Good but not great

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2008)

I was originally against the appointment of Daniel Craig as 007, but I saw Casino Royale and was happy to admit I was very wrong. He was excellent in that movie, and he is also excellent in Quantum of Solace. In fact, it is Daniel Craig's sterling performance which saves this movie from the realm of mediocrity.
They said they were taking Bond back to basics with Casino Royale, well QoS is almost unrecognisable as a Bond film. We join the movie shortly after the end of CR (no opening gun barrel sequence) with Bond in his Aston, mid chase, with Mr White in the boot. The camera is in full Bourne Identity mode - that is to say it's shakier than recovering alcoholic sat on a washing machine. It's almost unbearably distracting, and that style is present for at least the first 2-3 action set pieces. The pre-credits action should be exciting and make you cheer for Bond, but it does none of that. As the credits started to the opening notes of Another Way To Die, I was left wondering whether this had stolen the crown of "Worst Pre-Credits Scene of the Series" from Live And Let Die.
The Jason Bourne style aside, other problems arose in the guise of the awful villain, so un-imposing he makes Gustav Graves look like Red Grant. You never feel as if he is any threat to Bond and since any action film is only as good as its villain, this is a big issue.
The usually brilliant David Arnold's musical score was also very uninspiring and marks the first time since Eric Serra's tragic GoldenEye score where I have not found a single memorable action cue in the movie. It all felt very bland and there was still not enough usage of the Bond theme. Heaven only knows which fool decided it would be a good idea to insert the Gunbarrel sequence (rolling white dots across the screen, Bond walks on and fires at the camera lens) at the END of the movie. They can argue that this film was a continuation all they want, but this belongs at the start of the film. Also, to my ears it seemed to be the same musical cue of the James Bond Theme used here as was used over the end credits of Casino Royale - were the orchestra demanding overtime or something?! Bad points out of the way, it wasn't all bad and Daniel Craig did rescue the movie, ably assisted by the wonderful Judi Dench and the welcome (if brief) return of Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis. Craig proves once again he was the right choice for Bond and he has a very strong, determined presence, both in the acting and action stakes. The action set pieces did get better as the movie progressed and the one with Bond and Camille flying a plane in particular was well done.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. There was a lot to like - Olga Olga Kurylenko as Camille for one! I would recommend seeing it but be prepared for something of a less "Bond-esque" nature than we've become used to. I lay the blame for this firmly at the doors of the director Marc Forster and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson - things worked fine with Martin Campbell as director in the last one so I think Forster was a poor choice. He just doesn't seem to "get" what a Bond movie is all about.