Quantum of Solace (2008) | Music

I truly don't get how "Die Another Day" is the worst Bond song of all time when "Another Way to Die" exists. Jack White and Alicia Keys are both talented people, but they created an unholy, clumsy mess. On paper, it's the first duet that's been used for a Bond theme, but calling it a duet is too generous. Their voices don't blend well and there are parts where the harmonies are so painful that I need six Vespers to get through them.

The credits aren't that great either. Or maybe the song just puts me in a bad mood. Bond stalks through the desert with his gun, he fires off some slow motion rounds, and then women slowly raise through the sand and dance around. At some point there's a globe-shaped grid that probably represents Quantum's world-wide influence, but I haven't figured out what the spinning zoetrope symbolizes or refers to.

For the second movie in a row, David Arnold is stingy with the Bond Theme, but this time it doesn't make as much sense. Wasn't the purpose of holding it until the end of Casino Royale that Bond had finally earned it then? So why doesn't he get it in Quantum? There's a crazy guitar version that I like when Bond arrives in Port au Prince, but we don't get to hear the real thing until the closing credits.

Top Ten Theme Songs

1. A View to a Kill
2. "Surrender" (end credits of Tomorrow Never Dies)
3. "You Know My Name" (Casino Royale)
4. The Living Daylights
5. "Nobody Does It Better" (The Spy Who Loved Me)
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. You Only Live Twice
9. From Russia With Love (instrumental version)
10. The World Is Not Enough

Top Ten Title Sequences

1. Casino Royale
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Dr No
4. Thunderball
5. Goldfinger
6. GoldenEye
7. From Russia with Love
8. The Spy Who Loved Me
9. Die Another Day
10. Tomorrow Never Dies