Quantum of Solace

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Quantum of Solace bowed Friday in the UK, two weeks before its stateside debut, and promptly rewrote the record books for a Friday box office take. Quite obviously the producers and Daniel Craig have re-energised the franchise with Casino Royale and expectation is high for Bond films once again. Trouble is, this just isn't very good - but then again neither was Casino Royale.

If I wanted to watch a Bourne film I would go and watch a Bourne film. Why the Bond overlords decided audiences would prefer all the humour and fun stripped out of these things? Quantum of Solace is just a tiny bit depressing. Relentless action with barely time to cobble together a plot. Precisely 2 very mild quips from Bond - both of which Craig could have timed better - you almost long for Roger Moore.

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Enduring Love (2004)

After getting a good Ian McEwan fix with Atonement, I wanted more. Okay, this was on FilmFour and someone told me it was based on a book by Ian McEwan and this happened to be a couple of days after I saw Atonement but hey, who’s counting?

Sadly, this was no Atonement - the film that is. I haven't read either book and am in no place to comment on the literary merits (or otherwise) of either. I really want to read Atonement and also quite want to read this, but the film has not inspired me to head down to my local library to grab a copy.

It’s an absolutely fascinating premise which, again, suggested A+ possibilities. A couple picnicing in a field suddenly catch sight of a hot-air balloon ballooning (excuse the pun) out of control, up into the ether. Containing a small boy. With his grandfather hanging onto the anchor rope. Joe (Daniel Craig) and some other bystanders, including Jed (Rhys Ifans), attempt to come to the rescue and end up floating up heavenwards themselves. Joe and Jed and the grandfather jump but another would-be rescuer leaves it too late. Joe and Jed set out to find him but discover only his body imploded in on itself. Jed then feels an instant, spiritual, connection to Joe which grows and grows throughout the following weeks and ends up leaving Joe questioning his own sanity...

If that sounds like an interesting premise, it is. Sadly, the moment the body hits the floor and the balloon disappears into the sky, things go rapidly down hill. Essentially a story of a bizarre obsession, that obsession is left rootless and ultimately becomes deeply unconvincing to the audience. This is not helped by a below par performance from Craig, who is yet to convince me, and a poor piece of casting in Ifans, who is simply not up to the job of such a deeply unsettled and unhinged character as Jed. The chemistry between the two is poor and the film is ultimately unsatisfactory as a result. Samantha Morton, on the other hand, is typically excellent as Joe’s beleaguered girlfriend Claire. Sadly though the director does not invest enough trust in her character for the amount of screen time she gets to save the film.

A real shame as this could have been genuinely great. Sadly it just ends up being all hot air and little substance.

C+

The Golden Compass (2007)

Saw this a few weeks ago and it is represents another one where I find myself in general agreement with the reviewing public. It's all over the place.

The story (sorry for being so far behind here, since this came out before Christmas!) centres around a young girl, Lyra Belacqua, who inherits a magical device, a Golden Compass, which can answer any question it is asked. The magical device helps her on her quest to liberate some friends from experiments being conducted at the hands of the evil authorities in "the North".

It's a traditional, and fairly typical, story of good against evil but it's, frankly, a completely baffling one. I left the cinema understanding very litte. There's a golden compass, some Egyptians, some witches, and a lot of fuss about dust and parallel universes being investigated by Daniel Craig's professor. In short, it's one huge confusing mess and that leaves it well, well, short of par. However, to be fair, par is probably impossibly high, standing somewhere around the Fellowship of the Ring, which stands as a true testament to brilliant narrative film-making. On the positive side, this nowhere near plumbs the insipid depths of the first two Harry Potter films. Still, you should rarely leave a cinema more confused than when you went in, especially not in children's films of this ilk. Messy.

On the positive side, the performances are sound. Dakota Blue Richards is excellent as the cheeky and very watchable Lyra and Nicole Kidman shimmers and dazzles with icy sublimity as Marisa Coulter, the glamourous villainesss of the piece. Daniel Craig, on the other hand, sleepwalks his way through as Lord Asriel.

Interesting characters flit in an out, not least of which is the Ian Mckellan voiced Iorek Byrnison, a huge great armour-clad bear exiled from his rightful place as king of the bears, but others are silly and/or underdeveloped, as, regrettably, is Byrnison's fate. And, most shamefully of all, would-be interesting sidelines are rushed through and not dealt with with the care and attention they deserve and, once again, Byrnison suffers here.

It hasn't turned me off from seeing the next two films in the trilogy, but neither has it got me remotely salivating for the sequel in the way the Fellowship achieved so brilliantly.

C