Bond Month #22: An Unbearable Viewing Experience, even with so much potential

Rating: 3/10 (29 October 2013)

After the fantastic experience of watching Casino Royale, I expected something on the same level. I expect way too much from Bond I suppose. Quantum of Solace is a strange experience that would jar the senses of any audience member, even non-Bond fans.
Well let's look at the story that I thought had great potential. It picks up directly where Casino Royale left off, with Bond investigating an agent of an organization known as Quantum, which I think is the modern equivalent to SPECTER. This is some guy named Dominic Greene who tries to monopolize a desert country's water before trying to stage a coup-de-tat in said countries with hoarded water. But that's not the main story, its about M whining about Bond being plagued by revenge for the death of Vesper (SPOILER!!) Here's the first problem with the movie for me, the plot suffers from a complete lack of focus (and I'm not talking about the editing or camera-work either, I'll get to that later) Like I said, the story had great potential, but it is underdeveloped and the characterizations often times do not make any sense. Heck sometimes the logic of everything that plays out makes no sense at all. The aspect involving the water isn't all that interesting, and surprisingly, the revenge aspect isn't great either. Now, some people say that about Licence to Kill as well, but there you had a solid story and decent characterizations, but when they are simplified or not clear, it doesn't work as well.
The acting is actually the biggest saving grace of this movie, well for the most part. Craig still packs in a solid performance as Bond, giving a far more darker turn than in Casino Royale, but he still manages to incorporate the dry humor that worked very well in the last movie. Olga Kurylenko is amazing as Camille, and even the first Bond girl that Bond doesn't go to bed with all the way through the movie. The others are fine, but with the bad writing for the most part, they get lost and hopelessly confused so they seem odd and stupid.
Then there's the action and filming. Holy god this is the most poorly shot movie I have ever seen in my life. The camera is shaking to the point of seasickness, like Man of Steel, but is doesn't benefit from poor editing. A lot of the sots in this movie last either a half a second or a half a frame before the scene is over. Then there are random shots and edits that make zero sense and provides the reason why I say this is an unbearable experience for the eyes and ears. Actually, we get a very good car chase at the beginning of the film and a cool aerial battle between a jet and an old Douglas DC-3, that's always great to watch. But other than that there are few and far between great action sequences.
I've harped on this movie enough so I won't try to do anything more to it. But if I had to, I would recommend this one for one single viewing only. Is is the worst executed Bond film? Yes, yes it is. But does is have good things? On an occasion. Watch it once, but have vomit bags ready.
Now onto the next greatest return to Bond-form, and my favorite Bond film, Skyfall.