Action over plot...still a Bond though

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2008)

With the success of Casino Royale, I just couldn't wait to see its sequel "Quantum of Solace." I had heard many negative reviews of this movie and I simply ignored them. I mean, it's a Bond film it has to be good. After thirty minutes into the movie of little dialog and all action, I shrugged thinking, well, there's going to be a plot somewhere. Then an hour went by, and it was still pretty much the same. Only then did I understand why the big reviewers like Ebert were bashing this movie. Sure, a James Bond film is supposed to be action-orientated, but not to the point that, that's the entire movie.
Even though I didn't have a stop watch to time the action, I estimate that well over an hour of the film were action and maybe a half hour of plot. Since there were so many action sequences, I easily got bored with the film and could not keep up with the wandering plot, which has as many holes as James Bond's car in the opening car chase/shoot-out. And to be honest, I was not that impressed with the action sequences. Director Marc Foster relied too much on the hand-held camera. I will say that I am biased against hand-held camera movies, but even Paul Greengrass's "United 93" and "Bourne Ultimatum" was fairly easy to see and understand what was happening compared to this. This was really bothersome in the Opera shoot-out, where the film constantly cuts back in forth like a montage between Bond killing bad guys and the opera. Again, I could not see what the heck was happening. Perhaps this was the director's intent? To make me feel nausea? Mmm
As with the new villains and girls, they were alright. I will admit that Olga Kurylenko is stunningly gorgeous as Camille, and her character is rather unique for a Bond girl (since she's on a private mission of her own, as well as doesn't play around with Bond in bed). Mathieu Amalric plays a good villain as Dominic Greene, although I think he needed a more sinister name to make him sound more evil like the names Goldfinger and Le Chiffe. He won't go down in history as the greatest Bond villain, but nevertheless he is believable (although at times a wimp). However, Gemma Arteton's character is very annoying, but thankfully she's only in the movie for about 10 minutes so I should not complain too much there. I enjoyed the appearances of Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini as Felix and Mathis-who adds some comic relief to the film. Judi Dench is once again herself as M and Daniel Craig, well, I'll just say he's the new Bond and he should be for the next few years.
Yes, the film has its flaws such as having action scenes overwhelming a wandering plot, as well as a lame opening song, a "Goldfinger" rip off, no explanation to the significance to the title and the gun barrel sequence being replaced at the end of the film versus the start, but overall it is a Bond film and without a doubt, a new series will be emerging for the next several years.