Quantum of Solace reviewed by Mark Kermode

What's that title all about? Does the story make sense - is there even one? All these questions and more come under the spotlight in Mark's review in which he crushingly condemns the action as "like watching teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell" Ouch!

[@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.

[@TemplePhantom]

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

[@pearsemacintyre1728]

Kermode and Mayo are getting me through a tough time

[@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.

[@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

[@kennethmccrindle7917]

Teletubbies bouncing around in a padded cell? Hilarious

[@tedstriker6646]

Yeah, but Olga Kurylenko was seriously hot.

[@staforiii]

Ted Striker agreed

[@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.

[@yarmen1268]

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

[@DeeperStoriesbyTT]

the smallest bit of comfort from grief

[@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.

[@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.

[@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'... 😉

[@Vaidisova14]

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

[@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.

[@j.s.b.6299]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@whiteydiamond]

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

[@allanzheng]

Mark Kermode is the best movie reviewer on this planet.

[@borismoof6282]

Yep, it's an astonishingly tedious and boring film.

[@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.

[@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.

[@JamesWilsonMD]

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

[@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.

[@jamesluby6705]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@sgwh2002]

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

[@washingmachine122]

Tellytubbies bouncing around in a padded cell...incredible

[@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.

[@conorcharlton2703]

It's an absolute mess of a film. Worst Bond movie since the one with the invisible car. No, scratch that. That was better.

[@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?”

[@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

[@labotamysausagedog]

This movies does a lot of things badly but, the worst is the editing. The editing is often so bad I can't even watch it (shots cut away before they're even on screen for a second, it's as bad as the editing in the Transformer sequels).

[@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

[@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.

[@tubeman123100]

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

[@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

[@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...

[@hugoegbert79]

I listened to Kermode's review of this film at the time and went and saw it anyway. I rued that mistake. I hated this film so much, they clearly made no effort with it at all, they obviously thought they'd get people to pay to see it, and once they were watching it they'd realise how bad it was, but they didn't care, becaus eby then they had your money. It's an insult to cinema-goers. Just thinking about this film makes me angry.

[@DavobarX]

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

[@geoffpulham5032]

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

[@Jaybers100]

We're watching through the Craig Bond flicks again & had QoS on lastnight. I was already not looking forward to it because remember it being pretty dull but at least it had a good villain - WRONG! I misremembered & thought this one had Javier Barden 🤦‍♂️ Turns out it's just some forgettable turd in an altogether forgettable movie. Not a good effort.

[@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.

[@helrod]

even the action was un watchable extreme close-ups of things moving fast.. just blurs.

[@Klaaarke]

"Where's the solace?" Amusing.

[@randomdave30]

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

[@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.

[@TheConciseStatement]

Since we're all stabbing our most hated Bond films - I can't stand Thunderball - the one that made the most money before Skyfall. It's awful - it's so boring - and everyone loves it!.

[@leew1598]

Action edited way too fast. Opening car chase was a total mess, had no clue who was where, who was in what car, going where?

[@matt49125]

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

[@bonjaker25]

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

[@deansal9222]

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

[@Karragh]

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

[@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...

[@kamaraking]

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

[@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.

[@voodoomelons]

HOW he thought this was bad, and yet loved Skyfall. QOS is very poor, Skyfall is appalling.

[@edwardchester1]

Voodoo Melon So much this.

[@fluorosco]

Watch Live and Let Die or Moonraker. Then watch Casino Royale or Skyfall. There is no comparison. Bond films had a winning formula. Great opening scene, wonderful theme tune over great opening credits, great story, over the top unforgettable bad guys, Hilarious one liners, out of this world gadgets & Special Effects. The formula? Why fix something that wasn't broken?

[@TeamBombersportsUK]

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

[@readordiefanatic]

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

[@RobertOrgRobert]

The action scenes are painful to watch !

[@jacktorrance3522]

The car chase is pretty good actually and not that difficult to follow really. It's the street on foot chase that follows it which is really badly edited. The actual fight on the scaffolding is well done though. It just needed better editing.

[@TheChaosLupin]

Totally agree, QOS is a big disappointment, from beginning to end. Crappy titles, bad plot, no answers from Casino Royale, too short, too much like the Bourne films, bad song, no Q, no Moneypenny, a fan-made gunbarrel at the end, a lot of inconsistencies from Casino Royale to QOS, where's Villiers?, I thought the Aston Martin was destroyed when rescuing Vesper from Le Chiffre, and a new building for MI6? according to the producers QOS stars 1 hour after CR, so WT...

[@SarastistheSerpent]

Quantum of Solace is still better than Spectre though

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@Deanos22 I disagree vehemently. Spectre was absolutely horrible

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@Deanos22 I disagree completely. Spectre had by far the worst plot, and it’s narrative was so bad that it actually had to go and cheapen the plots of the previous films. Spectre had no theme at all, whereas Quantum actually had a deceptively complex one. The plot of Quantum was infinitely better. Spectre did have better cinematography, but it was all style and no substance whatsoever. Quantum had a worthwhile narrative with a really good theme, but was hampered by poor execution. Quantum was flawed in a superficial way, while Spectre was rotten at its core.

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@Deanos22 again, I seriously disagree. And I ESPECIALLY disagree about the Bond girl. Camille Montes was 1000x better than Madeleine Swann. Swann and Bond had zero chemistry, and their get together made no sense. Montes meanwhile was a mirror image of Bond, searching for her quantum of solace in violent revenge just as Bond is. Spectre had no plot at all, and it had to go and ruin the plots of the previous films. It’s bad enough when your movie sucks, but it takes a special type of awfulness to be so bad that you also cheapen the previous entries in the same franchise. Quantum had a good plot, a great narrative theme, great acting and a fantastic Bond girl who did more than serve as mere eye candy, but was hampered down by a script and poor editing. Those are superficial flaws. Spectre had a terrible plot, no narrative theme at all, wooden performances, a boring Bond girl but had some nice cinematography. It was all style and terrible substance. It was a failure at its core as a film, while Quantum was only flawed due to superficial issues like editing.

[@SarastistheSerpent]

@Deanos22 that’s because he isn’t out for revenge for Vesper. He spends the film searching for his quantum of solace (based on the short story) and finds it at the end. He decides to move on and forgive her, rather than let her betrayal consume and harden him.

[@deansal9222]

No, Spectre was definitely better

[@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

[@shimmyology]

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

[@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...!

[@KenFromBeara]

Durun Durun? haha

[@mercatormac]

@carlosmontros534535 They are always like that.

[@Gilvin]

5-star, no more words. disappointed & confused, the best 007 and the worst storyline

[@edcampion3998]

Gilvin well said

[@pricklyphlox]

Die Another Day is the acme of Bond. Deal with it.

[@fashionforager]

I wish Mayo would stop interrupting Kermode, it's so insulting to keep treating Mark's rants like Countdown

[@TequilaToothpick]

I love James Bond but HATE this movie.

[@mrbain123]

"If it wasn't James Bond in these fight sequences this would be a Jason Statham movie" Summs it up quite nicely

[@jk-vo3hn]

A lot of things changed after this came out!

[@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.

[@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.

[@crazyrabbits]

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

[@LASHH9669]

Still is

[@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?

[@NickMichalak]

I'm re-watching the film now, and while my reaction isn't so vile, it is a very lifeless movie with the bare minimum of story and a general overall style that never feels like Bond. I certainly am not invested in it, clearly by the fact that I'm typing this comment instead of watching another action sequence in it.

[@halofanatic87]

This bloke is spot on!

[@PaperlessWriter]

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

[@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

[@martinlatour9311]

"The new Bond movie: Pond of Wood" lmao

[@Daysleeper1405]

Mark nails it. Worst Bond film by some margin, even worse than all the ones Roger Moore did put together,and that's saying something. Instantly forgettable theme, budget seemingly spent on explosions and chase scenes, whole movie at a million miles an hour to get the action junkies gawping, but no substance or indeed plot for anyone to understand or comprehend. There's no wonder Bond fans breathed a sigh of relief when Skyfall and Spectre took us back to good old stock of a plot being acted out, rather than something akin to a shoot em up game.

[@chrisofnottingham]

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

[@TopDog69]

Actually I think, while this review is very good, it could easily have been summed up in a 10 second clip of Mark asking Mayo what the story is, and Mayo just fumbling about with his words struggling to answer.

[@charlesr456]

The View to a Kill theme is awesome!!

[@leew1598]

Bond girls weren't the best either.

[@filmneek]

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

[@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.

[@ethzero]

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

[@ethzero]

... jesus, yeah fair enough :)

[@a.z.p.]

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

[@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.

[@AngusCookProductions]

He's right in the sense that it was Bourne not Bond, wobbly camera etc. unclear plot, there's much more criticism to say for QoS. I agree with him. He's just arrogant and rude, I feel sorry for the chap interviewing him, not everyone understands cinematography terms right away. He seems quite aggressive and impatient.

[@somersetVII]

I've never seen a movie review that doesn't have one good thing to say, like it was the worst movie of the year or something. this guy needs to stop comparing this film. its really seems like less of a critical view and more of a young boys hatred against something that didnt live up to his dreams.