Not as good as Casino Royale. Should have been a lot better.

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2008)

The latest James Bond film is essentially attempting to mimic a Jason Bourne film in this sequel to the excellent and exciting Casino Royale which was created with the intention of rebooting the franchise. The Bond movie producers seem to have acknowledged the stunning success of the Bourne spy franchise. The makers of the latest James Bond film are evidently trying to capitalize by crafting Quantum of Solace to look and act kind of like a Bourne film. Some aspects of the Bourne films have been copied and imitated to a certain degree.
Action definitely takes precedence and priory over plot made obvious by the thin story. One of the problems with Quantum of Solace is that it focuses too little on plot, paying more attention to action that's very much in the vein of the Bourne films, brutal and intense. There's a lot of super-fast cutting, frenetic editing, dizzying motion camera shots that could give someone motion sickness and quick paced disorienting action sequences. All similar traits lifted from the direction of the Bourne films. It's very hard sometimes to keep up with what's transpiring during the fight and chase scenes because everything is happening rapidly at lightning speed. The movie doesn't give the audience a lot of time to follow what's going on. Quantum of Solace picks up shortly after where Casino Royale left off.
Most Bond cliché's from previous films are done away with. No Q, Moneypenny, gadgets etc. The movie seemed kind of shallow and lacked depth. Sort of a minor Bond outing that's mindlessly fun to watch, but pretty much forgettable and doesn't really stand out. Daniel Craig as a brooding, vengeful and conflicted is very good. He made an alright Bond film better. I like his portrayal of Bond even though I wouldn't call it as much of a revelatory take on the character, unlike in Casino Royale.
The plot isn't as important or integral to watching the movie this time around. It has to do with the same SPECTRE-like shady international criminal organization introduced in Casino Royale attempting to take control of a certain natural resource from Bolivia through manipulation and deception.
Emotionally affecting and poignant moments that helped build Daniel Craig's James Bond and other individual characters in Casino Royale are almost non-existent. The movie is all about impressing and wowing the audience with elaborate action scenes (There's one in progress as soon as the movie opens), bond girls, homages to past bond films and dry Bond one liners.
Even though I did like Quantum of Solace, finding it to be enjoyable in a mindless sort of way, for the most part I thought it was nowhere near as great, entertaining or memorable as Casino Royale.