I'll break up my critique categorically, but first some general comments:
It's not as iconic or great as Casino Royale. Not by a long shot. It has moments of feeling like it belongs, but Forster's 'sequel' is too disconnected at times. Some of the set pieces revert back to 'James Bond: Superhero' form, which was disappointing. This Bond needs to be given to a director who 'gets it' and I don't think Forster got it. Overall, it's a good action flick and a fairly confident film but ultimately it's not up to the standard of quality set by Casino Royale.
Plot:
I'm kind of disappointed by the script. The 'plot' scenes are generally boring and too talky without saying much. They really did feel like expositional filler. Solace moves too mechanically and doesn't have the organic heart Royale did. I get that it's a revenge movie and the tone will be different, but I don't think we really conect to Bond like we did in the first film. The plot itself is pretty uninteresting: Greene isn't a good villain, White is mostly invisible, and Quantum doesn't do enough damage to feel very threatening. The girls aren't bad - they're well acted - but the story arc feels too tacky. I'm also pretty sick of the constant need for left-wing filmmakers to inject their oil-fueled anti-American politics into their films. It especially doesn't belong in this series.
Action:
There's some spectacular action here. The first two set pieces in particular are excellent - clever like Royale's. The action in the second half is more uninteresting and drags, including the boring finale. Action for the sake of aciton doesn't work in this reboot. The strength of Craig's Bond is more about what he can do between the action. I can't connect with a superhero, which is what this film tries at times to make Bond feel like. The plane scene was not only boring, but its resolution was ridiculous.
Music:
David Arnold mailed this one in. There are a couple really nice moments but overall it doesn't stand up to Royale's (there's a lot of this going on here, mostly because it's true).
Highlights:
The clever opera scene. It fit perfectly with the style established in Royale.
The opening car chase scene.
The nod to Goldfinger.
The ending.