5. Quantum of Solace - $586,090,727
Welcome to my desert hotel built from explosive hydrogen cells. Ok, so that's not a genuine line of dialogue but it's really all that's important to know as the film's climax in the Atacama desert approaches. After all, Bond's already spent the entirety of his 22nd outing hopping from continent to continent, engaging in fistfights, gunfights, car chases, boat chases, foot chases, plane chases, with barely so much as two minutes pause in between. There's a lot to savour for sure, but no set-piece as singularly impressive as Casino Royale's opening parkour sequence and certainly none of the dramatic tension that made many of its scenes so effective. Marc Forster, used to more sentimental dramas such as Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, and The Kite Runner seemed a strange choice for director and proved incapable of balancing the action and drama required to successfully convey Bond's quest for revenge (and solace?) following the events of the previous film, resulting in a sequel looking very much like it was directed mostly by the second unit. Forster-ish elements do crop up, such as the threat to Bolivia's water supply, but these eco-issues seem out of place in a Bond film and serve to highlight the film's poor pacing. Other non-action scenes, such as Bond's immediate seduction of Agent Fields with the immortal line I can't find the stationary. Would you come and help me look? only reinforce this problem. Fields' death, drowned in crude oil, is an obvious reference to Shirley Eaton's fate in Goldfinger but is dealt with and forgotten so quickly so as to rob it of much emotional impact. Daniel Craig still convinces as Bond and delivers the occasional exceptional line, but cannot elevate Quantum from amongst the poorest entries in the series. An ill-suited duet by Jack White and Alicia Keys as the theme song also does little to enhance it. Nevertheless, the film would still become the seventh highest-grossing film of 2008 and very nearly equal Casino Royale's revenues.