Underwhelming

Rating: 5/10 (4 December 2008)

Let me briefly preface this review: besides a fleeting amusement that most American males my age had in 1997 (I was twelve at the time) for the Bond series thanks to a sensational Nintendo 64 game called GoldenEye 007, I've never really been that interested in old Bond, James Bond. Spy novels have never captivated me and the movies all seemed a little too kitsch. I've watched a few, and I usually get what I expect: some nice cars, some one-liners, good-looking girls, maybe some sneaking, and, of course, explosions. I might as well be watching The Italian Job or The Mummy series or any other depthless action film.
But apparently the guys behind Bond realized this and that's why this film's predecessor, Casino Royale, was "reboot" of the film series, casting away the past and being reborn with a teeth-clenched Daniel Craig. They lost the one-liners, the gadgets, the bimbos, slowed down the pace, examined the emotional depth behind James Bond, and made an exceptional film. Casino Royale is easily one of top 10 favorite movies. The bar was set and the "new" Bond movies were sure to just as outstanding. Unfortunately, this review is not about Casino Royale, it's about Quantum of Solace, and the bar was set too high. So, without further ado:
How underwhelming this film was. After such a great restart of the series, they decided to go back to making sub-par Bond movies again. Granted, it wasn't exactly the old Bond again They were still missing the gadgets and the "shaken, not stirred", but they put back in all the ridiculousness, over-the-topness, bimbos, and mindless henchmen. Then they decided they wanted to be more like the other recently successful spy movie series, and shook the camera like their lives depended on it à la The Bourne Ultimatum. Personally, I like that type of documentary-style camera work that Saving Private Ryan made so popular, but this was excessive.
To highlight the absurdity of this film, in Quantum of Solace there is a scene depicting a dogfight between a World War II-era C-47 and a modern fighter, culminating in Bond and his forgettable girl ditching the plane (after successfully out-maneuvering the fighter) and pulling their 'chute at the last second before hitting the ground with bone-shattering force. While some might argue that it was a necessary scene because it revealed to the audience the bad guys' dastardly plot, what this scene really does is capture the essence of this installment of the Bond franchise: pointless and over the top. It wasn't even exciting, it was just unbelievable, and enough so to make me unsuspend disbelief and stop enjoying the movie experience.
This film just didn't have anything to it, besides bad writing and bad directing. Everything that made Casino Royale great, besides Daniel Craig, simply wasn't in this film. Avoid this film unless you're a die-hard Bond fan, in which case you're used to this kind of nonsense.