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The major London papers have reviewed Quantum of Solace, the new 007 film, and the reactions are pretty good. Not ecstatic, but primarly enthusiastic and supportive.

One slight dissenter is the Telegraph's Mark Monahan who says the new film "lacks Casino Royale's narrative drive, and is less than the sum of its parts." He adds, however, that "those parts are often terrific. See it for them, and see it for Daniel Craig's fully-formed Bond: angry, icily unsentimental, and fleetingly borderline psychotic at the close."
Times Online critic James Christopher writes that "director Marc Forster has absorbed the lucrative lessons discovered in Martin Campbell's Casino Royale. He has also managed to pace his sequel much better.
"Royale felt slightly wheel-clamped by one too many longeurs. If anything, the crunching chase sequences in Quantum of Solace are even more magnificently dangerous. And the daredevil leaps and tumbles through glass roofs are just as sensational as the splintering high-speed pyrotechnics.
"But it's the amount of heartache and punishment that Craig's new Bond absorbs that makes him look so right for our times. Bond is no longer a work in progress. He is now the cruel, finished article."
LIkewise, the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw is somewhere between okay and pleased with the film -- he submits to the rock 'n' roll -- but is primarily a fan of Craig's performance.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 19, 2008 at 7:57 AM
comment #1
corey3rd
says ...
The promo pic does more to sell me on this Bond than the trailer.
Posted by corey3rd
at October 19, 2008 10:13 AM
comment #2
Jake
says ...
Looks like the Times is split on this one:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4969426.ece
Posted by Jake
at October 19, 2008 10:21 AM
comment #3
Doug
says ...
Remember when Bond used to be good-looking?
Not surprised the girl has her back to him.
Posted by Doug
at October 19, 2008 2:18 PM
comment #4
BurmaShave
says ...
Doug, do not think that being homosexual acquaints you with what women like.
Posted by BurmaShave
at October 19, 2008 2:30 PM
comment #5
Sean
says ...
I think Craig is terrific, both in and out of Bond-dom, but if they'd given Pierce Brosnan these kinds of scripts he would have knocked them out of the park too.
Posted by Sean
at October 19, 2008 4:37 PM
comment #6
Abbey Normal
says ...
We're all talking out of our asses here, since none of us have actually seen this, but I will nevertheless disagree with Sean. I don't think Brosnan has the chops to do what Craig does physically with the character. Craig brings the danger and anger in a way that the relatively effete Brosnan could never manage. These scripts work as well as they do partially--mostly, even--because of Craig's chunky unpredictability.
Posted by Abbey Normal
at October 19, 2008 7:10 PM
comment #7
Jake
says ...
No, I think Sean's probably right to say that Brosnan could've handled a more serious Bond. It doesn't mean he would've had to play it exactly like Craig, since any deviation from formula would've gone a long way during his tenure. The bottom line is that, if Brosnan could sell a film like Die Another Day to the masses, he could've certainly made a go of an actual script.
Posted by Jake
at October 19, 2008 7:36 PM
comment #8
Joshua Mooney
says ...
"But the gorgeous young women go on forever and they have backs like butter."
---David Thomson, "Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes"
Posted by Joshua Mooney
at October 20, 2008 9:28 AM
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