Quantum of Solace

Every franchise these days seems to be having a reboot and with Casino Royale, the very same was done to the now fairly ancient Bond brand. What's refreshing about this particular reboot is that it wasn't just done because the previous film was a failure - indeed Die Another Day did good business. However, the producers clearly took note of the pretty shoddy reviews and so brought in a new Bond and gave the franchise the kind of hard edge it really needed, plus a little more reality. Fortunately, they did retain David Arnold who delivered a typically bracing score. Quantum of Solace is pretty much an extension of Casino Royale musically, although this time round Arnold does not have the benefit of having being involved with the title song. Part of me hates Another Way to Die and I hate parts of it. The odd thing is that opening motif is curiously similar to Casino Royale's You Know My Name, but after that it turns into a mess of hip hop, with brass grafted on in a fashion that suggests it was done by someone who thinks that's sufficient to make it sound like a Bond song. They are sadly mistaken. I must admit that You Know My Name has turned into one of my favourites, but I fear that the 21st century Bond song will not result in many classics. Having done such a good job writing songs on his early efforts for Brosnan, it's a real waste the producers don't let Arnold at least collaborate. He does at least understand what's required. Depressingly, I'd have preferred uber tabloid tramp Amy Winehouse, at least her usual style is in the right musical ballpark for Bond.
So, onto David Arnold's underscore. As noted, he doesn't have a song tune to lean on and those Bond scores where this is the case always seem to suffer a bit as a result. Sadly, the same is true here. The almost entirely acoustic action style is back, which is a blessed relief after his Brosnan scores descended more and more into electronics with brass decoration. Having said that, the action licks don't seem hugely inspired here. Sure, there's momentum and excitement aplenty and, while loud, it's rarely too obnoxious, but it just doesn't have, I dunno, a thing. It's missing something. His early scores seemed so colourful, this new steely style Bond film might have given the music a new edge, but it gives it a certain greyness and unrelenting tone. The quieter cues are pleasing enough, although are a touch dour too. There's nothing too sexy or sultry here, which is perhaps what the score misses the most. There are still highlights of course, Camille's Story and Greene & Camille are especially lovely, the former featuring some lovely harp writing. In the event Bond does some actual spying rather than shagging and shooting stuff, the suspense is pretty decent, the best being Night at the Opera which is quite full on as suspense music goes, but that does make it considerably more interesting on disc.

A little local colour appears here and there, Talamone and Bolivian Taxi Ride in particular, which are nice little moments of escape from the musical realism elsewhere. One thing Casino Royale did not feature much was the Bond Theme. Quantum of Solace is hardly overrun, but there are some nice allusions to it. A hint in the opening track, Time to Get Out, is especially effective and a similarly subtle appearance in the final score track works equally well. I really wanted to like Quantum of Solace in light of the general quality of and change of direction in Casino Royale. However, rather than building on the ideas of the first score, this just feels like more of the same, only less interesting. Apparently Arnold had more time on this score, although (to paraphrase Mr Scott), maybe they gave him too much time. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but it's frustrating when nothing really stands out in a score, especially one in a series with such a strong lineage. It's not bad by any means just a bit meh. Sorry if that's not much of a conclusion, but it was the best I could do at short notice.