A little disappointing

Rating: 7/10 (31 October 2008)

I first came across Daniel Craig in the brilliant BBC TV series - Our friends in the north - back in 1996 . It was obvious to anyone that Craig had the potential to go on to be a big star and what bigger role than to play Bond . Despite questions of "Craig who? from across the pond , he was a huge success in arguably the best Bond movie for 25 years in -Casino Royale , but the burning question was 'could the strangely named follow up - Quantum of Solace - live up to it's predecessor? Sadly, in my opinion , the answer is no.
Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M interrogate Mr White who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.
Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille , a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organisation.
On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano . Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.
In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene's sinister plan and stop his organisation.
In my opinion there are five main ingredients you need to make a great Bond film. Great action , a good Bond , a gripping story ,a memorable bad guy and a rousing theme song. The problem with Quantum of Solace is , is that it falls short on the last three.
The action is exactly what you would expect . Brilliant car chases , plenty of punch ups and a this time a rebellious Bond has no qualms in Killing everyone and anyone who stand in his way . The problem is , great action scenes are not enough . The story is a bit wayward and Bond's enemies are just not interesting enough . You need to be able to hate the bad guys to feel part of the story , but i didn't. Also what were they thinking when they agreed to have that dreadful song by Jack White and Alicia Keys? They are both out of tune!!!
Don't get me wrong Quantum of Solace is not a bad movie , it's actually quite good, but i want my Bond movies to be great. Perhaps the bar was set too high with Casino Royale?
I also got the impression that director Marc Foster ( who incidentally made my film of the year so far in "the Kite Runner") was trying to make a film that looked like The Bourne Ultimatum . lots of quick , short , difficult to take, in fight scenes but this is no Bourne Ultimatum.
This isn't even Daniel Craig's best movie this year , that goes to the fantastic " Flashbacks of a Fool". To sum up , Quantum of Solace is a fairly good action movie that is hard to dislike but i expected so much more.
7 out of 10