[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYC_CBNtiM]
They might as well have called it Excess of Testosterone. The opening sequence of Daniel Craig’s second Bond film is entirely about cars and guns: in this case Bond is being chased outside Siena, Italy by a bunch of goons in Alfa Romeos — goons who have been chasing him since the end of Casino Royale in 2006, actually, since this film picks up almost immediately where the first one left off. They weave in and out of traffic, chasing Bond’s Aston Martin DBS V12 at high speed along twisting mountain roads, exchanging gunfire and cursing expressively in Italian.
There may be a sexier sound to the male human ear than a 12-cylinder engine throatily downshifting on a hairpin curve, but if so it’s not in this Bond film. The intro to Quantum of Solace embraces everything about Bond that the one for Casino Royale did not: being a spy isn’t all cold-blooded murder; sometimes it’s about driving really fast and shooting massive machine guns.
The car, sadly, gets the stuffing knocked out of it.
GRADE: B+