Film title : Quantum of Solace
Genre: Action
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench
Running time: 106 minutes
My rating: 7/10

REVIEW

James Bond's twenty second outing, Quantum of Solace, has much to live up to. After the reinvention of the franchise with Casino Royale, people were bound to expect too much from Quantum. This is a solid effort, however Quantum does not live up to Casino Royale. Although several major issues hamper the film, it should not spoil your enjoyment of this entertaining movie.

The film begins with a high octane car chase along winding roads high in the italian alps. Despite the scenery being incredible, this opening fails to capture the imagination. The opening to a Bond film should be grandiose and over the top, like the union jack parachute ski jump off a snow covered mountain in The Spy Who Loved Me. In the opening to Quantum, the chase is hampered by too many close ups of bits of cars (the shots of the Alfa Romeo badges far too obvious product placement) and cutting to new shots far too quickly.

Then there's the title credits. This year's themetune is 'Another way to Die' performed by Alicia Keys and Jack White. This song is instantly forgettable, without much of a chorus. Surely they could have got a British artist to perform the themetune? It felt with Quantum that Jack White had never actually seen a Bond movie. Also, the images in the credits were fairly dull, consisting of multicoloured sand and a fair few pictures of Daniel Craig.

The plot is your usual globe-crossing fare. Leading on directly from Casino Royale's ending, Bond takes the captured Mr White to Siena to interrogate him. However, an MI6 traitor helps White escape. Bond then traces a lead to Haiti , where he witnesses a conversation between shady businessman Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and a n evil loooking Bolivian general. Here Bond has his frst encounter with Camille, played by Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko. Bond then follows Greene to an opera house in Austria, where he learns of plan to organise a coup in Bolivia. So Bond goes to Bolivia, to try to stop Greene. This story goes along at a rip roaring pace, with little time to stop and think. There are some spectacular set pieces, the highlight of which is an aerial dual above the Bolivian mountains.

The acting is fairly solid. Craig is unflappable as Bond, however the viewer gets little sense of Bond's anguish at losing the girl he loved, Vesper Lynd. It was good to see more of Judi Dench's M, and she is sublime as always. The one poor piece of casting is Amalric in the role of lead villain. He is never really scary enough, and is very weak compared to Mads Mikkelsen's super creepy Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. Kurylenko is less a Bond girl than a sidekick. There is no romantic connection between Craig and her character Camille. Gemma Arterton has a small role as Agent Strawberry Fields, and she is only really there so she can get covered in oil in an obvious reference to Goldfinger.

There are obvious attempts in Quantum to copy Bourne. At the beginning Forster makes use of cameras that follow Bond through nauseating chases, and the juddery camera can be offputting. A rooftop chase through Siena is a rip off of the Tangiers chase in Bourne Ultimatum. Another problem is the product placement in the film. Although there is nothing as obvious as the watch in Casino Royale (Is that a rolex? No, Omega) there are enough flashes of car badges amd camera phones to annoy the Marxists. Finally, some of the action sequences seem to only be in to set up missions in the tie-in video game, another nod to Bond's increasing marketability.

Overall, Quantum of Solace is not as good as Casino Royale. Casino was a hard act to follow, and Quantum doesn't match it. This film doesn't have enough class or wit to appease the Bond fanatics. However those who go to the cinema for a riproaring and e

Irn Bru Scottish League Division 2
Played: 36
Won: 3
Drawn: 7
Lost: 26
Goals for: 40
Goals against: 101
Goal Difference: -61
Points: 16
Points won at home: 12 (2 wins, 6 draws, 10 losses)
Points won away: 4 (1 win, 1 draw, 16 defeats)
Points behind ninth place: 21
Final position: 10th (out of 10)

Relegated to Irn Bru Scottish League Division 3

Scottish Cup:
First Round: Bye
Second Round: Bye
Third Round: Dumbarton 2-0 Berwick Rangers

CIS Insurance Cup (Scottish League Cup)
First Round: Berwick Rangers 3-1 Stenhousemuir (after extra time)
Second Round: Berwick Rangers 2-3 Hamilton Academicals

Scottish League Challenge Cup
First Round: Albion Rovers 1-1 Berwick Rangers (after extra time. Berwick won 4-3 on penalties)
Second Round: Partick Thistle 3-1 Berwick Rangers

Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts

1. Ross County 36 22 7 7 78 44 34 73
2. Airdrie United 36 20 6 10 64 34 30 66
3. Raith Rovers 36 19 3 14 60 50 10 60
4. Alloa Athletic 36 16 8 12 57 56 1 56
5. Peterhead 36 16 7 13 65 54 11 55
6. Brechin City 36 13 13 10 63 48 15 52
7. Ayr United 36 13 7 16 51 62 -11 46
8. Queens Park 36 13 5 18 48 51 -3 44
9. Cowdenbeath 36 10 7 19 47 73 -26 37
10. Berwick Rangers 36 3 7 26 40 101 -61 16