Reviews by Matt

I can remember when I went to see “Casino Royale.” It was a 10 p.m. showing right before Thanksgiving break. I had no expectations for this movie. I had not really liked the last few Bond films and did not think this would do anything to help. I did not think Daniel Craig was cut out to be James Bond. He was never struck me as a guy who could pull it off. I was wrong. I loved it and not only was it one of my favorite Bond movies; it became one of my favorite movies. That brings me to “Quantum of Solace.”

As hard as it is to usually write a coherent plot synopsis, this is going to be damn near impossible. I have no real idea what happened, but I will so my best. After the death of Vesper, Bond (Daniel Craig) is out for revenge. He is willing to fight whoever he has to in order to get to the people responsible. Lot of action, other characters are introduced, some other stuff happens and it leads to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Greene is a humanitarian (or so it seems) who has found a natural resource and wants to control it.

That is what it boils down to.

I knew this was not going to be as good as “Casino Royale.” That being said, this was, at best, a decent movie. I enjoyed the action and the elements of the story I could understand, but that was about it.

Craig was good as Bond. That was never in doubt. He continues to give Bond a Jason Borne-inspired grittiness. He is as likely to use his fists as his mind to get out of trouble.

The Bond girls were underused, which was the case in the majority of the other Bond movies. Vesper was a great Bond girl, she had a purpose for being there and has substance. Sadly in this movie they are nothing more than eye candy.

Bond girls I can understand, but when you have an actor the caliber or Jeffrey Wright. He returned as CIA agent Felix Leiter.
Wright is a great actor and he had nothing to do in this movie. I cannot even really tell you why the CIA has a part in this movie (not for fear of spoiling the movie, but because I really don’t remember). I do think he will have a larger part in the next movie because of the events that end the movie.

I wish that this had lived up to the hype of its predecessor, but it falls far short. The plot is hard to follow and it wastes a lot of potential. There will be at least two more with Craig and hopefully they can redeem this less-than-stellar second outing.

I just have to vent one more thing-the song for this movie was the absolute worst I have ever heard. It was really hard to sit through the opening credits, which are usually interesting to watch. And can someone watch the movie and explain to me what the title means?

6 out of 10
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins