A crowd pleaser..... for what crowd?

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2008)

Many will compare this Bond film to Casino Royale and I will do likewise.
In short, Quantum of Solace doesn't measure up. Casino Royale was a triumph that transcended the traditional idea of Bond being a comical entertainment experience. It showed that a well paced story with good acting could stand tall against "filler" movies. Sure, it was controversial, but the direction that they tried to go in was good for the Bond name.
This time around they seemed to have doubled back on themselves, asking "what should be in it" rather than "what it should be". And they tried to add lots. More explosions more Guns, more action, bigger car chase, more Bond references, an extra Bond girl and more explosions. All of this would make for an excellent action movie, but a great Bond movie it does not.
This is supposed to be New James Bond, an ultimately human character with a hard mask of wit and nonchalance. But that does not show through, in QoS we are presented with the mask but not the man. The notion of a man seeking revenge and answers all together falls apart into let's stop the bad guy. There are no new insights, no new sides to the story. Instead we get an odd hybrid of brutish amateur new Bond with the cheap action of the old Bond, with none of the charm or humanity of either. Also, he was inhumanly dominant at all points in the movie, at no point was he out-gunned or outsmarted. A little unrealistic for our New Bond idea.
The film admirably tries to throwback to the old Bonds but just didn't push the point through hard enough for it to make sense and doesn't work at the same time as trying to push a hard-edged James.
Bond had the makings for a very good action adventure, but the small details kill it. A (let's face it) wimpy bad guy, lack of goons, lack of gadgets, anticlimactic ending.
I'm being a little too harsh here. This is definitely a movie worth watching, and there are definitely some excellent parts, the opera house scene that others mentioned surpasses any other Bond (even Casino Royale) in Bond-esquire operation. The action sequences are actually rather good and fun to watch, and the characters are all likable -- every one of them, well except for wimpy bad guy and his side-kick with terrible haircut. The QoS Bond theme-song is actually pretty good the second time around and the movie ties up all sorts of loose ends.
This is a great movie for anyone who has never seen Casino Royale. Those who know the brilliance that was delivered in the previous film, this movie will likely be too frantic without the desperation that is needed to carry the idea of a human "New Bond".