Daniel Craig’s Quantum of Solace drubbed by critics

After the critical and popular success of Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s (pictured with Bond girl Olga Kurylenko) second outing as 007 appears to have come unstuck. A preview of Quantum of Solace before its world premiere at the London Film Festival on October 29 has been poorly received by critics. The Sunday Times reported: "Bond is a boorish oaf… Quantum of Solace lacks any wit… It has a tuneless opening song". Most damning of all, the paper says there is "no sex either".

As cinema-goers complain of a lacklustre trailer showing in cinemas over the weekend, the Daily Mail’s critic moaned: "About an hour in, I began to feel something I haven't for quite a few years in a Bond film – bored”. Then he twisted the knife by comparing Craig to the much-derided Timothy Dalton – who played Bond twice in the 1980s - for his lack of wit or humour.

Even the Mirror, which gave a generally favourable review, complained: "Mostly it doesn't feel like a Bond film at all. Not once does Craig say: 'The name's Bond. James Bond.' There's no Q or his gadgets. Heck, we even see Bond in a cardigan." While the Guardian admires Craig’s “cool, cruel presence” as Bond, its critic says the new film, directed by Marc Forster who made Monster’s Ball, isn’t as good as Casino Royale: “The smart elegance of Craig's Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action.”

Will Craig, like Dalton, turn out to be a two-film Bond? Ominously, he told Playboy magazine that despite signing up for four movies, "Let's see how this one goes. In the film business, everything doesn't always go according to plan."