Here is a review from FT’s Bond-o-o-phile Magnus Anderson:
Quantum of Solace 7 is GREAT! It had plenty that I liked in Casino Royale, the weight and heft and sense of consequence. But it was better paced – I thought CR dealt with the card game well and it needed a final set piece, but they slowed and lengthened the movie. This is swifter and slighter.
However if you were not a fan of the last one you almost certainly will not be one of Quantum Of Solace 7 either. It’s an unrepentant sequel, and the story is never recapped despite being central. In fact, so much of the ballast comes from CR – the root of Bond’s mood particularly, but also the mesh of unresolved semi-betrayals – that I can imagine that in its absence QoS would seem like something of a chase to the finish. Albeit, I think, still an entertaining one.
This is a bigger development than the reviews I’ve seen have acknowledged – the common tricks of the series – replacing an actor for a character and so on – would have jarred horribly here. It feels more episodic, televisual even, as if CR was an establishing pilot, and QoS following on. This is a sequel in plot, sure, but its real function is locking down a vector, signalling that Bond will be developing like this for as long as Craig has the role.
Other things:
The fate of the villain is nastier but less graphic than is the stock of these films, and it’s hinted a couple of times that Bond is capable of being brutally unpleasant himself.
It is witty, but the light-hearted lines are delivered by supporting characters, a sensible choice in the circumstances.
There appears to be an over-arching villain in development.
If the near-silent fight scene at the opera house had really taken place at the same time as the scenes from Tosca it is cross-cut with, it would have lasted for an hour and a half.
I really really really enjoyed it, and want to see it again.
Although it would have been significantly improved if this was the theme tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMoJRLStD9c
Or indeed this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOH8_Vf_xIE&feature=related