A Night at the Bond Movie... (From Ealing Times)

A Night at the Bond Movie...

3:24pm Tuesday 4th November 2008

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Well, this is my first ever blog. I am honoured to have been invited to take a space for Hanwell on the Ealing Times website, and hope that people are interested enough to read it!

I went with a chum to see the Bond movie last night, and it was with great excitement and anticipation that we settled down to watch the ads and trailers preceding the big event.

I am a huge fan of Daniel Craig, with enthusiasm pre-dating his Bond incarnation. He is a terrific actor with a wide range. From suffering those frightful wigs they had him in as Geordie in the TV mini series ‘Our Friends in the North’, to playing the schizophrenic Ray in ‘Some Voices’, and Francis Bacon’s violent boyfriend George Dyer in ‘Love is the Devil’, Daniel Craig inhabits his roles and makes you believe in their characters, even if you can’t like them.

He was absolutely believable and stunning (in so many ways) in ‘Quantum of Solace’. We have seen much advance publicity concerning his performing his own stunts and I am not surprised that, regardless of all the cables and safety nets employed by the stunt co-ordinators, he has damaged himself a number of times whilst filming – the action sequences are breathtaking.

The two Bond Girls, Ukrainian Olga Kurylenko as Camille, and Brit Gemma Arterton as ‘Fields’ are well characterised, witty, charming and watchable. And I can’t now imagine anyone else but the fabulous Dame Judi Dench, as ‘M’.

But the additional element that made Casino Royale, the last Bond outing, a great movie, and the first for which the Bond franchise received award nominations, was the script. It had a clear and understandable plot. Lots of action and great acting, but also a strong and graspable storyline. Time was taken to set up the story and explain the characters.

‘Quantum of Solace’ is fast moving (possibly too fast in places), and you never get the time to work out where this story’s baddie (Dominic Greene played by French actor Mathieu Amalric) links in with Mr White, who was shot and wounded by Bond at the end of Casino Royale. In fact, I have just looked up the published synopsis on IMDB and made some surprising discoveries about the storyline considering I have now seen the film and should recognise it!

I do still recommend the movie…it is after all ‘Bond’, and Daniel Craig playing him, and full of action; but it really needs to be seen for the first time on the big screen to have a fighting chance of working it all out. DVD will not do it justice.