- Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace serves as a surprisingly direct sequel to the previous James Bond film, Casino Royale. In this instance, Bond (Daniel Craig) strives to avenge the death of the woman he loved, which pits him against an Elon Musk-type environmentalist magnate named Greene (Mathieu Amalric), which is a bad naming pun even by the standards of this series. Greene's philanthropic public veneer conceals the fact that he is a duplicitous water baron intent on installing the villainous General Medrano (Joaquín Cosío) as the president of Bolivia. Running parallel to Bond's mission is that of Bolivian Agent Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who seeks revenge upon Medrano for the murder of her family. An MI6 agent named Fields (Gemma Arterton) squeezes in the film's requisite love scene before being unceremoniously dispatched in a disappointing callback to a much better Bond movie.
- While Quantum of Solace doesn't plum the awful depths of certain Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan offerings, it is certainly Daniel Craig's least interesting outing as Bond thus far. Mind you, none of this is Craig's fault. If anything, he seems even more comfortable as Bond than he did in Casino Royale, and the supporting cast (including returning players Giancarlo Giannini, Judi Dench, Jesper Christensen, and Jeffrey Wright, in addition to newcomers Anatole Taubman, Rory Kinnear, and David Harbour) is generally strong. The real issues are with the film's gossamer-thin plot and its horrendously choppy editing. While one could charitably attribute the plot issues to the Hollywood screenwriter's strike, the editing comes straight from the Bourne films, from which too many editors developed bad habits. As a result, the chase scenes and fight sequences are chopped up and cut like a bad salad, but one that thankfully would be followed up with the much more palatable course of Skyfall.
- Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón both have minor cameos because, sure, why not?
- The desert scenes were filmed near the VLT in Chile.
