Good Bond entry, and a viable plot continuing film.

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2008)

Quantum of Solace (QOS from here on out) was a good film in my opinion, but not quite as good as its prior entry in the Bond film franchise.
QOS picks up the plot pretty seamlessly from the end of Casino Royale (CR from now on), as Bond fights his way to find who is involved in the criminal organization known as the "Quantum," what they plan on doing and why they would have his love, Vesper Lynd, want to let herself die to spare Bonds' life.
However, that seem begins to fray after the first few action scenes and about 15 minutes into the film as you are thrust into new locales with many new faces, each having their own agendas. This leaves you having to decipher who is important to the story, what are their back-stories, and who are minor players. Usually a film will allow you the time to take the information in, but QOS likes to jump to action scenes more often than CR did, making the plot comprehension a little more difficult, I thought.
Still, by about halfway through the movie you should have a good grasp on who's who, and what's generally going on, which allows you to not needlessly dwell on subject matter, and enjoy the action scenes. At the end I knew the plot could've been advanced further as we know that this story will continue in another Bond sequel, but I also felt satisfied where they left it. Also remember that QOS was only 106 minutes, compared to CR at 144 minutes.
The amount and length of the action scenes in QOS varies a good deal from the action in CR. It felt that - and I would wager - the scenes were somewhat shorter in QOS, but there were many more of them, many being more elaborate and expansive. Whether it be general hand-to-hand combat, chase scenes, or your grand explosion scenes. Also, if you had to distinguish the two in this manner, CR was more the scalpel of the spy action flicks, whereas QOS was the machete.
At the end I give QOS an 8/10, but only because there was no 7.5 rating available to me, and since I enjoy Bond films I rounded up. I have to say I'm liking this turn the Bond franchise has taken. As much as I delighted in James' quips and comebacks, Q and his gadgetry, and the uber-villains and their henchmen of previous Bond films, I won't miss them as long as those involved keep the bar set high for these new films. Hopefully Daniel Craig can do what the other Bonds couldn't accomplish: have his entries continue to get progressively better.