Quantum Of Solace

Went last night to see the new 007 movie, and i have to say it does not disappoint. Like most people, I was hesitant when they cast Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. He was a relatively unknown actor, blond hair blue eyes, not at all how we expect Bond to look. But over the years, I came to realize that you cannot truly judge how an actor will play a part until you see them do it. With the release of "Casino Royale" all my fears were put to rest. Craig is easily the best Bond since the great Sean Connery. I have personally liked every actor who has played Bond, I feel they all gave their own touch to the character, all of them played it a bit differently than the others did. "Die Another Day" was a good Bond film, but the cheese factor was really getting amped up, invisible cars, chases through ice hotels, it was just getting too over the top, even for 007. "Casino Royale" took Bond and started over again, it was his first mission as a full fledged agent, and we were able to see his flaws, he was not the smooth talking debonair ladies man we all came to know, but a blunt instrument, almost a loose cannon.

Well, that continues in "Quantum Of Solace", which picks up shortly after the end of "Casino Royale". The film opens with a balls to the wall car chase, a great pre-credit opening. You can tell that 007 is out for revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, the woman he fell in love with in the last film. Even though she betrayed him, he clearly loved the woman, and wants to know why everything went the way it did. He tries to convince his superiors that he is motivated by his sense of duty, but we know better. Some people complained that the last film contained none of the humor that was always present in past films. Well, not much changes here, although there are quite a few good funny moments, definitely more than last time. The action in this movie is frantic, and edited in that way. That has been one of the complaints I have heard about this movie. I will admit that it is a bit crazy at times, yet I found myself not caring, the action was so good that it didn't really bother me as much as I thought it would. The opening car chase, a boat chase and a plane chase are all great action sequences. The villain, Dominic Greene, is not exactly your typical Bond bad guy, he is effective though, although I would have liked him to be a bit more menacing, but for what he was in this movie, he was effective. It was also nice to see Jeffery Wright back as Felix Leiter, although I wanted to see him a bit more involved, hopefully the next movie will do that. The climax of the film is great and leaves things wide open to continue with the mystery of what the Quantum organization is.

There is no Q, no Moneypenny, no gadgets, and I don't know if there are any immediate plans to bring them into this new Bond series, but you know what? That's fine, this is a new version of 007 and so far what we have been given has been awesome. If they do decide to bring back some of the traditional characters and the gadgets, I am confident that they will do so with the same grit that they have used in the two films we have been given. This is a new 007, it is not the 007 that our parents knew, or even one we know, but it is a great interpretation of the character, and truer to what author Ian Fleming had wanted the character to be, and I for one, welcome the continued adventures of Bond, James Bond.