The issue with this film is that it trips itself up in its own pseudo-complexity. It purposely leaves lots of things unanswered and piles mysterious event upon mysterious event, and then, when it comes to grips with reality -- Shit! We've got 9 minutes left and this plot doesn't make any sense! -- uses the utterly cliched trick of explaining to the audience, as if they were six year olds, everything that just happened. It's not as obvious or insulting as Saw, but it's of the same basic concept.
Shorter first paragraph: The fucking thing doesn't make any sense. I know it's a Bond movie, but at least try to give me a hint as to what it is I'm watching. Casino Royale was simple: Evil financier. Need to beat him in poker. Need to kill him. Oops, got double-crossed. Quantum of Solace also introduces the well-worn evil philanthropist archetype, but then it throws together such a mish-mash of CIA and MI6 and Bolivian cops and government thugs that it becomes super confusing, super fast. Plus, the girl, while attractive, has an accent that makes me want to start punching people.
In the end, Daniel Craig is the best Bond there's been. I found the Brosnan films (well, at least Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough) fairly fun, but Craig just takes the character to a whole new level. He's coy and witty, but he's not an all-out gimmick. And he's unmerciful. In Quantum, he is the only thing holding the house of cards together.
The action sequences were decent, I suppose. But for this day and age, nothing was truly shocking. Casino Royale had better FX and it was made 2 years earlier. I do think we're at a weird point in special effects these days. While they keep getting better and better (e.g., when I watch Transformers now, which was pretty much the demo-worthy film for CGI at the time, I feel fairly underwhelmed), it's increasingly difficult for movie makers to top one another and stun audiences. Iron Man had awesome visuals and, for the genre, had pretty much the creme de la creme of special effects, but not that much made me go "Wow." Live Free or Die Hard, objectively speaking, was an action/FX tour de force -- but again, few surprises. The Dark Knight (one of the best chases of all time) and Cloverfield (very possibly the best special effects I've ever seen) are certainly two exceptions. But even then, I wonder if, when I watch these movies in 2010, they both won't feel antiquated and "meh." I hope not.
Back on Quantum... I did think it was interesting that Bond can, with his hands cuffed behind his back, take on four large Secret Service agents in an elevator and emerge victorious, but he struggles to beat the puny billionaire dweeb one-on-one.
