From the opening theme tune to Quantum of Solace, written and performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, to the chase scenes using every mode of transportation known to mankind, right up to the closing moment that sees the literally, stiff upper lipped, Bond walking arrogantly away from M, stating, ‘I never left’, the whole film lacked even a modicum of believability, intrigue or interest, with a story line as shallow as the damns created by the movie’s villain, Dominic Greene. Last week’s new release, Madagascar 2 was more scintillating.
Daniel Craig, as 007 has ruined the Bond character with his ‘too cool’ for words portrayal of what used to be a lovable, womanizing hero.
With all the technology accessable to Joe Blogs these days there is little new in the Bond movies that leaves us speechless. From the cell phone that takes photographs of his advisory and beams then back momentarily to MI5 headquarters, to the virtual imaging computer used to update James on his latest mission, which was seen on a daily basis on CNN during the elections and became known as ‘the magic board’.

Too many special effects and computer imaging is making 007 movies more akin to Star Wars and Star Trek.
James Bond, as played by Sean Connery, would never have gone back over old ground to take revenge for the death of one of his love interests. Connery was too busy using his gadgets, his charm and charisma to be concerned about one dead woman.
It may be phony but what have they done with the, now expected lines, ‘Bond, James Bond’ and ‘shaken not stirred’. Isn’t that like Captain Kirk with out a, ‘beam me up Scotty’, or Batman minus a, ‘to the bat cave’.

For her part Olga Kurylenko, playing Bond girl, Camille, a Bolivian beauty, added nothing sexy, romantic or intriguing as we have come to expect from previous Bond girls such as Ursula Andres’s Honey Ryder, Tanya Roberts or Britt Ekland.
The only saving grace in the entire movie is the performance given by the Oscar winning Dame Judi Dench as ‘M’. Her facial expressions never give away the fact that she is acting in a ‘fairy’ story, she manages to give her all as much as she does in other memorable roles, most notably that of Queen Elizabeth in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. In her youth Judi trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as the National Theatre, what a waste to take all that talent to the set of James Bond, 2008!
The only good thing about this movie, which followed 2006’s Casino Royale, and not very well at that, is that it’s part of a trilogy and thankfully we’re now two thirds through, because there was a distinct, quantum of relief, when the credits went up!
How about Clive Owen as the next James Bond?
ABB