Good movie but disappointing sequel to superior Casino Royale

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2008)

When I saw Casino Royale two years ago I found it somewhat unusual for a Bond film compared to the previous twenty prior to it. However, the movie grew on me as a Bond flick and as a reboot of the series and as a movie in general it was excellent.
Coming into Quantum of Solace I was expecting the same if not better quality of a film. In general, it was good but Quantum was just way too all over the place. My roommate and I walked out of the film very confused and it took me some reading up on the plot on Wikipedia to really understood what went on.
The movie starts right off with a car chase as Bond delivers Mr. White to MI6 for evaluation. Just when they think they have Mr. White in custody, one of M's own body guards betrays them aiding in White's escape. That was the last point I understood what was going on. From there it was one action scene after the next and you really could not follow what was going on. It seemed like Bond was just going from place to place on the seam of his pants. There are some classic moments for example when Bond is at the opera house and discovers Greene's plot by listening on his organization's secret meeting (I will tell no more). However, the whole idea of rebooting the series and stepping away from Bond movies with all action and no solid plot seemed to be destroyed here. It's almost as if all this competition from the successful Bourne series makes the producers feel they need to try the same things. The thing is, it works for the Bourne series...not so much for the Bond series. Bond and Bourne are too very different series and should be kept this way. I just hope that by Bond 23 they realize this and go back to the same basic formula that was Casino Royale.