Channel4
When Casino Royale closed with a vengeful Daniel Craig looming over a man connected to the death of Bond's girlfriend, it instantly became the greatest of 007 finales - a brilliant climax to a movie which reinvented the Bond franchise by subverting most of its sacred laws. But could the series keep it up? It's the precedent set by Casino Royale that gives Quantum Of Solace its biggest problems. It can't go back to the comforting style of the older films, but if it distances itself from them much further, it will stop being recognisably Bond at all. This results in an unsatisfying compromise; a thriller that feels embarrassed to be a Bond movie instead of revelling in glamour and action.
Indielondon
FROM its breathtaking opening car chase along the winding roads of the Italian lakes, through its breathless rooftop chase in Siena, right down to its speed boat mash-up on the invitingly blue crystal-clear waters of Haiti, Quantum of Solace quickly establishes itself as an action movie of high pedigree. And that’s just the first 30 minutes! But while Bond proves himself perfectly capable of existing (and mixing it) in a Jason Bourne world, this 22nd 007 adventure then fails to make the most of its ample opportunity. Rather than achieving a fine blend of high-concept thrills and intelligent emotion, Quantum seems content merely to continue blowing stuff up.