Daily Plastic: Quantum of Solace

Movie	Our Take	Other Takes
Quantum of Solace Trailer . IMDB	Quantum of Solace is a slog. It's not Daniel Craig's fault nor Mathieu Amalric's, one of the more intriguing Bond villains. But a handful of overwrought action sequences served up like minced celluloid can't fly this damp canvas of a plot. Robert Davis Daily Plastic	Don't ever let this happen again to James Bond. Quantum of Solace is his 22nd film and he will survive it, but for the 23rd it is necessary to go back to the drawing board and redesign from the ground up. Please understand: James Bond is not an action hero! Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times [I]f Casino Royale marked a return to greatness for the Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace represents a return to adequacy. James Rocchi Cinematical But whereas Royale took Bond seriously, Solace perhaps takes Bond too seriously.... With the way the movie refuses to give its hero even a moment of comfort or relief (also known as — that's right! — solace), it's almost like Forster is punishing Bond (and maybe audiences who enjoy Bond films) for all those years of frivolous spy work. Craig D. Lindsey News & Observer Interestingly enough the 2nd unit director (who is Dan Bradley who did the Bourne movies) if anything, is the auteur of this film.... [Marc Forster] can't bring together the character and the action so what the film keeps doing is flipping back into explosive action because it can't do anything else. Mark Kermode BBC 5 Live Most fans don't go quite this far: Forget all the lukewarm reviews you've already read and the British press' collective whining over the fact that this Bond's got too much action, because Quantum of Solace is the finest installment in the storied franchise's 22-film history.... In fact, it's the perfect Bond film. James Jung Premiere A string of great observations: How fascinating is it that 2008’s two most inconsolable, borderline psychotic movie heroes are Batman and James Bond? Sean Burns Philadelphia Weekly + Jeffrey Wright returns as CIA sidekick Felix Leiter, but it’s also a canny reprisal of his Colin Powell performance in Oliver Stone’s W., choking back bile at U.S. policies he can barely stomach. Sean Burns Philadelphia Weekly + Quantum doesn’t always feel very much like a Bond picture, sacrificing the series’ typical alpha-male fantasies for something a bit grittier and more unhinged. (One vicious homage to Goldfinger aside, most of the allusions are to Mike Hodges’ nasty 1971 noir, Get Carter.) Sean Burns Philadelphia Weekly + Casino Royale (2006) is widely credited with bringing the Bond franchise back to basics, which is only partially true. Directed by Martin Campbell, the film slyly offered all the conventional pleasures of a James Bond adventure — exotic locations, hot babes, high fashion, luxury toys and outrageous action — but with an emphasis on emotion and character development... Quantum of Solace is more ambitious and less successful Sean Burns Philadelphia Weekly