001. Its An Expansion of Casino Royale
This is perhaps its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Frankly, Diamonds Are Forever should have been the Quantum of Solace to On Her Majestys Secret Services Casino Royale (I hope that makes sense). For me, some of the best Bond films have addressed people Bond has lost (The end of On Her Majestys Secret Service, The opening of For Your Eyes Only, sort of The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, the end of Casino Royale), and this is another example. This film was interesting because it expanded the best Bond film weve had so far in the series and continued the arc of its characters and the strands it could have easily left open-ended. I liked Mathis, I liked Mr. White & QUANTUM, I like Jeffrey Wrights Felix Leiter, and I was glad to see them again. Rather than Quantum of Solace being a self-contained adventure that stuck to the timeless and generally successful formula of a Bond film, we saw how the events of the previous film directly affected Bond and those around him. It was the first sequel weve ever had. In fact, it starts directly after the end of Casino Royale, so to me it feels like one story divided into two films, and its one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. As a standalone film its not the greatest, but I dont see it as a standalone film. So if you cant appreciate it as a Bond film, try re-watching it from this viewpoint and I reckon youll like it a lot more.