Quantum of Solace is a riveting sequel with tons of action, but its not as good as Daniel Craig’s first James Bond movie Casino Royale in 2006

Quantum of Solace

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content) (1 hr, 46 min)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, Jesper Christensen

Director: Marc Forster

"Quantum Of Solace" good, but not as good as "Casino Royale"

Genre: Action/Adventure

The Plot: Seeking revenge for the death of his love, secret agent James Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country’s water supply.

MY TAKE (minor spoilers): As you’d expect from the opening sequence of a Bond movie, Quantum takes little time to get going, jumping right into a vicious car chase through Italy.  As previously reported, this is a direct sequel, as the story picks up about an hour from the end of Casino Royale… with Bond racing to his HQ.

Daniel Craig is great again as 007, Judi Dench is awesome as usual as M, Jeffrey Wright and Jesper Christensen were good again in their limited, but important roles as Felix Leiter and Mr. White.   New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is solid as the female agent trying to conduct her own covert operation on new villian Dominic Greene, played convincingly by Mathieu Amalric.

There’s tons of action in this one – but if you didn’t see Casino Royale, you may be surprised at the style and type of action – its a lot more Bourne Identity that your grandfather’s smooth talking shoot and punch Sean Connery of the classic Bond movies.   Craig’s James Bond is fleet of foot, jumps from rooftop to rooftop, dangles from ropes, shoots, punches, and jumps some more.  But as we saw in Casino Royale, this Bond is also more conflicted and a little darker than the just charming and cool Bond’s of the past – this Bond has many layers and troubles that has M in a constant state of concern.

The script and character development were good as you’d expect after Casino Royale, eventhough Quantum has a different director.

Its fun to see the opening scene going through a construction site again as it did in Casino Royale… all of the action scenes were great: a car chase, a boat chase, foot chases, and an airplane dogfight.

BUT…. there are 2 very noticeable issues that set this apart from the last movie:

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