A reminder

Well, after the longest running 14 year, 20 million dollar joke in music history, Guns N’ Roses is back. Well, the critics said it was good.  Axl threw in everything bar the kitchen sink.

Listen. It sounds like everything else out there. But more, much more than that, it sounds like… it is… a  reminder of how it’s done.

It’s Bond, still Bond

He’s cold, he’s brutal, he’s a rebel, and he’s right… and who gives a damn what he drinks, who he lays and what colour his hair is.

That’s right. And for anyone hesitating to see Quantum of Solace… don’t. Don’t hesitate, that is. Sure, there’s no vodka martinis, there’s no plethora of babes and there’s still no Q.

But this film is Bond at his best. It’s genius how they’ve done it. And in fact, Craig’s performance has one remembering the Bond of old.  He,  the writers, and the director capture the essence of just who Bond is and what he’s about most admirably. And they’ve had to do this in 2008.

Noting that this film is set in Bond’s early days, we see Bond as vulnerable and a loner of sorts. Had we forgotten that? We see him going out on a limb. We see that he sometimes isn’t trusted, isn’t believed yet essentially he is right… and loyal, and most effective.  And he’s still most certainly British… even if MI6 aren’t convinced at times. Had we forgotten that, too?

And note, Quantum of Solace takes off where Casino Royale left off.  Bond is relatively new in the game. So, yes, he makes mistakes, he hasn’t perfected his craft but compared to Casino Royale, he has certainly honed it.

Could parts of the film have been done better? Well, it’s a film so I guess yes. It is at times a little heavy on the fast-paced action, and at times the plot is delivered, er, how do I say it? They deliver it but there’s little service at times.

However, how they manage, and Craig especially, to deliver all the essential elements of a Bond character and a Bond movie whilst managing to leave out seemingly essential elements is superlative. You know he still gets laid but you want to see him kill. You know he drinks but you want to see him kill again.

Apart from those exotic locations, it has the plot twists, the surpises and yes, Bond is still that guy you wanna be… yet in the back of your mind, you know it’s just fantasy. Like any great Bond film, some of his capabilities, his stunts, are over the top. Like any good Bond film, parts of the story are completely cheesy.

What the film doesn’t have, however, are some of more excruciating elements of previous Bond adventures.  And perhaps blame Austin Powers for this but no, the villain doesn’t plan an overly elaborate death for Bond only to leave the room before the moment of triumph. Sorry, Mr Goldfinger, but if you expected him to die, you should have stayed and finished the job.

So yes, the film delivers all the glamour and all the brutality one would expect from Bond. It’s still Bond, still the same yet reinvented. And one can see a string of new, refreshing but essentially still Bond movies to come.

Oh, and like any good Bond flick, he most certainly still has a licence to kill…

For queen and country, of course.