The Name's Craig....Daniel Craig (shaken & not stirred)

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2009)

When Daniel Craig signed on as James Bond a few years back with the excellent 'Casino Royale',I thought,"Bond is back in action". When I heard he was also to star as Bond in the next chapter of J.B. (and we're not talking James Brown,here), I eagerly looked forward to it. After seeing this one, I thought, "action...this film screams ACTION!" (and sadly little more than). The James Bond series has had it's misfires before (Octopussy,anyone?), but 'Quantom Of Solace' is little more than glorified eye candy with little substance going for it. The plot concerns an angry & bitter James Bond,who is still grieving for the death of his beloved at the end of 'Royale'. The overlapping plot elements only manage to bog the already overstuffed sandwich of a screenplay even further. Besides Daniel Craig,who acts as a somewhat borderline psychotic Bond (and does it well),the film also pulls down some fine performances from the other cast members (although Jeffrey Wright seems to be unfairly wheeled in as some kind of prop,in an under used role as Felix). Despite this,I'll not toss in the towel on this series,which has weathered on for over forty years now. Handed a PG-13 rating by the MPAA, this film serves up the requisite amount of car chases (with the equally requisite car crashes),explosions,sexy goings on,and a couple of rather ghastly sights. Better luck next time.