A French sci-fi take on Buried, a scientist wakes up in a sealed cryogenic pod with no memory of how she ended up there, her only hope of rescue being calls to the outside. Although perfect for shooting during the pandemic, Oxygen had been in development for several years before. The entire film rests on Mélanie Laurent’s performance, which deftly slides between agitated and analytical, fearful and ferocious. Her primary contact is an A.I. named M.I.L.O. (Medical Inferface Liason Officer) who is monitoring her pod but refuses to allow her to leave. The pod’s futuristic design is less claustrophobic than Buried’s coffin — it actually feels more like Locke’s car, a confined modern space that is shot with attractive lighting. Oxygen is less committed to the experimental conceit than those films as, although we only hear others as disembodied voices, we frequently cut to the protagonist’s clouded memory fragments. This is purposeful, since Oxygen has a broader science fiction story to build out from within its restricted set. The result is less noteworthy an achievement, but a compelling and memorable tale nonetheless.
director: Marc Forster writer: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric running time: 106 mins rating: 12A
The first thing you should know about us is… we have people everywhere.
Despite clocking it at around half an hour shorter than any of the recent Bond films, Quantum of Solace actually proves one of the most exhausting to view, feeling like a single protracted action sequence in which the adrenaline never really lets up. The downside is that neither the story nor characters are given a chance to breathe. Given the scant fragments of the former that is perhaps not an issue, but the latter leaves this film an underwhelming experience.
Picking up shortly after the end of Casino Royale, Bond [Daniel Craig] and M [Judi Dench] interrogate Mr. White, revealing an organisation called Quantum who blackmailed Vesper. Still motivated by revenge for her betrayal and death, Bond cuts a swathe of destruction as he hunts down Dominic Greene [Mathieu Amalric] who is buying up land to control the most important natural resources. Meanwhile Bond meets Camille [Olga Kurylenko], a woman with her own vendetta and a useful ally as a rogue Bond must keep ahead of the CIA, terrorists and even MI6.
It is telling that the film opens on car chase already in progress, but perhaps its style is moreso. The action direction leaves much to be desired, featuring a lot of lazily edited quick cuts that serve to confuse the viewer rather than let them enjoy the events. I thought we were beyond that. Some is clearly borrowed from Bourne, but adequately reproduced such as a lift escape scene. The noteworthy exception is a fight through a glass ceiling onto scaffolding which is expertly choreographed with a great tracking shot as they fall. This moment of brilliance ends up standing out since it is sadly not repeated.
Such is perhaps the trouble with a franchise that replaces its director each film. By contrast the cast, returning and new, are all impressive. Craig’s Bond will continue to delight all those who enjoyed him in Casino Royale, effortlessly cool with suppressed rage while his tense chemistry with M remains as compelling as ever. Unfortunately what arguably made the last film so compelling was character development in Bond, but since it had the entire arc, there was really none left. Olga Kurylenko does well in providing another strong Bond girl and could have filled this gap had she been given the time to do so. Meanwhile the villains felt surprisingly flat this time round. Real perhaps, but decidedly uninteresting.
One emerges with the sense this is the middle instalment of a trilogy — the plot already set up and largely action heavy — although those involved refuse to comment. The truth is that the relentless pacing actually fits the plot rather well, with Bond on a rampage of revenge while everyone else is after him. The problem is that the result is just not very Bond. There is more to a Bond film than simply action, and in failing to deliver that, Quantum feels untrue to the franchise in a way that Casino Royale, while a reboot in style and tone, never did.
