Movie Night: Quantum of Solace.

Review #384: Quantum of Solace.

Cast
Daniel Craig (James Bond), Olga Kurylenko (Camille Montes), Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), Judi Dench (M), Gemma Arterton (Strawberry Fields), Giancarlo Giannini (René Mathis), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter), Anatole Taubman (Elvis), David Harbour (Gregg Beam), Joaquín Cosío (General Medrano), Fernando Guillén Cuervo (Carlos), Jesper Christensen (Mr. White), Rory Kinnear (Bill Tanner), and Paul Ritter (Guy Haines) Directed by Marc Forster.

Review
I liked Casino Royale (#285), I liked how it could be gritty but have excitement and a fairly decent love story reminiscent of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Daniel Craig was good and I wondered if the sequel would be better. And...it's like this. If Casino Royale was like OHMSS (#279), than Quantum of Solace is like Diamonds Are Forever in the sense both are only terribly okay. The sad thing this tries to continue from the last film, but even when it does try it manages to be disjointed and feeling rushed as well. Craig is alright, but his supporting cast isn't much help. Kurylenko is an okay lead actress, but the main flaw is the two (Craig and Kurylenko) have no chemistry together. I get it, Bond is meant to be scarred from the last film, but does that mean the film gets dull for it? Even the idea of Bond going rouge has been used before with Licence to Kill, and this doesn't have the excitement of it. Even the villain isn't that memorable. Admittedly, Bond villains can either be memorable for being evil enough or for some deformity (Dr. No, Largo) of such. Greene is neither. He doesn't have much threat or even a plan that makes sense. Come to think of it, Quantum is not really any better than SPECTRE because at least SPECTRE didn't have easy to spy on meetings. Quantum of Solace is an odd title that barely has any meaning, and the only things I liked were Giannini and Judi Dench. Sadly, Jeffrey Wright is given not much screen time to do anything to better his performance from the last film. The action is okay, but sometimes I wonder if you could make a drinking game on the many, many cuts in the action scenes. The film seems rushed at times and aside from boasting many locations in filming, it only barely manages to capture any spirit of Casino Royale, and that's sad.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Casino Royale.

Review #285: Casino Royale.

Cast
Daniel Craig (James Bond), Eva Green (Vesper Lynd), Mads Mikkelsen (Le Chiffre), Judi Dench (M), Giancarlo Giannini (René Mathis), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter), Simon Abkarian (Alex Dimitrios), Caterina Murino (Solange Dimitrios), Ivana Miličević (Valenka) Isaach de Bankolé (Steven Obanno), and Jesper Christensen (Mr. White) Directed by Martin Campbell (#173 - Goldeneye and #220 - Green Lantern)

Review
After Die Another Day (Also known as Buy Another Day or as I like to call it, Ice Another Day) had a mediocre way for Brosnan to end his run as Bond, their would be a new actor and a new approach but with two familiar faces: Martin Campbell, the director of the Bond film that kept the series going even into the 90's (Even if he directed Green Lantern) and Judi Dench back as M. So how is it? Really good. To begin with, Daniel Craig does an impressive job as Bond, reminding me of Timothy Dalton with a bit of Connery mixed in to make a entirely new-ish, yet familiar-ish Bond. This is based off the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which was the first in the series (Yet it wasn't the first made, Dr. No was, which was the 6th written back in 1958.) The story and action is good, a definite improvement from the last film. The supporting cast is excellent, including Dench. The first sign of a new yet better Bond film is the opening sequence. And if you wanted me to compare (compare being a loose word here) this Casino Royale to the Casino Royale (#224) from 1967...The 2006 one wins. Now it's nice to know I've now reviewed a Bond film from 5 of the 6 actors. This is a really good film that might one of the best Bond films.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.