CBN memebers are doing new reviews due to the DVD, I guess.
Here are some:
This is the review I posted when the film came out with a few minor revisions. I stand by it:
If Casino Royale was like a new band arriving to invigorate a flagging music scene, Quantum of Solace is like the all important second album which will determine whether the band becomes an ongoing source of excitement, or ultimately will be remembered as a star which shone brightly but briefly (e.g. Second Coming, Liverpool, Morning Glory, DogManStar etc.). Often these albums are critical successes but commercial flops, or critical and commercial disappointments which may be re-evaluated in the future, but ultimately that is of little importance. Every so often you get an album surpasses everyone’s expectations in all departments, and tells you that the artist is around to say. Quantun of Solace is on that level. The Craig era hasn't run out of steam, it's on full steam ahead.
Quantum Of Solace is, quite simply, a delight. From it's short sharp shock of a PTS, to it's vaguely psychedelic opening titles, through it's many twists, turns and exciting stunts, right up to it's almost poetic final shot (minus the gunbarrel), this is the most purely enjoyable Bond movie in years. Not only that, but this is the tightest, most focused and economical Bond movie since... Licence To Kill?... Live and Let Die?... Goldfinger?!? In a long time anyway. I don't know where the complaints of humourlessness are coming from, this is a far more genially natured film than Royale, and a few other Bond films too. After the unprecedented level of acclaim thrown at Casino Royale, EON could have taken the franchise down a self-important, fanboyish route, but instead they gave us something better and all the rarer; a truly exciting and invigorating action movie. There has been little to compare with this film in terms of thrills and entertainment; the Bond series is back on the top where it belongs.
Roger Ebert used to talk of the "Bruised Forearm" movie when reviewing films like Temple of Doom, Lethal Weaponand Die Hard 2; films where you would hold on to the arm of your date tightly during intense action scenes in the hope that everything is going to be alright. QOS is in that tradition. The action is edited with the rhythm of a heartbeat reacting to heavy sulphate abuse, but the amazing thing is it actually works. You don't just watch these action scenes passively, you're right there with Bond. So intense and involving are the action scenes in this film that I was genuinely disoriented when I came out of the cinema. What can I say? I have little time for the modern Bay/Bourne school of shakeycam, but this was some intense action that truly won me over. There is also some variety to the action, with Foster introducing tricks which haven't been seen in the series before, and giving us an opera scene which recalls DePalma at his mischievous best. Who would have thought he had it in him?
Now, QOS probably isn't for everyone. If the "armour" line in Royale was the highlight of the film for you and you really, really wanted more of that stuff, you may be disappointed. It is more action film than drama, frankly, but the film embraces that fact and so do I.
That is not to say that the film is without depth. The last film was the franchise's biggest stab at a genuine romance; here the film deals with the morality of killing and the grimness of mortality. The confrontation between Bond and Camille in the caves paints images in the mind which are genuinely chilling. And I have never, ever felt a death in the Bond franchise like I felt one of the deaths in this film. Like one of the characters in the film, I was left wondering "why did this have to happen".
This film did not draw any quasi-Oscar buzz like Royale did, nor did it ever look like sweeping the BAFTAs, but the performances are genuinely fantastic. Craig is less of an actor in this film, and more of a star. And frankly, I like it that way. He is not only Connery, Moore and Dalton all at once; he is also Marvin, Bronson and Stallone. He is all this and, of course, himself too. Mathieu Amalric is perhaps not one of the most memorable villains of the series, but it is a great performance which at times seems to be channeling, of all people, Klaus Maria Brandauer. Judi Dench has sincerely never been better. And Olga Kurylenko shows a level of talent that certainly wasn't even hinted at in Hitman. Her character's relationship with Bond generally feels platonic but heartfelt more than anything; a real sign of development and maturing in this franchise.
In short, Quantum of Solace is a Bond film which can stand proudly not only next to a great variety of Bond films, but to many classics of the genre too. Easily my most enjoyable experience at the cinema last year.
http://debrief.commanderbond.net/index. ... opic=53871
another extract
Allow me to make observations on the acting from my point of view as an actor [after your eyes have made a full arc]. Now, I wouldn’t pretend that I’m some kind of RADA grad or that I’ve been doing this for decades. I’m only a couple of years out of college and a fledgling in the professional world, but I will venture to say with confidence that I understand what I’ve studied and know how to create characters, and I know intention when I see it. Every choice that each actor in this movie made was 100% deliberate. Every moment in which we saw them had intent and thought behind it. In Bond, I saw a man who was hungry for satisfaction from the deaths of men who conspired with those that caused Vesper’s death. That hunger was there, but so was the emptiness that lingered after each kill, the growing realization that killing Quantum members one at a time wouldn’t offer a quantum of solace. Reading all this into it, am I? Not by a long shot. These are professionals, and I can promise that professionals consider every possible aspect of their characters that they can conceive of. No moment is neglected. One may not like some of these choices, but every nonverbal moment communicated something that was just as deliberate as every scripted word. I, for one, am very thankful not to have been treated as if I needed everything verbally spelled out for me. And it’s beyond denial—Daniel Craig is James Bond. No one’s taken the character on such a compelling journey and I can’t imagine anyone could do it as well as what I’ve seen in these last two movies.
Where QUANTUM OF SOLACE really succeeds is in the performance of Daniel Craig as James Bond. Much like in CASINO ROYALE, Daniel Craig carries the picture in a way that we've never seen from a Bond actor. Unlike CASINO ROYALE, however, Craig carries the film on his own, as he does not have Eva Green to share the screen with this time around.
Craig continues to infuse the Bond character with new life in this film, and it's greatly appreciated given how stale the franchise had become in the lead-up to CASINO ROYALE. QUANTUM OF SOLACE features the best acting job by any of the actors who have portrayed Bond up to this point, and will be a performance that will be remembered for years to come as one of the great Bond performances. Little moments, such as Bond being dressed down by M in a hotel room or Bond watching the last breaths escape the mouth of a man he had just fought with in a hotel room, show that Craig's Bond is a much different character than anything we've seen before. Craig's Bond is a much darker Bond, and one that is actually believable as a government agent. It's believable that Craig's Bond could strike fear into the hearts of his enemies just through his presence, something that has been missing from the films up to this point. His Bond is cold, reckless, and unpredictable, something that is a refreshing change from the usual portrayal of Bond and the "witty" one-liners that used to accompany every scene of this franchise.
Daniel Craig shines once again in the lead role of James Bond, the blunt instrument wielded by a government paralyzed with fear. His seemingly innate ability to express the subtlest of emotions (the best example involves a scene where one of Bond's allies lies dying) really brings the character to life; it's a damned shame he hasn't been nominated by the Academy for acting yet.
The Bond character is in the best point in his 50 year on-screen career. Bond can owe this largely to the actor who portrays him, Daniel Craig, who once again, delivers a magnificent performance. Daniel Craig represents Ian Fleming's Bond like no other - Suave and rugged, gentleman but not afraid to get his hands dirty, and above all - vulnerable. Quantum of Solace represents Bond when he's at his most vulnerable infact, really ever. Coming off the death of his lover, we've never seen Bond with such a rage. He walks around the film with his certain swagger, but always with purpose, always scheming in his head. If people get in his way, they die. This is in no way Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan, killing a man with a clever trick, a twinkle in the eye and a quick line attached. This is a man you could believed was a hired assassin.
It is no longer CASINO ROYALE that rebooted James Bond 007 in the cinema. QUANTUM OF SOLACE is the real groundbreaking episode in Bond’s illustrious filmic career. Granted, ROYALE paved a path, but SOLACE allows BOND to strut down it and finally stretch his wings once clipped by VESPER LYND.
http://debrief.commanderbond.net/index. ... opic=53871