Quantum of Solace

After a terrific debut as James Bond in "Casino Royale", Daniel Craig is shaken, not stirred into a mess of a follow-up. "Quantum" has one of the worst Bond plots ever (if you can even call it a plot). It is basically one long action sequence after another in order to distract the audience from realizing how ridiculous the whole thing really is.

Daniel Craig tries his best to live up to what he started in the previous film but there is only so much he can do when everything is literally falling apart around him. He makes a dashing Bond and certainly one of the best but he's never given a chance to develop the character beyond a human killing machine. Mathieu Almaric plays one of the lamest Bond villains in history. He should stick to what he does best, serious drama and eye blinking. Olga Kurylenko is the Bond "it" girl and while beautiful, can't decide if she is a damsel in distress or an action heroine. Judi Dench is back as M and has her usually fun with the role. And Jeffrey Wright also returns as Felix Leiter, with basically nothing to do except give Bond an address.

The action scenes are excellent but by the numbers. You can almost hear the writers..."Boat chase, check. Car chase, check. Foot chase, check. Airplane chase, check." Aside from a beautiful world tour, this is a bloated soulless Bond film. At the end of the credits, we are promised, "James Bond will return". He better be carrying a better script when he does.