Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace was the highest-grossing opening weekend Bond film in the US.  It tied with The Incredibles for the biggest November opening outside of the 'Harry Potter' series. The film earned a 'B-' from CinemaScore's audience surveys.  From the October 31 British opening through the November 14 US opening weekend, the film had grossed a total $322 million worldwide.

Reviews listed were on the whole positive, with an average rating of 6/10. About a third of the reviewers gave positive write-ups indicating a "mixed or average" response. Critics generally preferred Casino Royale, but praise Craig's depiction of Bond. The film is an enjoyable addition to the series.

The action sequences and pacing were praised, but criticism grew over the serious and gritty feel that the film carried over. It was not "bigger and better than Casino Royale, however it still conveys a sense that Bond’s mission has barely begun" and there’s nostalgia for the more humorous Bond films.

Following Casino Royale was never going to be easy, director Marc Forster has brought the brand’s successful re-launch crashing back to earth — with a yawn" said The Times; the screenplay is incomprehensible" and casting a mess."

Bond has lost iconic status, no longer represents anything particularly British, or even modern. In place of glamour, we get a spurious grit; instead of style, we get product placement; in place of fantasy, we get a redundant and silly realism.

Craig's performance, he has made the part his own, the cool, ruthless agent-killer, nursing a broken heart and coldly suppressed rage. The film is a crash-bang Bond, high on action, low on quips, long on location glamour, short on product placement".

Quantum of Solace isn't as good as Casino Royale: Craig's Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action although Craig powers this movie. Forster's new technical team, led by cinematographer Roberto Schaefer and production designer Dennis Gassner is brought to the front. M, played by Judi Dench, to the centre: the Bond girls fade into in-significance as M becomes Bond's moral counterpoint and theirs is the only real relationship on screen." 22 films later, with grosses probably close to the GDP of one of the small nations it depicts, it's still waiting for that  Alexander Korda award.

Some disliked Quantum of Solace saying the plot was mediocre, characters weak and that Bond lacked his usual personality, despite praise for Craig's interpretation of the role placing an emphasis "James Bond is not an action hero".  Also criticized were the absence of a fantastic villainous lair and the Bond girls' names not being double entendres.

Ian Fleming - First went to Kitzbühel, Austria to improve his German and to prepare for the Foreign Office exams, then to Munich University, and, finally, to the University of Geneva to improve his French. He subsequently worked as a sub-editor and journalist for the Reuters news service, including time in 1933 in Moscow. Besides writing twelve novels and nine short stories featuring James Bond, Fleming also wrote the children's novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1961, he sold the film rights to his published as well as his future James Bond novels and short stories to Harry Saltzman, who, with Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli, co-produced the film version of Dr. No (1962). For the cast, Fleming suggested friend and neighbour Noël Coward as the villain Dr. Julius No, and David Niven or, later, Roger Moore as James Bond.  Both were rejected in favour of Sean Connery, who was both Broccoli and Saltzman's choice. Fleming also suggested his cousin, Christopher Lee, either as Dr. No or even as James Bond.  Although Lee was selected for neither role, in 1974 he portrayed assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the eponymous villain of The Man with the Golden Gun.

Neither Saltzman nor Broccoli expected Dr. No to be much of a success, -it was an instant sensation and sparked a spy craze through the rest of the 1960s. Dr. No was followed by From Russia with Love (1963), the second and last James Bond movie Ian Fleming saw.