Hit me or whatever, but this has to be one of the better Bond films...

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2009)

M: Bond, We want you back. Bond: I never left.
While the Bond franchise was getting staler by the day, with the protagonist ("Bond, James Bond") growing older and getting a tad foolisher, earning a bit more obstinate hatred from his head, M, it was time Bond changed. And well, he did. With a supercool avatar, enters Daniel Craig who slips into the legendary fictitious British Secret Service Agent 007 James Bond with ease, thereby adding a new angle and spice to his character. James Bond is now a bit more serious and intense, and a bit less of a playboy (though he still is a bit of it). His love for Vesper showed the audience that he was not much of a womanizer that the previous Bonds were shown to be. The realism now shows that James Bond does not have to be dependent enough on gadgets, which justifies the sudden disappearance of Q (also sometimes known as the Quartermaster), who is rumored to return in Bond 23, alongwith Moneypenny, whose reason for disappearance is yet unknown, but does not bother you if you are an unbiased Bond fan.
Post the release of CASINO ROYALE (Craig's first Bond film, thereby marking a reboot of the Bond franchise, transporting it into a completely new timely, thereby disposing of the unnecessary gadgetry and the likes) most critics wend as far ahead as to say that Craig has to be the best Bond since Sean Connery. I had gone to watch ROYALE at the cinemas, and I rightly feel so, because of the mere fact that this Bond is far more intelligent and does not need to depend on metallic toys to move forward the story.
Two years later comes the twenty second instalment of Bond, which turns out to be the first direct sequel to the previous film. Since the previous Bond film (according to myself) was an explosive action thriller with all the ingredients to keep audiences at the edge of the seat, my expectations had skyrocketed for this one. And so, despite some highly offensive reviews, i grabbed a DVD to watch this movie.
And guess what? My expectations were more than met. And how! The film starts immediately after it had ended, with the scene pre-title sequence showing Bond being chased by a string of people (later turning out to be Mr. White's men). This very scene registers in your mind, making you wait for the movie to begin. The title sequence does not include the gun-barrel sequence, as had it been included, it would have made for a very illogical one, as Bond is not yet ready to remain a Double-O unless he accomplishes one of his most personal missions, thereby uncovering an organization's (named Quantum, thereby giving the title a suitably dual meaning) sinister motives, that being monitored by the smooth and dark nemesis, outwardly an innocuous environmentalist industrialist, Dominic Greene (played to the T, and fantabulously, by Mathieu Almaric). The Bond here, for the first time, is emotionally scarred, seeking revenge, and thereby, "Solace", by finishing off, one by one, each of the people involved in the omnious outfit called Quantum. M here acts more like a mother-figure to Bond (though not openly shown, but subtly expressed through the conversations ("You look like hell; when was the last time you ever slept?", says a concerned M to James Bond; I won't write further, as some conversations between Bond and M are very poignant). The gunbarrel, instead, appears in the end, therefore making it sensible enough, showing us that 007 is now in full form.
The action is explosive and doesn't give us time to breathe. For those who compare the action to the Jason Bourne franchise, let me tell them that Jason Bourne has already carved a niche for himself and his character (that of an amnesiac American Government-employed assassin) is miles apart from Bond (a ruthless, heartbroken British Seret Agent), not in terms of likability or betterness, but in terms of the fact that both have their own respective place, and should not be mixed up due to biasedness.
Acting is explosive. Daniel Craig emotes perfectly, making us feel for him. Olga Kurlyenko emotes similarly, and thereby they make a striking pair, though they do not romance. In turn, in their last meeting and conversation, she barely kisses him upon the forehead, with Forster giving us one of those many poignant emotional moments in the film. Dame Judi Dench has shown those shades of M that have not been seen before. She acts to perfection. Her straightforward, snappy attitude still remains ("Impress me...", "Surely you know better than this..." and other such statements show that while she still respects Bond, professionally as well as emotionally, she can still retain her snappy professional composure). And how can we foget the villain? Mahtieu Almaric does a smooth Job playing the suave villain.
Overall, I felt this Bond movie was very much needed in the franchise to aptly know the characters in the movie as well as in the franchise. While Bond's and M's character-sketches are vividly and lavishly explicit and detailed, the other characters have also not been left out. I felt it was a fantastic outing and a worthy successor to the high-octane thriller CASINO ROYALE. Beat me or whatever, it won't change my opinion.
I rest my case, and give it a 10, just like I would give for CASINO ROYALE.