Supremely underwhelming entry to the franchise

Rating: 5/10 (1 May 2017)

Marc Forster's Quantum of Solace has been widely regarded as one of the worst Bond films of the entire franchise upon release. Whether or not expectations were too high after the excellent Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace is mediocre at best and shockingly amateur at it's worst.
Daniel Craig as Bond is not the issue here. His performance here is strong, as is most of the other cast's, even if the characters aren't fully fleshed out as the previous films. The issue is the convoluted and overly-complicated plot that lacks the emotional heft and character drama that made Royale so good. The Bond girl is boring, the villain is laughable and the tone is all over the place. From a technical standpoint, everything is how it should be. Sadly, the human aspect that gives a Bond film it's character is lacking, making this entry noticeably more hollow than other films of the franchise.
Even the action sequences are hit-or-miss. While the film opens with a rather impressive car chase, the following set-pieces never manage to create even a fraction of suspense or thrills contained in the first 10 minutes. This could be due to the rather shaky direction and overall goofy nature that never quite feels welcome. While Quantum of Solace is certainly watchable and admittedly entertaining at times, the overall lack of substance and memorable drama or thrills makes this entry to the franchise quite hollow. It doesn't have the immense emotional weight of Royale or the spectacular action of Skyfall, and being released between these two excellent films only helps to accentuate the flaws of this one.