Inferior to Daniel Craig's first outing as Bond, but still superior to some of the previous ones, especially Pierce Brosnan's last

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2008)

After watching all 21 previous official James Bond movies on DVD, I have finally seen Bond on the silver screen for the first time! The first twenty films in the franchise seem to show Bond's continuous adventures as Agent 007, whereas the 2006 film, "Casino Royale", the first one starring Daniel Craig, shows Bond starting out as a 00 agent, so "Quantum of Solace" is a sequel to that hit film. Since Craig's first outing as Bond turned out to be so excellent, I'm sure this second one of his was highly anticipated by viewers, and I'm sure many have been disappointed. Knowing that the general reception indicated that it was inferior to the 2006 film, I had lower expectations, but was hoping it would at least turn out to be a reasonable follow-up, and it did.
James Bond has captured an enemy, a terrorist named Mr. White, and is now driving with White locked in the trunk of the car, as the British agent is chased by henchmen who are attempting to get their kidnapped boss back! He evades these henchmen, and gets away with Mr. White, who is then questioned by Bond and M, and it turns out that the organization which blackmailed Vesper Lynd will be harder to bring down than they originally thought! Evidence links an MI6 traitor to a Haiti bank, so Haiti is where Bond goes, and is where he first meets Camille Montes, who leads him to Dominic Greene, the chairman of an environmental organization known as Greene Planet. This man happens to be part of the criminal organization known as Quantum, and as Agent 007 travels to different places in the world during his investigation, Greene plans to gain control over the planet's natural resources!
Since this 22nd official Bond film from EON Productions has now been playing in theatres for a while, many people saw it before I did, so I know others have mentioned this already, but the camera work certainly could have been better (I knew about this criticism before I went to see the film). There are times when it gets a tad hard on the eyes, especially early in the film, I would say, with the shaky camera and rapidly changing scenes. For instance, a chase scene early on, one which certainly can't compete with the Madagascar chase in "Casino Royale". So, for this, "Quantum of Solace" definitely loses some points, but earns some points for other aspects of the film. You can be sure there is some action, such as a boat chase, and other memorable and often exciting moments, such as Bond and Camille trapped in a cave, and M expressing her concern about Bond's actions. Daniel Craig is once again in great form.
This second Bond film starring Daniel Craig is more polarizing than his first, despite how well it has done at the box office, and now that I've seen them both, this does not surprise me, but nonetheless, while this one isn't as consistent as "Casino Royale", I still left the theatre satisfied, which I probably wouldn't have six years ago if I had gone to see Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film, "Die Another Day", the worst in the franchise (or maybe I would have, since my tastes have changed a bit since then)! Watching this on the big screen was a little different from watching a Bond film on the small screen, so I don't think I can fully explain exactly how different or similar they are, but this one seemed to be a bit more of a mindless action flick than the 2006 blockbuster. Still, whatever the differences between the two films are, and despite the flaws that make this second one inferior, it was still a decent movie-going experience for me, and hasn't put me off going to see the next Bond film in the theatre.