Review of Quantum of Solace (2008) by Brett H — 07 Mar 2016

Quantum of SUCK-ASS is the immediate follow-up to the stellar, Casino Royale that had the unfortunate baggage of being made during the 2007-2008 Hollywood Writers strike and it shows in every frame of this film.

This Bond film is a fast-paced, incoherently edited, revenge flick with James still grieving the death of Vesper and going after the mysterious organization, Quantum (because they didn't have the rights to SPECTRE yet) and it's simply put; a mess.

Daniel Craig returns and does his thing as Bond, doing much of his own stunts and injuring himself during filming, but the action looks so fake it's hard to give him credit. The new Bond girl played by Olga Kurylenko is extremely bland and forgettable and the villain is one of the all-time worst; he's basically a pencil pusher and poses zero threat to Bond most of the film.

The story is a complete joke; Bond goes rogue to stop an oil tycoon from harvesting a desert's water supply and has to fend for himself when MI6 cuts him off for his actions, thus we get a 007 film with no gadgets and no sweet car during any of the action scenes.

Running a measly 100 minutes, this is the shortest bond film to date and it feels more like Casino Royale 1.5 as opposed to a complete film. There are a few positives, the acting is good across the board, the locales are shot beautifully, and there's occasionally Bourne-inspired editing in the fight scenes to make the hits more intense, but it's not enough to save one of the weakest entries in the Bond canon, and a nearly unwatchable film.