He poses as an environmentalist to gain access to water supplies in key geographical locations by destabilizing governments. In an interesting reflection on current events, the US aids his cause in return for access to oil supplies.

In stark contrast to the exotic locations, 007 spends most of his time in decidedly backwater places: Haiti and Bolivia. Thankfully, we are spared the barrage of Sony product placements that we saw in Royale. Ford gets a fair bit of showtime, including showing off an electric version of the Ka. The producers were obviously impressed with the digital tabletop seen in Minority Report – MI6 agents seem to use this technology all the time…

Bond gets to investigate Greene‘s plan to set up a military government in Bolivia that will transfer ownership of certain land to the Quantum organization. He has enlisted the CIA to assist in getting rid of Bond, something that Felix Leiter is not too happy about. That’s about it. The story doesn’t really go anywhere interesting and, though the pace is frenetic, there is nothing really new about this Bond adventure.

Coincidentally, Bond-girl Camille is intent on revenging the death of her parents. The new Bolivian military dictator is her target. That’s similar to the story in For Your Eyes Only. The fight on the theatre’s roof in Bregenz ends with Bond holding his quarry by his tie before letting him fall a couple of stories to the ground below. That’s a scene from Octopussy. Field agent Fields is killed in the hotel room and her naked body covered in oil, left on the bed. That’s Goldfinger. Camille and Bond jump out of an aeroplane and share a single parachute: that’s similar to the stunt in Moonraker. Whether intended or not, these copies of previous Bond exploits do little to make Solace compelling. On the contrary, it’s almost a bit too bland and nowhere close to the enjoyable adventure we saw in Casino Royale.

If you’re a Bond fan, you’ll see it and want to own it on DVD just to complete your collection. But somehow I doubt Quantum of Solace will be remembered as one of the better Bond adventures…

It’s that time again! The follow-up to Casino Royale opens in cinemas across the country tonight. In eager preparation, we watched Casino Royale to get into the Bond mood and have the story refreshed in our minds. This is the final scene in Casino Royale: Bond towering over Mr. White after planting a single shot in his leg

Craig‘s portrayal of Bond is spot-on, in my opinion. The action in Casino Royale never lets up, though the story can at times seem disjointed and pasted together.

Quantum of Solace picks up where the last 007 movie left off.

Check back later for a brief review.

The 007 franchise, much like the Star Wars franchise, has to reinvent itself to keep on selling copies of the same material we’ve seen many times already. Seemingly, we are willing to watch it all again, never mind purchasing a remastered edition of well-loved content on the hottest media format of the hour even though we have it already on 8mm, Beta, VHS, DVD and MP4…

So it comes as no surprise that 007 is coming to Blu-Ray, initially with a small selection of titles. Six, to be exact: Dr. No, Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love and Thunderball.

Casino Royale was easy: shot in a format and era that makes the transition to a high definition medium trivial, the only way MGM is able to market the updated Blu-Ray editions is by throwing in reworked versions of bonus materials that have been converted to high-definition. All good and well – the bonus features on my Bond DVD set are highly informative and well worth watching.

I’ll wait for the whole Blu-Ray craze to die down before I consider purchasing another copy of the Bond movies. After all, it shouldn’t be about the media format but about the content, right? And it’s unlikely Dr. No will ever make it to true, full HD. My DVD‘s are safe for now!

Finally, Bond‘s adversaries have the means to check the time and decide on his untimely demise. Should come as no surprise that the Rolex or Omega-wearing 007 always escapes, even if it’s by the skin of his teeth, as Bond villains apparently wear Swatch. Each of the collectible watches ranges in price from USD 60 to USD 120 and each has a distinct design. Baron Samedi‘s from Live And Let Die is my personal favourite.

Unfortunately, these seem to be available in the US only…for now?

…might be to listen to the title track of the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

Written by Jack White and performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, this is a first for any Bond movie theme song: it’s a duet. Also, the track is available online for your listening pleasure. Not as a download, but for streaming. It’s not a bad tune and certainly conveys something Bond…

Sebastian Faulks takes the reigns of the James Bond literary franchise in Devil May Care, a novel completed and launched in time for Ian Fleming‘s centenary of birth on 28 May 1908. It’s a very quick read, in the style of Fleming‘s books.

I believe a mistake has been made with the Bond franchise in book form: like Tintin‘s creator Hergé, Fleming should have ceased further production of any further material upon his death. It’s just a clean cut and avoids the pitfalls of dredging up new ideas for a character who has enough in store for future generations to enjoy.

Faulks writes as Fleming. He does so reasonably well, though I had the feeling that Bond was overdosing on scrambled eggs and caviar – he eats almost constantly and seems to have very little else to do. Faulks keeps up with Fleming‘s attention to detail: locations, cars, hotel rooms and women. It’s not tedious, but sometimes a bit much. When the action heats up, the book is more enjoyable.

Julius Gorner is a nasty criminal with a nasty sidekick: Chagrin enjoys pulling the tongue from a victim’s mouth or inserting chopsticks into their ears and hammering out the eardrums. Delightful stuff. The story is set in the time just after The Man With The Golden Gun. The bad boys are the Russians, the good guys are the Brits and the Yankees.

Gorner, a drug mogul, is intent on conquering the British empire by flooding it with narcotics. Unable to maintain his patience, a trait many nasties in such novels share, Gorner eventually captures Bond and includes him in a plan that will see a nuclear war unleashed by an apparent attack of the RAF on Russian nuclear warhead installations. The mode of transport introduced in the novel is an interesting one: an Ekranoplan.

Bond has his share of fancy food and drink, but has a tough time in this adventure: some of his teeth are knocked out and he is treated rather harshly in captivity. With the inevitable inclusion of a girl to complete the 007 formula, the day is saved.

If you’re a Bond fan, you’ve probably read this one already! If not, you may wish to skip it in favour of the true 007 classics by Fleming.

If the new trailer of the new Bond movie Quantum of Solace is anything to go by, fans of the franchise will have a good reason to watch and enjoy the movie on its release date.

The story is based on a short story by Ian Fleming and stars Daniel Craig as Bond. The movie picks up where Casino Royale left off and has Bond trying to stop an environmentalist from taking over the world’s water supply. In the midst of all that, he is keen to take revenge on Mr. White and to forget about the trouble with Vesper. All modes of transport get a workout.

All in a days’ work for 007 – action as we expect and, probably, another sterling performance from Daniel Craig.

Get the new trailer here.