Quantum of Solace reviewed by Mark Kermode

[@pooplop8458]

''High school musical 3 is a better film'' should have put that on the poster.

[@2n2equals5]

"Where's the Solace?" lawl.

[@ixat00]

Pond of wood. Fish of trees.

[@QuietBatperson96]

"Pond of Wood" and "Fish of Trees" would be great names for two halves of a prog rock double album. With a Storm Thorgerson style cover.

[@TemplePhantom]

Duran Duran's A View To A Kill was great.

[@pearsemacintyre1728]

Kermode and Mayo are getting me through a tough time

[@CrazyChunkles]

Quantum of Solace is a tragic entry in the Bond franchise, sandwiched between two gems

[@ep5019]

i really don't understand people who don't like I thought it was one the better bond films

[@jhenning499]

@@ep5019 you must like boring movies.

[@ep5019]

@@jhenning499 its a good film that's just true

[@mortyp473]

Skyfall is tremendously overrated.

[@davidcauley9400]

@@mortyp473 I was literally about to comment that. It's weak, derivative of other films that were recently out, even a bit gross, and badly written tosh. Directed well, looks pretty, but tosh.

[@tiearts]

All Bond actors who did multiple films had stinkers. This is Craig's. A few good scenes, but overall a complete mess. Just makes Casino and Skyfall look even better

[@tiearts]

Diamonds Are Forever would be Sean's. Roger has more than one, neither of Dalton's are that bad but I think Living Daylights is the weaker, Brosnan has TMND or Die Anither Day, Craig had QOS

[@amarsbarr]

+Tomas Jamieson I thought You Only Live Twice was very terrible, Sean had put weight on, the story was grey, the action incredibly poor and commerical and no real serious threat to Bond or danger or pain or even cold and gritty like Thunderball. Diamonds Are Forever was Sean's worst Bond it was about as dissapointing as Quantum Of Solace for Daniel Craig except Daniel worked very hard in looking very physically fit and perfectly right for Bond plus his hair style was the best of his four films. It looked very traditional and stylish. Diamonds Are Forever Connery looked 15 years older than he did from You Only Live Twice. Even bigger and aged so badly I've never seen an actor age that fast in just over 5 years. plus diamonds was so weak and childish. 3/10

[@tiearts]

Connery's first three are really the ones of his worth watching. Thunderball and You Only Live Twice have some throwing moments but they aren't on the same level. When Connery did Thunderball he'd had 3 out of 4 good outings as Bond, now Craig's at 4 and he's been pretty solid through out. Even though QOS was a mess he was still good in it. If Spectre is good and then Craig goes on to have another classic or 2, he'll have a better average then any of the Bonds

[@amarsbarr]

Spectre was like I was watching a Bond movie from the 1960's. For me 10/10 it's almost too good to be true. Thunderball was excellent 9/10 it was for me surprisingly dark and Terence Young who was responsible for Introducing Bond to the world and forming the biggest most successful longest runnning film series came back from having taken a break from Goldfinger which was a blockbuster fun flanboyant glitzy bond to make Thunderball dark, firm, and sinister. Totally different to Goldfinger. Thunderball is the highest box office smash of any bond film in a newly read article with the INFLATION RATE adjusted from the mid 60's to today. Thunderball set off the Bond phenomenon. You only live twice ended it. Fight sequences were so poor and scenes I could have fallen asleep. Oh wait Bond turns Japanese...

[@williamrandolphjr6807]

If you want to talk about a BAD BOND FILM, it couldn't be worse than OHMSS,it was just plain BAD.what was IT'S STORYLINE? 1st you would sent Bond UNDERCOVER to say that HE DON'T LIKE WOMEN and about half way through the movie he's in bed with over 4 women. 2nd Bond says "I HAVE A STIFFNESS COMING ON" SERIOUSLY every one knew darn well what that meant; HE WAS GETTING A HARD-ON so AGAIN that broke HIS COVER right then 3rd HE has gotten busted BIG TIME by BLOFID, so clearly in this Bond at least he didn't do his homework. Don't get me wrong OHMSS had a great score, but it was STILL BAD, cause NO ONE WOULD EVER believe to send him undercover that way.And I don't want to even start on GL. He was just wrong for the part of Bond.I did had a hard time following QUANTUM OF SOLACE the 1st time, but I had to see it 2 or 3 times to get it.Every Bond film can't be knocked out of the park like Sean Connery,in fact, people didn't liked NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN,but I did and it had a plot,which OHMSS didn't. NOT ALL BOND theme has words you could sing to,like the before said, OHMSS no words, but it sounded great

[@darmok072]

"Quantum of Solace" refers to the lack of solace Bond gets from avenging the death of his girlfriend from Casino Royale, a woman he fell in love with... and the fact that "Quantum" was the organization in this movie.

[@tedstriker6646]

I thought it was just rubbish like evrything else in the film.

[@TheMagicLemur]

Someone watched 'Why Quantum of Solace is A perfect movie'... 😉

[@kennethmccrindle7917]

Teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell? Hilarious

[@yarmen1268]

to this day I still don't know what a quantum of solace is

[@radicallyindepedentauthor]

the smallest bit of comfort from grief

[@rob1727]

Mayo's interrupting/mickey taking is why this partnership works so well, lightens the mood and answers some basic questions (not everyone knows what a second unit does for example). Kermode knows Mayo's on a wind up and being a pro takes it in good heart.

[@scottandcoke1342]

Yeah poop on me

[@argelisplanchart9438]

what? A View To A Kill's theme is great.

[@benjaminanderson7804]

With you on that. Great song for an 80's bond! Great song in general. I agree with Kermode about the QOS theme though

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Well, I think you have to be a bit of a 80s synthpop fan...

[@TequilaToothpick]

A View to a Kill is a great song.

[@mercifulzeus01]

All I can think is that Mark Kermode has completely forgotten Die Another Day, which is not just the worst Bond theme, it's one of the worst songs from any movie ever.

[@lotusgroup123]

Quantum means “a small amount”. Solace is “to take comfort from something”. Bond takes a small amount of comfort from the revenge he enacts against those who led the woman he loved to her death.

[@tc98826]

Hm it does make sense now you explain it. But its still supposed to be a play on words with 'quantum'. And in that case, it doesnt work. So it works on one interpretation.

[@eddiecampion2410]

I loved casino royale so much and still do and when I heard that this was a sequel to that I couldn't wait.When I saw it it was absolute garbage and I was so disappointed I can't tell you.This movie is second from the bottom in my list of favourite bond movies.The worst being die another day complete and utter muck that movie was and this is not far behind it.The song is the worst ever bond song for a movie.I hated this movie not just it's bad but also because I was so looking forward to seeing this after casino royale and my expectations were so high that I felt cheated.Mark kermode his review is so spot on.

[@tedstriker6646]

Yeah, but Olga Kurylenko was seriously hot.

[@staforiii]

Ted Striker agreed

[@flamedome]

“Do we not know what’s going on because it is incomprehensibly told, or do we not know what’s going on because we don’t care?”

[@jamesluby6705]

It literally means little comfort, sums the film up perfectly.

[@alexkrycek21]

Mark is definitely right about the film. But A view to a kill is definitely one of the best Bond theme tunes.

[@woodhd]

loving you was a view to a kill

[@adolflenin4973]

Y3ah

[@Vaidisova14]

"Like Teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell" Lmao!

[@j.s.b.6299]

Duran Duran "A View To A Kill" song was good.

[@Aiden_Noah]

All I remember about this movie is that I fell asleep in the cinema (never happened before or since) and my dad couldn't even explain what had happened when I woke up. Stuff I already knew plus explosions, apparently.

[@sgwh2002]

Mark “Why don’t I understand it? Is it incomprehensible or don’t I care?” Both.

[@filmneek]

first review iv ever seen from this man, we have come a long way mr kermode

[@whiteydiamond]

1:37 "Well can you do it?" "NO BECAUSE WE ALL SAT THERE!"

[@razzle1964]

I’d always considered the title to infer ‘incredibly scant consolation’ or ‘a cloud with an incredibly thin silver lining’ in what, I assume, is a smart (ish) way. I haven’t the spirit to re-watch it, tho’.

[@AvatarTwasCheesy]

A shame Quantum of Solace wasn't on the same level as both Casino Royale and Skyfall which are fantastic. If judging those Bond movies as a trilogy, Bourne has got them beat due to this let down.

[@jacktorrance3522]

It's the weakest entry in Craig's tenure (or maybe Spectre?) but having rewatched it just the other day it's a lot better than people give it credit for. Sure it's not up to the same quality as Casino Royale or Skyfall but it's still pretty good. And for everyone saying they don't understand the plot, they clearly weren't paying attention. It's a direct sequel for starters and if you watch Casino Royale before Quantum of Solace it's actually pretty logical.

[@blokey8]

You just reminded me of Adam Buxton's mock theme song for it there :) "I know they do big bags of solace, but I don't want 'em" and so on.

[@allanzheng]

Mark Kermode is the best movie reviewer on this planet.

[@shieldschannel]

A brilliant hatchet job by the good doctor showing, once again, why he's the greatest and most entertaining film critic out there. These two work so well together - in this review I particularly like Simon's pitiful retort to Mark's question about explaining the story at around 1:30 ... "Well, can you do it?" :( First class !!!

[@roarinrocker]

sounds like a self important whack job to me

[@fasciatus]

Kermode is the best film reviewer ever.

[@pearsemacintyre1728]

Hes the most inciteful, eloquent, fair. He gives each film its day in court. I love him for that.

[@geoffpulham5032]

The orchestral treatments of View to a Kill during the actual movie sounded fantastic, and were on the b side of the single.

[@Karragh]

I love that the last line of this video is a quickly blurted out "High School Musical 3 is a better film".

[@jk-vo3hn]

A lot of things changed after this came out!

[@washingmachine122]

Tellytubbies bouncing around in a padded cell...incredible

[@aModernDandy]

I was an extra for Quantum of Solace so I'm heavily biased in it's favour - even so I think it's one of the worst ones!

[@legoguru3000]

I know this is an 8 year old comment but what scene(s) were you in and what was your experience being involved in the film

[@goldieboylover986]

i do not know who this guy is, but i love him. let me put it this way: i felt asleep in the theater. and i totally agree, i did not at all care about the plot, because it seemingly was too busy with the action

[@RogueRotting360]

Bond finds at the end when he discovers first hand that Vesper was entrapped by her boyfriend, when he stops another girl from being used by the organization. So he realizes M was right about Vesper, and finally has a small amount of solace. What's so hard about this?

[@a.z.p.]

This review is the reason I became a fan. Well put, sir.

[@Maximillionaire666]

Quantum of Solace is an Ian Fleming story title, that's why they used it for the film. It just sounds stupid because it has nothing to do with the plot, but the with the short story, it makes sense.

[@vishaansingh1019]

Man it's not like Kermode literally says this verbatim within the first few minutes of this video or something...

[@HJM49125]

Mark's absolutely right in all his comments, except the one about 'A View To A Kill'.

[@JamesWilsonMD]

Fantastic review, agree with everything apart from View to a Kill.. Killer tune!

[@crazyrabbits]

Still one of Mark's best reviews in the past couple years.

[@LASHH9669]

Still is

[@randomdave30]

Casino Royale was an almost impossible act to beat. Roll on Bond 23.

[@tubeman123100]

Quantum of Solace is a great title because it's unique sounding and enigmatic.

[@Klaaarke]

"Where's the solace?" Amusing.

[@RomaniaTricolor]

And a mistake was Mathieu Amalric(Dominic Greene). He is a brilliant actor but his role in Quantum odf Solace was very similar(his mercantile duality) with the one beautifuly played in "Munich" from 2005! In wich also played Daniel Craig and what a bad ass he was! When I saw both of them in QoS, all that dark feeling from "Munich" was all over again! No more James Bond!

[@TeamBombersportsUK]

Just from that clip...I swear the whole film looks brown?

[@ChernovFan100]

Mark talking about being brought out of the atmosphere reminds me of Saving Private Ryan. I was completely immersed in that film until Tom Sizemore said the film's title.

[@thegiantpigeon]

The Quantum of Solace was right at the end. Where Bond finally finds a resolve by finding the man who killed his Love, saves a Canadian woman from the same fate and leaves him with his life and doesnt kill him therefore prooving to himself that he is a better man and thus becomes the greatest spy the world has ever known.

[@readordiefanatic]

but "durrran durrran"'s view to a kill is fucking awesome

[@TopDog69]

He's not hostile about anything. He's passionate about film.

[@Needleandfur]

Can anyone tell me what the point of Strawberry Fields?

[@dipakchowdhury31]

I don't actually have a problem with this movie. Always watchable it also doesn't feel like a 90 minute movie. So much going on that it feels longer - and not in a bad way. I used to hate that theme tune but even that grew on me. And Duran Duran's View To A Kill was quite good I thought.

[@TequilaToothpick]

I think it's totally unwatchable the edition is atrocious.

[@brendanlittle2498]

I’ve just watched this movie for the first time and it’s an absolute mess of a movie. I also think Duran Duran had a much better theme than Madonna’s awful theme song

[@stefanfilipovits21]

Oh totally. The QoS theme is one of the worst but it’s not as bad as Die Another Day.

[@LAVIV007]

I agree with the review completely. And yes, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the most interesting Bond film. I beg to differ about Duran Duran's "View to a Kill" tune: it was great. Watch "Fate Fatal"; it's much better.

[@DavobarX]

Play Dead by Bjork and David Arnold should've been a Bond song..

[@JoshyyLT3]

The first thing he said had me in tears

[@RamBam3000]

I keep thinking Clive Owen would been better as Bond, since he really looks like Fleming's description of the character and he looks good in a tux (witness a movie called Croupier), but he's busy doing stuff in Hollywood these days.

[@Ihavealife100]

@biped19 Where did you get the idea that the next one will be directed by Marc Foster. It's going to be directed by Sam Mendes.

[@vinniechan]

In a way I was glad that they didn't turn it into a vendetta like the trailer suggested. Ashton Martin must feel really pissed off to get the car into product placement only to find out it got destroyed in 2 minutes. I can see they are still trying to make Bond relevant to the world we live in, which is something they should keep trying in Bonds to come.

[@TheConciseStatement]

@GerbilEssences I actually think it was a real waste of Olga Kurylenko too. She's supposed to have this amazing backstory with her family getting burned alive, and being a Bolivian agent who's infiltrated the villain's circle - and most of all that stuff is just passing exposition, cos you barely get to see her do anything in the entire film. The plot is mostly incomprehensible, what can be made out is completely trivial, the action all falls flat, and tonally its all over the shop. Ugh.

[@Awgichew]

LOL! This review is funny....but sadly true. This Bond film will go down in the franchise like Licence to Kill; some will like it and other will hate it. They'll be no middle ground.

[@dowling1981]

@opmike343 Was it mainly people running really fast whilst talking into mobile phones?

[@metagaia]

The plot is perfectly clear! Someone wants to steal the water from Bolivia! Unfortunately, understanding the plot means I care about it even less...

[@TheConciseStatement]

@MercyBlowz In a way it's an incredible achievement. Never has something, so very loud, so frenetically shot, and so short in actual run time, felt so dull, slow and long. The worst thing is that it cheapens Casino Royale by association. A waste of a good debut for Craig. My own hunch is that they were all too aware of MGM's financial difficulties approaching like a hurricane, and quickly wanted to get another one in the can before the studio's long awaited collapse.

[@deansal9222]

Saw what you want about Spectre, still way better than QOS.

[@dinodino6]

story/plot; 1hour after casino royale ends. Vesper's 'kidnapped'dead bf-the reason 4her betrayal is alive&a trick Bond goes after him'blinded by inconsolable rage'.Greene is who he has to get to.The action sequences are a metaphor for how he feels.Olga wants vengeance2,mirroring his pain. They kill more of his friends.More revenge.There's a background story of simply one of many complex operations Quantum are up to. Bond finds the bf,hence Solace; comfort/consolation in time of sadness gd film x

[@Jordannadroj20]

Harry Potter and the Tree of Nothing

[@martinlatour9311]

"The new Bond movie: Pond of Wood" lmao

[@chrisofnottingham]

1:43 Hahaha that is exactly what I thought when I watched on the TV

[@bonjaker25]

'What's the story?!' 'Well... can you do that?' lol

[@mmumambientsounds-timers]

So wrong about this movie. Quantum; minimum amount of energy used in an interaction. Solace; comfort or consolation. What does this mean? Bond didn’t know how to deal with loss. He was broken, ruthless, an enemy to himself. That was the plot. Btw the song is one of my favs and the frenetic style is mirrored throughout (fight scenes, car chases) because Bond was erratic, it was like stepping into his mind. The bad guy, Dominic Green was just a footnote, not important, this film was about Bond’s struggle and he was a pawn for Bond to release his anguish and anger. So so wrong Kermode

[@apseudonym]

I agree, however, that's not the plot, that's the story. Plot is “this happens and then this happens and then” whereas story is what the character goes through. Story is always more important than plot. I also love the theme song.

[@mrbain123]

The big problem is not the absence of gadgets/cheesy lines (some of the best Bonds underplayed these elements). The main problem is the lack of an engaging storyline and the traditional Bond eligance. Part of the reason CR worked is because it was based on solid source material (one of Fleming's most sombre novels). This time round none of the supporting characters were particularly memorable and most of the action scenes were frankly rather dull.

[@mrbain123]

I love how the exact amount of time the film begins after CR is never firmly established. Some people say a few minutes, some say an hour, some say 2 hours.

[@wangankiller]

The fact is, Jack White is not a bad musician, but he's clearly not the right choice for a BOND theme song.

[@halofanatic87]

This bloke is spot on!

[@handsomebrick]

The "solace" was because after Vesper died Bond couldn't sleep until he avenged her death. Which he did, and then he finally had some solace. But a very little bit of solace, like just a quantum.

[@myenemysenemy1043]

Watching this film back in conjunction with the saga as a whole, it feels less like a full film and more like an extended epilogue to Casino Royale. And I’m okay with that. It’s about Bond dealing with the fallout of what happened in the previous film, working through his anger and then resolving things at the end. It makes for a decent segue into Sky Fall.

[@wangankiller]

One of the wrost things in Quantum of Solace is that the action scenes are very blurry, very badly edited, regardly if it's because it was on the silver screen or it was intended.

[@PaperlessWriter]

Best review ever in the history of cinema; golly, I value you two SO much:)

[@DiabloDisablo]

I call it "Quantum of Bollocks" because it's completely unintelligible as a story. There's no characterization and half the dialogue is mumbled. Utter Bollocks by a completely incompetent director! But I blame Mike & Babs! They're supposed to be driving this franchise and it's been a roller-coaster of badness since they took over from Cubby. We get the odd good Bond film now, whereas we used to get the odd bad one.

[@charlesr456]

Christopher Nolan would be great for a Bond movie, not because he's good at reboots or whatever (just because we've had one bad Bond it doesn't mean we need another friggin reboot), but because one of Nolan's strengths is professional morally ambiguous well-dressed male leads, whose professionalism is shattered by their emotions, usually due to a women (i.e Inception, Dark Knight, Prestige). The Escapist's MovieBob taught me that. Also, does anyone else think the View To A Kill theme is awesome.

[@eoinmurray9701]

No.

[@aBoxfulOfVids]

The one problem I have with Bond movies lately is that they try and cash in on popular movie trends to be commercially successful without focusing on the actual story (Live and Let Die = blaxploitation, The Man With the Golden Gun = Kung Fu, Moonraker = Sci-fi, Quantum of Solace = Bourne movies). The best era for Bond movies are the 60s; I was going to say all of Connery's, but Diamonds Are Forever sucked as a follow up to OHMSS.

[@sexyblondeuk2012]

...I think he nailed the review. Really, they should hire him on as a consultant for the next Bond film; and in a hurry. Let's just forget about QOS and hope the next Bond is much, much better...!

[@simonpearn479]

It's always good to see his cheery sense of fun!

[@LordPrometheous]

Is that a Rolex?? I don't remember that. I thought someone asked if it was a Tag, and he said Omega. Maybe wrong Bond film, I haven't put this blu-ray back in since the 2nd attempt to enjoy it.

[@kamaraking]

I like this guy, he tells the truth with no shame

[@T4SelNiNO]

I'm a big bond fan and I haven't watched QOS since its release. I don't even consider it a bond film.

[@T4SelNiNO]

Burntwood76 I agree wholeheartedly. I don't like die another day either. And I'd of much preferred Connery in OHMSS. Even though by that point his performances as bond had become lacklustre to say the least

[@shimmyology]

ohhhh if only I'd had the smarts to watch this before I rented the DVD. I

[@ethzero]

Just come from the No Time To Die review for this infamous review.

[@ethzero]

... jesus, yeah fair enough :)

[@jonnyhead]

what did he say on T.B.L? I won't hear anything bad said about it.

[@RogueRotting360]

It hasn't for Christ's sake, it's a tale of revenge. Of course there's going to be plenty of action, but each scene which took place - it helped the move the plot to move forward, it wasn't simply - oh here's some boats lets have a boat chase. He was rescuing her from a Bolivian dictator, which then moves the plot on to dominic greene.

[@DrRevanBoy]

Bravo sir! Bravo. I am 15 and i still understood the title (after googling define:solace)

[@232none]

his actually quite right.. whether you like it or not, you got to admit that some scenes were illogical... like how they kill Agent Fields without leaving oil slick on the hotel floor.. then why did they kill Mathis... they did not really explain.. then how did Bond when to Cairo while his cards were freeze

[@Oliver_Gilford]

QoS is the name of a Bond short story by Ian Fleming

[@charlesr456]

The View to a Kill theme is awesome!!

[@AlexEwing]

Damn. I was really looking forward to this movie after the excellence that was Casino Royale but now I'll be going in with lowered expectations.

[@adespade119]

I liked it, as a piece of escapist entertainment. I like it