after all this time I STILL do not understand the hate for this film

It's a better Spectre movie than Spectre. And Skyfall's awesome mate.

it was the movie for me that really exposed the classic bond plot and actually made me realize ive been watching the same movie over and over again.

Its not that its so bad. But this film was a direct sequel to casino Royale. All the other Bond films are separate adventure films. So for the majority of people who saw this, they didn't remember all the details from Casino Royale and the plot becomes very confusing. So for that, it got bad reviews. If you watch this directly after Casino Royale, the film makes a lot more sense. Most people didn't do that and its not expected from Bond movie fans

Quantum of Solace failed to feel like Bond with the sole exception of the opera sequence. Other than that, it was just another Bourne movie. I bought a ticket to watch Bond, not "Generic Action Movie #12,544".

But, okay, so it's just an action movie. I've liked other entries in the Generic Action Movie series. Why not this one? For starters, it kicks the action off with a poorly-edited shaky-cam car chase. That's its big opener. So it starts off on the wrong foot and then plunges into a (mostly) joyless, tonally-inconsistent (quippy, flirty Fields and a Bond universe with the Nation of Thirst geopolitical exploitation plot...?) storyline as forgettable as its villain or leading lady.

It's not without glimmers of Bondian fun, but it just doesn't work on any facet that it presents. It also can't pick a facet.

And that's why I don't like Quantum of Solace.

I've had the same confusion. I've never understood what was so terrible about Quantum Of Solace besides maybe it's strange title. I've been even more baffled by the perception of Skyfall as the only "good" one, besides Royale when I think Skyfall was easily the worst of the Craig films. Big, dumb action at its very worst

Add me to the list of QoS fans. It has its flaws, mostly on the directing side... that initial shaky cam car chase being an example.

Some people thought the villain was underwhelming. For me that was a plus. Not every Bond film has to feature some megalomaniac intent on global domination. The Bond novels were very small scale so this tale is more in keeping with the literary character.

but...

... it was a bit hard to believe how this physically weedy guy was able to give Bond such a fight during the final showdown.

What I DID like about it particularly:

i. For once, Bond is not macking on the female lead. The two of them enjoy a working relationship only.

ii. Bond's final kill where he leaves the villain in the desert with a quart of oil iirc. It was a refreshing change from the usual bit where the villain gets an overly dramatic send off.

Afa Skyfall, it LOOKED gorgeous. That brutal fight... silhouettes against the glass and neon background was a standout.

But the writing was awful. Honest Trailers pretty much nails all the illogical story elements, no need to re-hash them here.

I also seem to remember some scene in Skyfall where Bond jumps into the shower with some sex toy of the villain, minutes after we learn that she had essentially been tapped as an underage hooker by him. That scene just made Bond seem like a sexual opportunist.

So, yeah, for me it was one of the weaker Craig movies.

This film is okay, it's not great but it's tense throughout, and the opera and desert scenes are terrifying, and M has never been better. Plus, it uses a favorite opera piece of mine to excellent effect, one that's greatly underappreciated.

It's really on a par with "Skyfall", another weak film that seems better in retrospect, because it has a couple of stunning scenes that stay in the mind after you've forgotten all the crap between the great scenes. But of course, both are vastly better than "Spectre", which is worthless after thr first 10 minutes.

Well, you and I agree on this my friend. While this movie is nowhere near as good as Casino Royale was it's still better (by leaps and bounds) than all of the other Bond films starring Daniel Craig.

Oh, and I fell asleep watching Skyfall too. That movie was/is just plain dreadful!