Quantum Of Solace vs Hitman

So, there are some movies I’m going to like regardless. Biographies of singers, for example, or movies based on comic books. It doesn’t mean I don’t recognize quality; obviously I understand that Sin City is better than Fantastic Four. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like seeing what it’s like when someone bursts into flames and flies around the city. James Bond is one of those things for me. A bad James Bond, like a bad Seinfeld or a bad Ben and Jerry’s, is still pretty effing good. And when a James Bond movie isn’t bad at all, but is actually pretty good? Well then it might as well be awesome as far as I’m concerned. The new James Bond is out, and I’m here to tell you: eh, it’s pretty good. Whatever.

Awesome.

This is the first true James Bond sequel. Every other movie, it’s like a clean slate, and it’s as if the previous adventures maybe have or haven’t happened yet. James Bond always seems, to me, as if his stories are being told randomly, as if we’re digging through his files, sometimes picking an early adventure, sometimes picking a late one, but no matter: he’s always roughly forty-five years old, always cool, always well-dressed, always quick with a pun or a tumble into bed with some euphemistically named model-slash-actress. Casino Royale gave the series an absolutely brilliant reboot by taking equal parts Jason Bourne and Batman Begins. For my money, it rocks, and I need to watch it every couple months.

Daniel Craig is our Bond for at least three more movies. This time, he’s nursing a major grudge. He was betrayed by his girlfriend, and then she died, and now he’s out for revenge, not trusting anyone inside or outside his job, aside from perhaps M (Judi Dench, the second lead in Quantum of Solace, doing more with an exhale and an arched eyebrow than I’ve ever done with any of my anythings at any job ever. Jeez, I’m the worst. Judi Dench rocks though.) M is a strong enough character to support her own movie, preferably one dealing with the CIA characters played by David Harbour and Jeffrey Wright (who is so good in everything, I’m just going to go ahead and say he’ll never be bad in anything)

Bond starts getting his revenge, but then gets distracted by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who is being kept by a character who has a better villain name in real life. For my money, Dominic Greene should be playing Mathieu Almaric, and not the other way around. Greene is an environmentalist in name only, secretly hoarding water underground to gain control of Bolivia. Not the world. Just Bolivia. I suppose this is a grain of contention with some viewers, but if this is a back-to-basics Bond, then the threats should maybe be basic as well. Greene attracts Bond’s attention not just for his eco-terrorism, but also for his treatment of Camille, who has been given to General Medrano (Camille not-so-secretly wants revenge on Medrano for a tragedy in her childhood.

And so, Bond goes around, killing moles he’s exposed on his team, thugs who work for Greene, and any number of people who try to get in his way. Daniel Craig’s Bond is such a smooth badass, like a more charming Clint Eastwood, but he’s not invulnerable like other Bonds. There’s a Bourne Ultimatum-cribbing rooftop chase in which Bond gets so banged up and leaps with such a lack of grace, you’ll spend the entire sequence cringing. His focus is speed, rather than spectacle. Just after another fight, Bond takes a moment to clean his bloody nose in a mirror. All the years of Bond looking like he just stepped out of a GQ spread, and here’s a guy (in a nice suit, natch), whose primary style concern is that he not bleed in public. And frankly, it’s not that big of a concern. Through action sequences covering nearly every mode of travel (car, motorcycle, plane, boat, parachute, feet) Bond comes out successful but filthy and banged up. I think we’re better off this way. Daniel Craig’s Bond likes his martinis, he likes his women (another, Strawberry Fields, appears much too briefly), knows his way around a gun and a steering wheel, but isn’t afraid to get dirty.

Quantum of Solace was directed by Marc Forster, a director refusing to be pigeon-holed. What a surprise that the guy who directed Stranger Than Fiction would be so adept at action. Some of the scenes are vastly over-edited, almost to the point of confusion, but on the whole, everything looks great. Quantum of Solace is set around the world, which each new location given its own title card, and each country photographed beautifully. I have to admit the plot is a little…what is the plot again? Bolivia? Really? And then General is involved? Or not? Or just there for Camille’s subplot? Or it doesn’t matter? Of course it doesn’t.

Anyone thinking this Bond is a little slight can turn down a couple roads. One would be other Bond movies, like A View to a Kill or For Your Eyes Only, which make Quantum of Solace feel like Gatorade to that guy in the marathon whose legs fell out from under him. Or, you could watch Hitman, which has a hero who could have been a cheesy Bond villain, a plot based on a video game, and guess what, the exact same girl.

Hitman is one of those movies with great sequences that could be played in any order. In fact, that might be the best way to watch it. Go to the scene index, find a fight or a stunt or a chase, and watch in five or ten minute increments. Or, you could start at the beginning. What are you, some kind of purist?

Timothy Olyphant stars as Agent 47, a barcoded assassin raised for the expressed purpose of becoming a hitman. Olyphant is a cold, emotionless killer, and does a nice job, as far as I can tell. Anytime a character is supposed to be cold and emotionless, I always wonder if they care what they eat for lunch, or if they ever watch Third Rock from the Sun clips on Youtube. I’m guessing no. Agent 47 isn’t the most interesting of characters, honestly, perhaps because we’ve seen this a million times, and perhaps because he speaks in a monotone and rarely moves the bigger muscles in his face. It’s the kind of script you’d likely find in Keanu’s “Whoa, maybe” pile.

He shoots things up good though. He’s in Russia, and he’s supposed to kill the president, but screws up, which seems impossible to everyone involved. He’s taken with Nika (Olga Kurylenko), who is sexy, tough, and just like in Bond, as a vendetta of her own, this time against the brother of the president Agent 47 was supposed to kill. I think. They travel all over, shooting and running and driving and being edited like mad. It’s a good time. I haven’t played the video game, and I’m not gonna, but I can tell you that Olyphant, in a black suit, red tie, bald head and what sometimes feels like ten guns, cuts a badass swath through Hitman. He’s no Daniel Craig, but he gets the job done (and not once, that I recall, gets dirty or bloody or even breathes audibly.)

Hitman was directed by Xavier Gens. Directors of movies like this are never appreciated enough. Hitman is practically all direction. It looks fantastic, moves briskly, makes absolutely zero sense and has a scene where someone dives out a hotel window barefoot right before a bomb goes off. Hitman somehow kept its R rating. That a movie based on a video game wasn’t edited down to a PG-13 is as unlikely as James Bond with a bloody nose, and impressed me almost as much.

Quantum of Solace: B+

Hitman: B-