I'm surprised to say that I enjoyed Quantum of Solace

Rating: 7/10 (3 November 2008)

The impression I had from some pre-release writeups of QoS and when it appeared from some of the newspaper reviews was Craig wanted Bond to become the brutal, violent killer of Quantum of Solace. Perhaps that isn't true - has he ever said? Whose idea was it to bin all the Bond characteristics? I surprised myself by liking Craig a lot in The Golden Compass - I thought he'd be a disaster as Asriel, although the part so far has been very short so we shall see how it turns out later. If he'd acted Bond in CR in the same way, suave and handsome and sophisticated (yes, in GC he was suave and handsome and sophisticated which proves he can be but the Bond setup seems to want him looking as ugly/unattractive as it can manage), CR would have been a better movie in spite of the messy plot and interminable product placement and some extremely silly sequences.
Having loathed CR when I first saw it, I only recently bought a very cheap 2nd hand copy of the 2-disk DVD - it seemed a shame to pass up the chance of keeping the collection going. Watching it this second time, I enjoyed it. Not quite as much as most other Bond movies, but more than Diamonds are Forever and Never Say Never Again which I like least of the Bonds. Having to accept Craig won't go away, Bond isn't acted by a superstar with exciting style, grace and terrific charisma (which I consider all the earlier Bond actors have including Lazenby) I now feel Craig did do some good acting, wasn't as wooden as I remember him from the first viewing though he still looks a bit uneasy in the part at times. I still thought Vesper completely insipid and her delight in Bond's little finger positively sick-inducing. The collapsing building collapsed far quicker than I remembered from the first viewing when I thought it interminable. I never objected to the villain anyway. The defibrillator stuff was still silly. The mobiles and laptops weren't too effective. The Aston Martin shouldn't have been wrecked so quickly, it was totally wasted. The casino scenes with the totally wrong, very inferior game were still annoying. The Omega watch thing was still utterly pathetic . But on the whole, Craig was far better than I remembered and the movie was much better than I remembered, and I will happily watch it again.
Nonetheless, I was uneasy about QoS after the very varying and not all that good reviews I'd read. My favourite newspaper, which hadn't been quite sure about CR when others adored it, panned QoS. But I was pleasantly surprised! Indeed there is no sign of humour in this Bond movie - but as it happens it doesn't seem to need it. It isn't a Bourne clone, it's a real Bond movie, and the style I felt was quite a bit lacking in CR has returned.
The much-quoted Bourne influence is probably involved in the camera work - but I liked the camera work for Bourne and unlike various others I didn't have any problem as a rule with the frenetic camera work of QoS. Now and again the camera did move just a fraction too fast, it could induce giddiness I suspect in some viewers, but beyond that I think it enhanced what might otherwise have been run of the mill fight or chase scenes, gave them a big adrenalin rush. So I commend the Director and Camera people for this.
I loved the first chase scene in particular - extremely exciting. I was just a bit disappointed by the titles though they were better than CR. The music was OK, nothing special but far better than DAD and CR.
I thought Bond chasing Vesper's killers might become trite, but it's handled well. Craig has at last grown into the part of Bond which I felt he hadn't achieved too well in CR. Bond has changed dramatically from the guy we used to know - but after QoS I think it possible Craig could, with some "serious training", eg by his boss and her staff, start to approach the sophistication of Connery's Bond. One has to remember that Connery reportedly came to the part as a rather rough diamond and was trained by the director in all the Bond classy refinements and my didn't he project all that amazingly well so it wouldn't be out of character for this rough diamond Bond to learn as Connery did. I think after seeing QoS that Craig is at last comfortable enough in the part to be able to bring Bond up to some sophistication and after all he is supposed to be Youngish Bond still so there's time. The question though is whether he and the studio want Bond to morph into Connery or if they want to continue with Young Rough-edged, touchy, aggressive Bond. I guess Craig's next Bond movie will show us what's intended. He'll be free of the Vesper baggage, available for proper sexy stuff again, let's see if he can do it and assess a decent cocktail, discover a sense of humour, seduce the girls with the cool efficiency of the earlier Bond, drop the emotional stuff a bit, forget about mediocre Vesper......