Good film, but want my Bond back next time, please...

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2008)

Quantum of Solace turned out to be above my expectations. It's a well-made film, mostly well-acted, the script wasn't as much a collection of stunts put together or a full-length product-placement exercise (as Tomorrow Never Dies was the worst ever example for both), and I quite began to like Daniel Craig as 007. It's also good to see how James Bond became James Bond that we knew and loved. The experiences beginning with his achieving double-0 status and ending with the sentence "I never left" showed how and why 007 is so insensitive and carefree at times, how he can happily run into trouble and kill on Her Majesty's secret service, how he chose to drink vodka-martini shaken, not stirred and so on.
However, I believe enough is enough. I want to see the gun-barrel opening credits at the beginning of the film and not in an uber-stylized manner at the end, I want to have less aesthetic concerns in all scenes, I want the Q Branch involved ("Now, pay attention, 007"), I want gadgets, I want to hear very distinctly the James Bond Theme at "Bond Moment" signature scenes, not at the end credits. I am a fan, I have all the films on DVD, and not having these in the films bother me. In Casino Royale, there was a concern about how Bond became a person whose name would mean something to anyone when he utters it; in this film, we saw many elements of his "later" persona shape up, however, I guess the third Craig film should be the one with the olden signature elements back in action, because 3 films in a row without the Bond Theme in key action scenes, Q Branch, or other Bond elements would mean a new generation of teens may grow up without knowing why Bond is that important, and I believe, I hope rather, the producers don't aim at that...