Binge-watching Bond part 22: 'Quantum of Solace'

Daniel Craig and Gemma Arterton in Quantum of Solace

This film plays like a prime example of what not to do in a James Bond film.

The lone misstep of the Daniel Craig era so far, Quantum of Solace was a letdown the first time I saw it back in 2008 and, unfortunately, it hasn't improved with repeated viewings.

I still love Craig in the role and the movie looks great -- but it makes so many mistakes that it's hard for me not to rank it near the bottom of the pack. First off, the title alone is a buzzkill. We're basically asked to spend an hour and 45 minutes watching Bond get over a woman ... who betrayed him.

This isn't Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, an innocent woman who Bond genuinely falls in love with and married. This is Vesper Lynd, a woman who lied to him for the entire duration of their time together. As great as Casino Royale was, no was clamoring for a direct sequel which Quantum of Solace is.

Like Casino Royale, this film packs on the action scenes early and often, but the editing is so choppy and relentless that the chases and fights are hard to follow, and ultimately become numbing. This might be the fault of the unconventional directing choice of Marc Forster, who later did action adeptly with World War Z, but prior to this film his credits were largely dramas like Finding Neverland.

The plot is a snoozer and the villain is a wimp -- an eco-terrorist -- or something like that. Meanwhile, the principle Bond girl, while beautiful, spends most of the movie pouting and she and 007 never really consummate their relationship. A second, more light-hearted heroine is thrown in for good measure, but then gets killed right when she starts to become interesting.

There is next to no humor in the film, which feels less like a 007 movie than almost all of its predecessors. In some ways it recalls License to Kill, the ill-fated Timothy Dalton Bond film. Like that 007 adventure, this film tries to break too much with tradition -- with a bad guy who may actually be in cahoots with the British government and shadowy subplots involving mysterious, unnamed organizations.

Skyfall ended up doing a much better job of creating a relevant, timely plot without sacrificing the timeless qualities we love about Bond. But this film, in an effort to keep pace with the Bourne films, is almost all style with no substance.

When the film ends, almost on a perfunctory note, I felt largely unsatisfied. Still, Craig remains compelling throughout -- and he does enliven several of the action set pieces. I just wish the movie was more fun and better conceived.

My rankings:

1) From Russia With Love
2) The Spy Who Loved Me
3) Goldfinger
4) Casino Royale
5) For Your Eyes Only
6) Live and Let Die
7) Dr. No
8) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9) The Living Daylights
10) GoldenEye
11) Octopussy
12) You Only Live Twice
13) Diamonds Are Forever
14) Thunderball
15) Die Another Day
16) Moonraker
17) The World Is Not Enough
18) The Man with the Golden Gun
19) Quantum of Solace
20) Tomorrow Never Dies
21) A View to a Kill
22) License to Kill

Liz's take: I enjoyed Quantum of Solace because I continue to appreciate Daniel Craig's performance as James Bond, but it was definitely a letdown after Casino Royale. The plot is thin, yet manages to be somewhat preachy and in contrast to Casino Royale, where they take time to develop the story and the characters, this movie frontloads itself with too many action scenes.

The female characters suffer because of this early emphasis on action set pieces. Neither Bond girl gets to establish themselves -- with one who shows glimmers of fun getting killed quickly, albeit in a memorable way.

After I watched the movie the first time I barely remembered it and seeing it a second time did little for me. There were a couple sequences that were well edited -- the opera sequence in particular showed a 007 I like to see, an effective spy, flushing out his enemies. And Judi Dench has some nice sassy moments as M, but I think the movie was riding on the coattails of Casino Royale.

The things that I liked about it were all aspects that Casino Royale did better the first time around.

Liz's rankings:

1) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2) For Your Eyes Only
3) Casino Royale
4) Goldfinger
5) Dr. No
6) Live and Let Die
7) The Man with the Golden Gun
8) The Spy Who Loved Me
9) The World Is Not Enough
10) GoldenEye
11) The Living Daylights
12) Quantum of Solace
13) Octopussy
14) Moonraker
15) A View to a Kill
16) License to Kill
17) Tomorrow Never Dies
18) Die Another Day
19) You Only Live Twice
20) From Russia With Love
21) Diamonds Are Forever
22) Thunderball