Weekly Review -- Bond. James Bond.

Quantum of Solace (2008) -- Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond cements his status as the toughest James Bond since Sean Connery and, while not nearly as emotionally invested as Casino Royale, this Marc Forster film is an excellent addition to the 007 franchise.

While investigating the organization that was behind his lover's death in the previous film, Bond runs into industrialist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), CEO of the Greene Planet corporation, who has sinister plans for a country's natural resources. Along the way, Bond joins forces with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) -- a mysterious woman collaborating with Greene -- and, after going rogue, is pursued by a reliably sarcastic M (Judi Dench) and prissy consulate agent Fields (Gemma Arterton).

The movie boasts some of the most impressive stunt work and visual effects in recent years. The locations offer great settings for the elaborate action sequences, including a car chase that will take your breath away. With previous films like Finding Neverland and Stay, Forster has shown an eye for distinctive visual set-ups and a particular sensitivity toward cinematography, all qualities that place Quantum of Solace above standard action fare. In terms of depth, at times it seems that Forster is trying to merge the remnants of Casino Royale's often witty and enamored Bond with the now rougher-than-ever secret agent; these efforts work, creating an even more unpredictable lead character than the one we last saw. In Casino Royale, Bond had essentially proved he was a cold, trained killer; add motive and loss to the character's current predicament, and you get an unstoppable force, one that is capable of turning gravity upside down.

The acting is, once again, on the mark. Craig is as dry as that infamous Martini, only occasionally allowing raw feeling to peek out from beneath Bond's hardened exterior. As far as the female bombshells go, it has to be said that not one of them comes even close to Eva Green's sharp subtlety and innocent sex appeal. There, now that we have that fact out of the way, I will say that the women are more than eye candy, but less than memorable. Kurylenko lends a melancholy to Camille who, apart from a nasty scar on her back, also has a massive chip on her shoulder; however, the screenplay wastes Arterton in the role of Fields, which is a shame, since her clever quirkiness was pointing to a potentially distinctive Bond girl.

As villain Greene, Amalric is greedily sinister, making me wish that his character had been developed further and given more interaction with Bond. A lot more keeps simmering underneath the surface of his and Bond's conversations than meets the eye; one gets the sense that a mind game can be drawn out of every word. The best exchanges, though, come from M and Bond's encounters. Almost familial in its comfortable verbal jabs, their banter deepens the relationship between Bond as the rebel student and M as his strict, yet matronly, boss and mentor. Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench perfectly complement one another, and their rapport is one of the most genuine aspects of Quantum.

While Casino Royale had operated on a more poignant level, Quantum of Solace has a lot to offer on its own. Yes, there are action sequences taylor made for the big screen and BluRay technology; yes, there are beautiful women and fast cars and cool locales whizzing by. Still, the main theme of the movie is the world's best known secret agent's evolution, seen through a unique view of the dangerous roads he travels, in order to preserve what he had paid dearly for in another one of his nine lives.

8/10