Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko star in 2008’s Quantum of Solace.
The cultural perception of the Bond franchise has seen ebbs and flows since Daniel Craig took over. They hit big on their first bet (pun intended) with Casino Royale, which made $606,099,584 worldwide. Coming off the successful heels of “Casino”, Marc Forster’s Quantum of Solace was highly anticipated and opened strong. It made $67,528,882 domestic on its opening weekend, higher even than the opening weekend Casino Royale had. Unfortunately, “Quantum” fell short in its critical reception. As of today, it has a 65% Tomatometer and a mere 58% audience score.
My experience over the last decade has resoundingly cast “Quantum” as the lame bird in the Craig-Bond series. Nearly everyone I’ve asked has said they like the first and third offerings but that Quantum didn’t really work for them. And, in the past, I would typically affirm their apathy toward Quantum. It didn’t stick in my mind upon first watch like the others. There isn’t anything quite as directly memorable in Quantum as there is in the other recent installments. Casino Royale had poker and a brilliant performance from Mads Mikkelsen, Skyfall had a chase sequence on top of a train and perhaps the most electric Bond-villain performance ever in Javier Bardem, and Quantum of Solace simply took a backseat for most people. (Side note: I have nothing to say about “Spectre”. I think it’s awful and it’s hardly worth comparing to the first three Craig-Bond installments.)
This 2021 rewatch made me suddenly and enthusiastically change faith about Quantum of Solace. I tried my best to watch it with open eyes and an open heart. It proved my assumptions wrong as I found myself enjoying it far more than expected. I had anticipated a serious letdown and was met with a pleasant surprise. Here are my top five reasons why Quantum of Solace isn’t actually bad: