revenge of the enigmatic noun phrase

Saw Quantum of Solace last night, mostly in a gesture of gosh-haven't-been-to-the-movies-for-ages; also, jo&stv had reneged on our usual Sunday evening braai/Thaifoodfest (alternate braai/Thai, not together, although, hmmmm...) on the grounds of being too full from lunch. The cosmic wossnames were revenged by making sure that Jo sat next to the lady with the coke can and straw and excessively prolonged and slurpy camel noises. Heh. In a loving, sympathetic way.

Anyway. Things I Liked About Quantum of Solace:

• The title. It's vague and undefined and, if you ignore its actual meaning in favour of the more accepted modern usage of "quantum", both generates inevitable Terry Pratchett flashbacks and almost, but not quite, seems to mean something, although not anything connected to the actual film other than extremely tenuously. It gives me a happy Baudrillardian moment.
  
• The sand effects in the title sequence.
  
• Creative cutting between horse races and fights, or (particularly) Tosca and fights. Intertextuality. Juxtaposition. Thematic wossname.
  
• The plot, which was complicated enough to require actual concentration. (Then again, I spent the weekend watching Avatar, so my points of comparison may be a bit squiff).
  
• Bond. James Bond. He's gritty and battered and I love the incongruity against the immaculate suit and those lovely British vowels. Also, of course, M, who is pleasingly acerbic. And, apparently, bulletproof.
  
• The politics, specifically eco-politics. Extremely topical.
  
• The bad guy. Understatedly reptilian, as opposed to visibly grotesque. He gave the impression of being slightly clammy at all times, which was appropriate in more ways than one.

Things I Didn't Like About Quantum of Solace:

• The title track. Yuk. Classic metal bass/riffs over whiny R&B singing seriously doesn't do it for me, and I missed the classic Bond theme, having been prepared for it by stv's back-seat rendition in the car on the way there.
  
• The fight editing. Too many stupid quick cuts, which means that you couldn't understand the logic of all those speedboat races and dangly scaffold bits and what have you, which means they probably weren't choreographed properly, which is cheating. (Here again I may be spoiled utterly by watching the exceptionally cool element-linked martial arts styles in Avatar.)
  
• The women. Hackneyed, and had about two-thirds of a personality between them. (Not counting M, of course, who has enough personality for three).

Overall score: 7.5/10, Some Aspects Need Work. Cheese levels: minimal Mozzarella.