Expectations, what else can one say?
I thought Renard was well cast because Robert Carlyle was NOT the muscle hunk one would expect but of rather slight, small stature. And just to know that he could not feel pain made the fight interesting for me.
Concerning Denise Richards - I never understood why people got so hung up about her. First, why can´t a scientist have a great body? Do they all have to look unattractive? What a very sexist attitude that is. Also, where were those critics when other highly attractive women were playing government employees, musicians, secret agents, financial advisers, doctors, fishers, airline pilots and so on? Didn´t they consider the actresses in those parts also too good-looking?
The real reason for the criticism was probably Denise Richards´ image as a sex kitten. They just dismissed her. While secretly googling for naked pictures of her.
I think, regarding Richards, that it has more to do with her limitations as an actress combined with how the part was written. The part of Christmas Jones was, itself, written in a very sexist way, opting to make more fun of the name that they gave the character (all so they could set up the most crass one-liner in the history of the franchise) and play up the fact that the character was meant to be viewed in a particular way by the audience. Combine that with Richards just not being a particularly good actress (the science-related lines didn't sound natural at all in their delivery), and what's left is the character that is routinely dismissed by a majority of the fanbase.
That said, and this is a point that I've made before, I actually commend Richards for her performance in The World Is Not Enough. It's not a great performance by a longshot, but she's nowhere near the worst Bond girl in the franchise, and she makes a far more believable scientist than Tanya Roberts. Plus, she seems to be the only one in the film who is actually giving an effort. With the rest of them, it feels pretty obvious that the actors know that they're making a terrible film and it shows in their performances. Richards actually seems to make the effort.
Regarding Fields in Quantum of Solace, as previously mentioned, I don't see why it's so hard to accept Arterton as the character she plays. She's not a field agent by any stretch of the imagination. She's just someone who works at the British consulate, possibly even an intern. It's fairly believable that Arterton could portray someone rather low on the ladder at the British consulate. The far more unbelievable factor at work with regards to Fields is that M thought the character capable of arresting Bond and getting him on a plane back to London.
Edited by tdalton, 03 August 2013 - 01:05 PM.