Like flat champagne.

Rating: 1/10 (17 November 2008)

I'm a longtime fan of Bond but QOS has got to be one of the limpest Bond films ever. I'm a fan of the original Bond format. But I always try to be open minded about the new flicks. I understood they wanted a new grittier format and I went along with that. I really like Daniel Craig as Bond and the characterization of Bond as a spy that isn't indestructible and is driven by complex motives is an interesting move. I liked Casino Royale(the first half anyway, the ending put me to sleep) and thought that QOS would be a big improvement because all the introductions were out of the way and the new franchise could really take off. But QOS didn't have nearly as much action as I thought it would. You figured that they would really open up the throttle on the action but the action sequences didn't blow my mind at all(during one of the sequences I actually fell asleep). I liked the introduction of a new shadowy organization, Quantum, but it was sort of just gleaned upon rather than featured. As a revenge flick it scored even lower for me. After all the set up, Bond's final revenge was weak sauce. There was no catharsis. My other gripe (as with CR) is that Sony's choice to product place the heck out of the film was just tacky. I get that Sony produced it, but still it was just overkill. And all the little "required" nods to the old Bond format were just lame and annoying. I say if you're really going to bring a franchise into a new direction, leave all the old stuff behind and just do the new stuff. I'll always be a fan of the older stuff even though they were a parody of themselves because most of the time they were just more fun to watch. But I do hope the next movie is better.