When I found my seat at the advance screening for Quantum of Solace (well, relatively advance -- the Brits exercised their Queen-granted right to see it two weeks ago) I was warmly greeted by my neighbors, two New Yorkers who were fans of all things Bond. One had sat in Connery's original Aston Martin DB5 the week Goldfinger came out; the other had seen nearly half of the Bond title song musicians, including Tom Jones and Paul McCartney, perform their Bond songs live. Both were excited for the new film, although I was surprised at how little of the media blitz they had been subject to. The music lover was a fan of the White Stripes, but he hadn't heard the Jack White-Alicia Keys title track, "Another Way to Die." The other had loved the stunts he'd seen in the commercials, but he hadn't read anything about all the injuries Daniel Craig acquired doing them. Part of me wished I was going into it as spoiler-free as they were, but the rest of me didn't care -- after the wake-up call that was Casino Royale, I was just looking forward to more brutal violence, more Dame Judi Dench and more shots of Mr. Craig's dreamy blue eyes.

Tags: Bond girls, Casino Royale, Daniel Craig, James Bond, Quantum of Solace, review