The new Bond is better

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2009)

Recap: Still shaken by Vesper's betrayal and death Bond continues to unravel whatever secret organization she belonged to. His leads point to Dominic Greene, an highly regarded environmentalist and philanthropist who has a side business of overthrowing governments. But Greene has very high connections in a good many countries, and Bond suddenly finds himself alone, at odds with his own management on who is friend or foe.
Comments: The second chapter in the "new" Bond, and even if the old ones are good, Casino Royale and now Quantum of Solace, in my mind, has revived the franchise. Daniel Craig does a great Bond, a little more serious and dark, but still with a touch of the unique humor that only Bond has.
Quantum of Solace is a full paced action from beginning to end, and that is both its strength and weakness. It is highly entertaining full of exciting duels and chases, at land, sea and air. There is never a dull moment. There is always the next step in his mission, the next fight. However, because of that the movie never shifts down a gear to let the character develop or the mysterious story develop further. Also there is no time to be deviously sneaky or learn about new gadgets. I know I said I liked the more serious Bond, but at least an appearance of Q would have been fun.
Olga Kurylenko does her part as the Bond-girl well. But she too is all action, because of the aforementioned lack of time to develop character. We get a brief introduction of her history in passing, but it is mostly here a little more character development might have been good. Bond we already know quite a lot about, or at least we think we do.
One thing I also like about Bond, it is the promise that there will be more. There is clearly more to work with in this storyline, and Bond will return. I also wish he would return a little sooner.
8/10