Quantum of Solace: akshun-UR doin it rong.

I was really excited about James Bond...I really enjoyed Casino Royale...it reminded me of the Bond of the novels, a "do over" of sorts where they could get away from excessive gadgets, bad fighting and lame villains and make James Bond a calloused agent with a double O licence to kill again. It was my favourite James Bond film so far...back to Bond doing his thing...all in a well tailored tuxedo. Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace, which starts up a few hours after Casino Royale ended, isn't as good as it's predecessor. It looked at the ideas of revenge...of dealing with loss and trust. It wasn't *bad*...it just left me in a state of non-grippedness. My main complaint wasn't so much the story, as it was OK, but the editing style. It was all jumpy shakey camera quick cut shakey shakey swing punch cut cut action boom action...with random artsy cutaways to nothing in particular. Parts of the movie were stunningly shot, but a lot of the action scenes (involving more explodey things than should really exist in a hotel) were extremely hard to follow. Extremely hard. I'm assuming it was cut like *you* were Bond...trying to focus and figure out what was next and struggle to fight back...which is fine if you're the double O. I wasn't-I was the person who'd come to watch the fine Mr. Daniel Craig be the callous secret agent I've grown to love over the years...I think they went for a style, but then kind of forgot what it was. If the editing style leaves the viewer thinking "enough dammit, hold the camera still so I can see what the hell is going on!" in *every* action scene...you're doing it wrong. Pity really. It just left me with the feeling that it could have been more. There was too much action, not enough substance. There was a good basis for a story there, and a great idea for the reason behind what happened with Vesper Lynde and the "bigger" picture...even a girl companion with revenge on her mind to give Bond someone to help, and look at the idea of the emptiness of revenge and the meaning of trust and duty, and well...it just sort of fell flat.
Daniel Craig and Judy Dench nailed their roles, and a lot of the supporting characters were very good...yet, the bond girl lacked in sexy and a lot of it just didn't work for me.
I'm just glad I used a gift card to pay for the admission, or I'd be a bit miffed...