Near loser.

Rating: 3/10 (21 November 2008)

Daniel Craig was a poor choice for the next Bond. James Bond will always be Sean Connery (and vice versa). Subsequent replacements were mere shadows, but nearly all had style, class, and savoir faire. Craig is just a gritty street fighter. I don't recall a single smile or lighter moment in Quantum of Solace. The gadgets are missed (they were all fun). The clever quips are missing. Bond's and the villain's clever dialogue. E.g., Bond is strapped to a table, legs wide apart, with a laser beam coming up toward vital organs. Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?" "No", replies Goldfinger, "I expect you to die, Mr. Bond." The introduction looking through a gun barrel was discarded. It was a very bad idea not to include a sequence from "Casino Royale" with the death of Bond's love, Vesper Lynd. No one in the audience remembered this loss or why he may have been seeking vengeance.
And, finally (a spoiler). The hotel is engulfed in flames. The villain, Vesper Lynd's killer, is hanging onto a balcony with his fingertips. Bond pulls him up (seemingly by the hair), saving him from falling into the fiery pit.
In the next scene, Bond releases the killer in the middle of the desert, saying his people (the villain's) will catch him and do him in, and then tosses him a can as he drives off. What was in the can? Beer? Pepsi Cola? We learn as the movie concludes, the villains body was found, an autopsy performed and his stomach contained motor oil!? Yeah, sure, parched and burning from the sun in the middle of the desert, he will (somehow having found a can opener), drink the motor oil in desperation to relieve his thirst. About as stupid a bit of screen writing as ever seen. If he was going to knock him off, why didn't Bond just drop the villain into the roaring fire with a clever bit of repartee??? No, he just pulls him up, and sets him off in the desert for a slow (but uncertain) roasting, telling him his wicked confreres (the villain's) will find him and punch his ticket.
We go to see every Bond movie (and have seen them all) because they are hugely entertaining, exciting, and enormously amusing. All in all, just plain fun. Quantum of Solace was just grim, and lacking in all of the above. Some of the stunts were good, but stunts alone do not a story make. And finally, what makes a great movie is a great story. This one is a complete miss. We walked out of the movie sorely disappointed.
Oh, yes. Other reviewers have also complained, but I must add that the intentionally choppy camera work (a la the Bourne movies) demands a huge cry of outrage from viewers. What are they thinking??? Is this supposed to add to the excitement of the action? It does NOT. This is just some demented filmwork that film-makers think makes them artistic. It just makes them damn fools, and if we put up with it, add us to the list. Not a single one of the Sean Connery films required extra "juice" to add excitement. The story, the action, the stunts, all were outstanding and plenty exciting. When these nitwits get the idea that a good movie does not need silliness, they might just possibly return to making good movies. QOS should be condemned to the dust heap.