Quantam of Solace

I don't know what movie reviewers base their reviews on, but they were very off base when it came to 'Quantam of Solace.' In the Bond Canon, it was certainly in the upper echelon- nowhere near the excremental glory of 'Moonraker' (the low point against which all Bond movies, in my opinion, should be judged.) However, I think I figured out what threw everyone off:

It's a sequel. The first in Bond history, for it follows more or less directly along from the events of 'Casino Royale.' This, I think throws people- because 'Quantam of Solace' starts with a bang and for a good first quarter of the movie, acts like it's a movie with no time to waste! And why should it? There's an assumption made that we, the viewer already kind of know what's going on- and why should the movie-makers assume anything else? I certainly had seen 'Casino Royale' and I certainly knew what was up. By the time Bond reaches a pivotal set-piece action scene in an Austrian Opera House, set to a weirdly, gloriously strange staging of Puccini's Tosca, the movie really begins to sing- especially when you realize what exactly is going on at the Opera House in question- (and no, they're not watching Opera.)

Once going, 'Quantam of Solace' proved itself to be an eminently worthy sequel to 'Casino Royale'- I've seen reviewers object to Daniel Craig's supposed 'lack of personality' for the character, but I think again, we're used to debonair wit with our Bonds, while Craig, having 'rebooted' the franchise is still piecing the character together, moving it towards that veneer of debonair wit hiding a quietly brutal spy that we've become so familiar with. Reviewers object to the fact that 'Bond just drinks randomly and doesn't care how his drinks are mixed.' (Again, watch a MOVIE! Bond knows exactly what he's drinking- and why he's drinking so much of them.) By putting 'Quantam of Solace' in its context as a sequel to 'Casino Royale', everything makes perfect sense.

Where once again, Bond fails me is with the horrifically bad female characters. This was the only major disappointment about 'Quantam of Solace' to me- after Eva Green's stunning portrayal of Vesper Lynd in 'Casino Royale' (one of the best Bond Ladies EVER!) It was a disappointment to see Gemma Atherton and Olga Kurylenko be given such dregs of exposition to work with. Atherton storms into the movie wearing high boots and a coat more often associated with dirty old male flashers in a park somewhere and, despite constructing a nicely clipped 'librarian'/nerd girl persona with what little she's got to work with is essentially reduced to being Bond's 'pussy' for the movie. Which is idiotic. As Bond Girl performances go, it would have been nice to see Atherton given some room to run- but since she wasn't, it was just a mess. Not a Denise Richards as 'Christmas Jones' type of a mess, but a mess none the less.

I have less objections to Kurylenko- she was no Michelle Yeoh (another excellent Bond Girl, who inexplicably sleeps with Bond at the end of 'Tomorrow Never Dies')- but she held her own, had her own story and motivations and actually manages not to have sex with James Bond.

But all in all, don't believe the reviewers! Quantam of Solace is worth going to, worth watching and an all round excellent movie. A worthy addition to the Bond franchise.