'Quantum of Solace' Review

Quantum of Solace stars Daniel Craig as James Bond and Olga Kurylenko as a potential romantic interest. Watch the trailer: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/quantum-of-solace/26922/main

Having read all the Ian Fleming novels and seeing all the James Bond movies, I have trouble accepting Daniel Craig as the actor to fill the role. He's a good actor but he's not my idea of Bond. Maybe it's because I grew up with all the movies with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and the other two who aren't mentioning because I never accepted them. Each actor played the role differently so it's like comparing apples to oranges to grapes. Craig seems not sophisticated enough and more brutish but these are different and harsher times so perhaps this Bond has to be tougher. His cold blue eyes says it all.
Quantum of Solace, the title of a short story, starts where Casino Royale left off. Bond wants revenge on the criminals who he blames for making a dead lover betray him. But did she really betray him? His boss M, admirably played with steely resolve by Judi Dench, thinks he's lost focus in killing those who can provide information. She thinks he's disobeying orders but he's really searching for the enemy in his own way.
There's plenty of rapid action scenes that are too tightly edited but will astound you. There's a parallel story of a woman seeking revenge on the man who killed her family. She and Bond join forces to hunt down the men who destroyed their loved ones and are now partners plotting to control a natural resource in South America. There's a good villain, played by the French actor Mathieu Almaric, oozing evil charm.
This is a good Bond film with everything you expect here but in different quantities. There's less gadgetry and more fights to the death, the usual foreign locations, more perversion than usual, and a ersatz John Barry music score. Too bad the movie starts off with a gawd awful song warbled by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Some reviews said it's the worst Bond theme song and I didn't believe it until I heard it.