Quantum of Solace

Bond’s vendetta was a success. From the opening credits to the closing credits, the lightning-fast film races like a doped-up athlete, and it doesn't care if you can keep up with it and follow it or not. The best scenes, like in Casino Royale, come right at the beginning (the car chase and running on the rooftops), but "boring" is the last word that comes to mind in connection with the rest of Quantum of Solace. The finale is great, as is the airplane scene. Craig has confirmed that he is the best actor that could be acquired for the role of the modern 007. I hope he has many more Bond films to come. (02/27/2010)

In Daniel Craig's Bond, has become fashionable for film fans to criticize the loss of style and almost all the ingredients that made Bond Bond. I have never been a fan of the Bond legend or a die-hard action movie fan, so the loss of some typical elements for this film doesn't seem painful to me. What I do miss is a greater lightheartedness, the typical self-ironic lines, and light-hearted jokes. The pace is brisk and the style corresponds to what viewers could see in the previous 21 Bond films. Director Marc Forster does not offend me with his style, and I appreciate his direction much more than some more famous films in the series. The excessive action prowess doesn't sit well with me either, as the hero can take care of dozens of enemies without blinking an eye, without even getting out of breath, and also the fact that the villains, such as Mathieu Amalric's portrayed character, have such a short lifespan. But that's how the Bond fairy tales go. Overall impression: 60%. (11/06/2008)

007's character was never one I had to have on a poster above my bed, and he could name the proportions of all the women who had slept with him. Still, I have always appreciated how "trendy" he can be, not only in terms of dressing but also in filmmaking. The present is ruled by the brawlers on speed who solve problems with the elegance of a bulldozer, and this is exactly the category that James Bond had to conquer. He did it perfectly. We can argue about how much the plot would stand on its own without the previous poker kick-off, but Marc Forster goes much further. The hackneyed blockbuster rules are shattered, the characters behave erratically, and even the hero straddles the line where good meets evil so closely that it's hard to discern which one of them has the upper hand in his actions. Craig is brilliant, handling the torn emotions and the cold fights without blinking an eye, Amalric's villain oozes respect, and Olga is an elegant addition who fills her role to perfection. Forster's work is obviously not to everyone’s taste, but when I read criticisms about art, I shake my head in disbelief and boldly put Quantum of Solace on my personal list of top films. (11/11/2008)

To tell the truth, I found it hard to decide how to review this movie because of the fragmentized beginning (a great mistake from Forster) and pathetic opening credits, but in the end the pluses outweighed the minuses (I didn’t mind that Bond didn’t drink Martini ;-). We start where we finished. Without any explanation at all, we are plunged into the action (a bit Miami Vice-style) and the beginning is then a march-past of incredible action scenes, not as flawless as in Casino Royale, but first-rate action all the same. Both Bond girls were also great, and personally I liked Gemma Arterton more than Olga Kurylenko, even though she was given less room to perform. And the powerhouse and also best-working component of the movie is the flawless Daniel Craig thanks to whom everything is as it should be. (11/29/2008)

What is apparent from its screenplay and its exposition of 007 is that this 22nd Bond movie was supposed to be a revenge-driven, ferocious and almost furious culmination of Casino Royale. And the producers entrusted it to the artsy director who amputated all of Casino Royale’s powerful limbs and arranged flowers in their place. All the great action, the Bond car and all the stylish opening credits and interesting locations are absent and the bad guys look like they stepped out of a Pasolini movie. The only thing that makes Quantum of Solace a Bond movie, what keeps it kicking and earns it a third star in my rating, is the still great Daniel Craig (Olga Kurylenko is nice, but she’s still just a female background character in Bond’s world). This is the first Bond movie after a very long time that didn’t make me feel that heroic excitement I used to feel after watching action movies as a little boy. (11/03/2008)