Pun Salad

I noticed a few critics had a sour reaction to this movie, but I thought it was great.

It picks up where the previous movie, Casino Royale, left off. (I'm not sure how much sense Quantum of Solace would make to someone who hadn't seen Casino Royale.) Bond has just captured the mysterious Mr. White, but a bunch of baddies are desperately trying to prevent him from getting to a safe haven. The movie begins in the middle of the action with Bond's trusty Aston-Martin getting pursued by automatic weapon-wielding adversaries through crowded Italian mountain roads.

Daniel Craig is a great Bond in my book, and I like the new seriousness and grittiness he brings to the role. Judi Densch returns as M; here she's still developing her relationship with Bond, who has yet to earn her complete trust. Jeffrey Wright also returns as Felix Leiter, and he becomes a little more three-dimensional as well.

Running down the checklist:

Although the puns are gone, 007 does maintain a dry-as-desert wit, sparingly and appropriately deployed. I find this a plus.

The movie also maintains a Bond tradition of ludicrously-named female characters, although you have to hang around for the credits to discover this.