Quantum of Solace

This 007 had everything going for it: Daniel Craig, who wowed audiences and critics alike in his first outing as Bond, not a mean feat considering how long the hunt was for the new MI6 agent; Judi Dench in a meatier role as M; Paul Haggis Crash, In the Valley of Elah as writer; and Marc Foster as director.

CAST: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Aterton; DIRECTOR: Marc Foster

This 007 had everything going for it: Daniel Craig, who wowed audiences and critics alike in his first outing as Bond, not a mean feat considering how long the hunt was for the new MI6 agent; Judi Dench in a meatier role as M; Paul Haggis Crash, In the Valley of Elah as writer; and Marc Foster Monster8217;s Ball, Finding Neverland as director.

However, Quantum of Solace ain8217;t no Casino Royale. That film gave us a Bond we had never seen before: a bruised and confused 007, as capable of getting hurt as hurting. He found and lost love in the film, going through a betrayal in the middle.

Though Quantum of Solace picks up from there, with a Bond determined to avenge that love, against unknown forces who killed her, it eventually turns out to be just an excuse to hang two hours of uninterrupted8212; interchangeable with convoluted8212; action and some great actors on including the two Bond women, with not a decent cocktail dress between them.

The plot, moving from Rome to London to Haiti to Austria to Bolivia, back to Italy, then to Russia, is so complicated that you better give up pretending you care. Greedy dictators, compromised governments and oil politics are thrown about.

It doesn8217;t help that the villain apparently running circles around half the world8217;s governments is an effete pretender Almeric who probably won8217;t be able to convince a classroom of kids of his eco-friendly intentions. To dress him up in Hawaiian shirts and a languorous gait is an insult to our intelligence.

Craig looks great and, once in a while, still uses those piercing blue eyes to good effect. But he has none of the spark, wit or wisdom to transcend him above the other

J B 8212; Jason Bourne.

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As boats crash into ships, planes collide into mountains and entire hotels go up in blasts, we are left looking for precisely the same thing as Bond apparently is: some quantum of solace. None of us is getting it, at least in this film.

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