Actor Daniel Craig renewed the energy and brought the gritty (and the pain) back in playing James Bond in his first outing, Casino Royale.  The massively entertaining Bond film which breathed new life into the bland Bond franchise.  The underrated Quantum of Solace is a highly entertaining action piece that follows the Bourne model of action flicks.

Solace starts with a terrific opening song from Jack White (White Stripes) and Alicia Keyes and plunges us into a nifty car chase.  Bond is out for revenge after being betrayed by his former love Vesper.  Feeling conflicted over his betrayal, and mostly wanting revenge for her death and to find the man (or organization) that set her up, Bond goes on a massive manhunt.  The trail leads to a beautiful (but quite deadly) woman named Camille (the lovely Olga Kurylenko) who has her own reasons for revenge and an environmentalist named Dominic Greene (the fine actor Matthieu Amalric, OK, but kind of wasted) who has a sinister plan for stealing an important natural resource for his own profit.  Judi Dench (as M) and a few other actors return from Casino Royale and the acting is generally strong with Craig in firm command as Bond.  A cold, calculated killing machine, he doesn’t mesh with the older Bond fans and what they want out of Bond.  They want a bland cipher who sips martinis and beds hotties.  That just won’t do for me in this post- Bourne era.  Craig now just needs a compelling (and more physical villain) to go up against, and the next Bond could be one of the all time best in franchise history.

The quality of the wide-screen video and 5.1 audio both seemed solid.  The second DVD has a few nice featurettes that run a total of 40 minutes or so.  They detail the filming and are pretty entertaining.   

Fast-paced and well-made, Quantum of Solace is solid entertainment.  It’s not as good storywise as Casino Royale, but its easily the best Bond film (besides Casino Royale) since Goldeneye.   Daniel Craig is the Bond of the future, and the franchise can only get better from here.  Solace is something of a solid filler film, and the next Bond should be thrilling and an equal to Casino Royale.

DVD Grade: B

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