Please lock me away
And don't allow the day
Here inside, where I hide with my loneliness
I don't care what they say, I won't stay
In a world without love

Birds sing out of tune
And rain clouds hide the moon
I'm OK, here I stay with my loneliness
I don't care what they say, I won't stay
In a world without love

From "A World Without Love", by Chad and Jeremy

Last Saturday nite, accompanied by the Grouchmate and Kidgrouch, I went to see the newest installment of the James Bond franchise, "Quantum Of Solace". There were no warm fuzzies in this one!

My reactions are mixed.

First of all, if any of you reading intend on seeing this Daniel Craig Bond movie then I highly recommend that you run right out and rent the previous one, "Casino Real", because "Quantum" is a direct sequel to that movie. Sure, you can watch the new one without seeing the first, but there are references made to people and events in the first movie that will fall flat, or will just plain confuse the viewer of the second one, specifically the repeated references to a particular lady friend of Bond's who is now dead. How did it happen? Why did it affect him so much and how is it affecting his behavior at this time? Well, you just have to see "Casino".

In MY case it has been well over a year since I saw "Casino" so a good portion of the plot was only dimly understood by my quickly aging brain until almost a third of the way through when the newest plot take hold. It actually caused me to shift around in my seat since, aside from my hearing deficit that makes dialog hard to follow, I had no idea at times what exactly was going on.

But here is what I DID catch...the same smarmy, wimpy, creepy bad guy that escaped from Bond in the first movie has now reappeared, this time working on a plot to corner the market for the distribution of water in the country of Bolivia. The plot involves hoodwinking a power hungry Bolivian general into selling him vast tracks of deserted oil pipelines in the middle of the desert, pipelines that will be used to carry water to most of the country. In exchange the bad guy will support the general's attempted coup in a power play to ascend to the dictatorship of that country.

So, why is Bond even interested? Aside from the fact that the bad guy is responsible for the death of his lady friend in "Casino", he couldn't care less about the country. Bond is so eaten up with thoughts of revenge that his only goal is to track down said baddie and eliminate him.

The rest of the plot, including a number of international intrigues, were totally lost on me. The moral, if you can call it that, of the story is that revenge is a very empty and cold dish, one that leaves the partaker clueless as to what comes next.

So what, you may ask, was good about the movie? Well, Daniel Craig is pure ice and reaction as Bond. He has no heart, no soul, and very little personality. In other words he is a lean, mean killin' machine. He is, indisputably, the most athletic and physical Bond...EVER! Roger Moore? a cartoon! Sean Connery? Suave, debonair and lethal, but not athletic. Pierce Brosnan? Pu-LEEZ! Craig tops them all. But my concern is will he be able to deepen his character in subsequent movies. So far he is only two dimensional...well, mabe two and a HALF dimensions, but not yet a fully realized character. Quite honestly, he scares me!

The action sequences are as intense as one might hope for. In fact, I found myself laughing as if I were on a roller coaster ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The sheer improbability of some of the scenes was buffered by the cinematography and sequence editing so that the viewer had little time to take a deep breath. Suspend belief and enjoy the ride!

But despite the main character, the best acting job was done by Judi Dench, as "M". Solid, dependable and totally believable, she was more than just a prop for Daniel Craig. In fact, in MY opinion, when the two shared the same scene it was Dench who shined while Craig became invisible. Good Job Judi!

Every Bond flick has "Bond Girl" and this one has an actress named Gemma Arterton, who plays a fellow agent by the name of "Strawberry Fields". Her role is to be found dead, covered in heavy crude as a message to Bond. What a waste of a role.

But the real female star is a young lady named Olga Kurylenko who plays Camille Montes, a former Bolivian agent who is seeking revenge on the evil, power hungry general who raped and killed her mother. Her scenes are far from gripping and I found her presence to almost be distracting. Bond ALWAYS works better alone!

Oh, but those action sequences!!! Those are what keeps this film interesting. But just like the end game once revenge is accomplished, action sequences do not ultimately satisfy. And that is the reason I am going to disagree with most reviewers and rate "Quantum Of Solace" as three out of five.

Wait for the DVD