Quantum of Solace received mixed reviews when it was released in 2008. James Bond producers and 007 himself, Daniel Craig, have spoken out about what went wrong.
"We had a writers' strike," Craig said in the recently released Apple TV Plus documentary, Being James Bond (H/T Collider). "We had a script; it wasn't completed, but it was nearly completed. The movie kind of works. It's not Casino Royale, and that was always going to be… It was like, literally, troubling second album syndrome. In a way, we could not top Casino… It's easy to say that. Of course, we wanted to top Casino Royale, but, you know…there are some really special moments."
A sequel to 2006's Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace was the second Bond movie with Craig in the leading role. It also starred Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench.
"We basically started shooting without a script, which is never a good idea," said producer Barbara Broccoli. "But the script was turned in, and I remember the writer who turned the script in picked up his check, and then picked up his placard and stood outside the studio striking. We were kind of screwed, and we all had to muddle in and try and make the story work, and it wasn't really working that great. But I look back at the movie, and you know, it's still a good movie."
Producer Michael G. Wilson added: "[It] didn’t get Bond’s journey right. It wasn't totally focused on his journey, and sometimes we get too wound up on plot rather than keep to the story, which is an issue for these kind of films."
Craig's final outing as Bond, No Time to Die, finally arrives in theaters on September 30 in the UK and October 8 in the US. In the meantime, fill out your watch list with our picks of the best Netflix movies that you can stream right now.
