Quantum of Solace

Premiere James Jung

Quantum, thanks to a deft blend of exotic escapism and bare-bones modernism, is more than strong enough to be judged on its own. In fact, it's the perfect Bond film.

Empire Kim Newman

As with "The Dark Knight," the only real caveat is that while it's exciting and imaginative, it's not exactly anyone's idea of fun. To keep in the game, perhaps the next movie could let the hero enjoy himself a bit more.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

The new picture allows hardly any flourishes of style and character in the 007 tradition, but moviegoers seeking an adrenaline rush will be well pleased.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a grim, dark, and relentlessly violent film throughout; James Bond as Terminator rather than Templar – but it delivers the goods in bloody high style: explosively, sexily, and with 007 shaken (not stirred) to his icy core.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Never less than engaging.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's dark and exciting, but with little breathing room.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The point is, wherever he is, this James Bond is pissed. And that ceaseless anger begins to curdle every sequence that might otherwise bring a little happiness. I mean happiness for us, the viewers.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie is a relentlessly enjoyable star vehicle and a hard-charging action-o-rama full of the usual Bondian elements, for the most part well done. It's one of the year's better action films.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The least erotic, exotic, luxurious and sarcastic Bond film ever made. Its hero is haunted, obsessed, merciless, cold. There are no gadgets or flippant one-liners and there's almost no sex.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

After the heights of "Casino Royale," the series falls back into routine with this above-average thriller, filled with over-the-top action, familiar Bond atmosphere and a story that's impossible to follow - and why bother anyway? Daniel Craig is still the coolest man in the universe. That definitely helps.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Revenge is a dish best served with bullets, high explosives and giant rolling flameballs. In Quantum of Solace, James Bond orders the revenge buffet, deluxe.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The purpose of the Bond girl, and of the Bond film, is still to stroke the male ego. Bond changes just enough to stay exactly the same.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Craig never overreaches, and yet he accomplishes the unthinkable. He's not the Bond we ever asked for or hoped for, yet he's reimagined the character in ways we never could have foreseen. He's Bond with soul.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Quantum of Solace is too savage for family entertainment, but, as a study in headlong desperation, it's easier to believe in than many more ponderous films.

Time Richard Corliss

Kurylenko, a lovely Russian-Ukrainian hybrid who is oddly duskied up to look vaguely Latina, is a whiz at raising Quantum's temperature and gradually luring Bond out of his stolid shell.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The stunts are as muscular and the film as handsome to look at as the hero who so ably pulls them off. But the story linking it all together is thin and weak.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It delivers the popcorn goods, but it ignores the poison eating at Bond's insides. Killer mistake.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The way it's shot and cut, it plays like a parody of a car commercial shot in the style of a Bond film.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film's biggest problem is its director. Marc Forster is an experienced art house filmmaker with impressive credits (most recently, "The Kite Runner)", but he is clueless when it comes to action sequences.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Thanks to Daniel Craig, the most Byronic of 007s, who, with scarcely any help from the filmmakers, manages the astonishing task of rooting an outlandish yet sober-sided movie in reality and bringing it an air of wicked amusement, too.

Variety Derek Elley

Stripped of "Royale's" humor, elegance and reinvented old-school stylishness, Quantum has little left except its plot, which is rudimentary and slightly barmy, in the line of the Roger Moore pics of the '70s and '80s.

Film Threat Jay Slater

Quantum of Solace may be explosive with images of fiery infernos, but it's convoluted and confusing, the plot playing second fiddle to its set pieces.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

The result isn't bland, but it's not exactly Bond either.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

All dressed up with no particular place to go, this 22nd Bond film tries hard but ends up an underachiever.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The violence in his (Craig's) first outing, "Casino Royale," was notably intense, and while Quantum of Solace is not quite as brutal, the mood is if anything even more grim and downcast.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A model of mediocrity.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Don't ever let this happen again to James Bond. Quantum of Solace is his 22nd film and he will survive it, but for the 23rd it is necessary to go back to the drawing board and redesign from the ground up. Please understand: James Bond is not an action hero!

New York Magazine David Edelstein

If the staging were as witty as the plotting, Quantum of Solace might have been a corker like "Casino Royale." But when the action starts, art-house-refugee director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball) mashes together close-ups in the manner of "The Dark Knight," and every big set piece is borderline incoherent.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

After all these years of surviving everything that has been thrown at him, James Bond is finally being undone by his own team.

TV Guide Jeremy Wheeler

This rare direct follow-up hopefully will put to rest the leftover emotional baggage of the character and leave Bond open to a bit more familiar interpretation in the future.

Newsweek David Ansen

Quantum of Solace isn't frivolous or cheesy, but it isn't all that much fun either.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The trouble with Quantum of Solace is that the frills are a mess, too. Even the customary opening title sequence, with its writhing silhouettes and screechy theme song by Jack White and Alicia Keys, is a cheesy throwback to the Roger Moore era: Ladies and gentlemen, the Quantum of Solace dancers!

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The film feels more like an extended epilogue than a stand-alone adventure, which may be because it is the shortest (105 minutes) entry in the series.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

A sequel that immediately picks up the plot of its predecessor, and then proceeds to drive the redeemed franchise right off the deep, dark end.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Thank heaven for Judi Dench, whose M provides Quantum of Solace its sole quantum of peppery brio.

Slate Dana Stevens

Quantum of Solace, the first bona fide sequel in the Bond series, has the poky pace and expository padding of the middle chapter of a trilogy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Solace is especially frustrating when it moves down interesting paths, then stops.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

A spastic, indecipherable, unholy, and altogether unwatchable mess.