Quantum of Solace was another very good entry in Ian Fleming's James Bond series

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2008)

Having just seen this, the official 22nd James Bond movie in the EON series, I have to say that Quantum of Solace is a very good, if not great worthy entry. Taking place directly after Casino Royale, the action gets going pretty quickly with the car chases followed not long after by some rooftop running and then later on with planes getting bullets. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Daniel Craig is back as Bond with Judi Dench as M who's worried 007 is out for revenge on Vesper Lynd's death considering how he carelessly kills some suspects. Both are good in their comebacks as are Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter (Interesting note: the only other actor to return as Leiter was Live and Let Die's David Hedison in Licence to Kill). Mathieu Amalric as Greene isn't as creepy a Bond villain as I expected though I was highly amused with the way James dealt with him at the end. The real villain to me seemed to be this General played by Joaquin Cosio whose presence and backstory provided a good reason for Olga Kurylenko's character to avenge her family. And Gemma Arterton as this watchdog (or maybe "watchgirl") for Bond named Fields (you'll have to watch the end credits for her first name) provides some amusement in her few scenes. Those action scenes helmed by Marc Forster are probably too "Bourne"-inspired (i.e. filmed too up-close and edited too quick with shaky camera movements) for traditional 007 fans, though they were entertaining enough for me that I didn't mind. And after reading this was the shortest Bond film on record, well, the movie was certainly long enough. So in summation, Quantum of Solace was another nearly fine entry in the James Bond series.