Quantum of Solace

Starring: Daniel Craig as James Bond
Directed by: Marc Foster

The 22nd installment of the James Bond franchise is finally here! And I'm a VERY big fan, so you can only imagine how stoked in anticipation I am for this movie (think teenage girls with "Twilight"! haha!).

The story picks up directly where Casino Royale ended. James Bond, out for revenge, catches Mr. White-- the (secret) main bad guy from Casino Royale. Here, they learned that they are facing a powerful secret terrorist organization (Quantum) that is very influential that "they have people everywhere". This was proven when an agent attempted to kill Bond and his boss, M, inside an MI6 headquarters. After Bond dispatches the turncoat assassin, they find that Mr. White has escaped. With Mr. White gone, Bond starts his mission by piecing clues together to learn more about the secret organization. This leads him to Dominic Greene, a chairman of a Environmental Organization, who happens to be one of the high-ranking members of Quantum. Bond is out for revenge!

Ok, so I understand all the "good, but not great" mixed reviews that the film got. I'll go straight to the point: Quantum of Solace is not as good as Casino Royale. It doesn't take a big fan of the franchise to tell the difference. The problem with QOS is that its ALL non-stop action. It's like 90% action, and 10% everything else.

Pretty much like Kill Bill. Volume 1 told how it all started, then Volume 2 concentrated on all-out action (the Bride's revenge).

But don't get the wrong idea. QOS is not a bad film. The action scenes were spectacular... probably the best I have seen in recent times.

The main draw is still Daniel Craig himself. Still phenomenal as James Bond. This time around, Craig's performance is more physically demanding with all those action scenes. I heard, he even broke his arm and sliced of a finger tip! Craig also showed a gritty portrayal of a man quenching for revenge-- taking everything personal, and being reckless.

In this movie, Craig portrayed Bond as he's torn between his duty as an MI6 agent, and his personal vendetta-- revenge for Vesper Lynd. Bond becomes very reckless, killing everyone in his path, that leads to M losing confidence in him, as he's taking everything personal and might start to be liable to the mission.

Aside from Craig, the other standout is Judi Dench, who always gives a great performance. Now aside from Judi Dench, I'm not really impressed with the other casts. Aside from Mr. White and Bond's informer (both from Casino Royale), the cast in QOS is somewhat ho-hum. Mathieu Almaric as Dominic Greene is just an ok Bond villain at best. Olga Kurylenko as the main Bond girl is somewhat boring... she's not the worst, but she's one of the weakest.

So there you have it. It's still a good movie, but not as great as Casino Royale. To Bond fans, watch out for the homage to Goldfinger! Plus, I somewhat missed the gunbarrel sequence from the start... why the hell did they place it during the end!? ;p Score: 7.5/10