I just got home from seeing Quantum of Solace and while Sony has said they have no problem with me reviewing it early I am going to let it stew for a bit and I think I will be giving Casino Royale a rewatch this weekend to sort all things out. I will tell you the early buzz is quite accurate, this film is an action juggernaut and my first instinct is to say I like it more than I enjoyed Casino Royale, which I really liked the first time I saw it but never gave an actual review since Laremy was the primary reviewer on the site at the time. However, his B+ review of Royale is pretty good for the first time reaction, but after repeated viewings it doesn’t quite hold up.
At 2 hours and 24 minutes Casino Royale was a beefed up action piece that really needed some trimming. In my 2007 DVD review I said, “My preferred starting point is now about 25 minutes in, this bi-passes three action scenes, but it really gets you into the meat of the story.” I stand by that firmly and after trying to watch the new Blu-ray again I may have to tack on a few minutes because it gets tedious. However, Quantum of Solace comes in at 106 minutes, which is far more manageable and makes bouncing from action piece to action piece not as bad since we are talking about a film that is 38 minutes shorter. One thing is for certain though, this is a James Bond movie in a Jason Bourne world. If you liked Bourne Ultimatum or Supermacy you are going to dig this film quite a bit and my gut tells me this flick is likely to become a more watchable Bond over the course of the years since it is shorter, more concise and actually quite wicked with some great one-liners.
However, enough of that, don’t want to put my foot in my mouth. I will get you the full review very soon (I am thining Monday), but for now you can check out the 28 new images I just added from the film bringing our gallery total up to 73 images. Come on, that ain’t bad! Click here or on any of the thumbs below to check ’em out.
Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.
