If you loved Casino Royale then prepare for bitter, bitter disappointment. The latest Bond film sees Daniel Craig frantically running about and, erm, that’s about it really. Why they bothered hiring an actor, let alone one as good as Mr. Craig, when they might have hired a mop in a suit remains a mystery.
In a series of non-sequiturs and confusing set-pieces we are informed that 007 is on the hunt for Eva Green’s killer and a corrupt environmentalist billionaire (Mathieu Amalric). Mostly, however, we’re treated to a parade of product placements and two equally inane Bond girls – one nominally ‘feisty’ (Olga Kurylenko, who looks so bloody miserable she might be auditioning as the new Vera Duckworth), the other nominally simpering (Gemma Arterton who gets roughly ten seconds of screen time).
Quantum Of Solace – which bears many of the scars one associates with studio butchery – refuses to allow any drama or character development to slow down the sub-Bourne action cliches. Even Daniel Craig – who barely has a line of dialogue throughout – looks bored and distracted. Pointless and plotless, it’s the worst Bond outing since Never Say Never Again. We’ll never bitch about Timothy Dalton again.