By Jared Purcell

You/Local Editor

At face value, the latest installment of the popular James Bond franchise “Quantum of Solace” has everything to keep a moviegoer enthralled: action, drama, moments of witty comedy and more action.

Bond (Daniel Craig) is still looking to exact revenge on those who killed his great love from the 2006 Bond hit, “Casino Royale.”

After an opening car-chase scene that will leave you looking for a cure for motion-sickness, Bond quickly finds himself tracking down the leader of a world renowned environmental group. The leader is in cahoots with a super-secret organization group that specializes in international conspiracy and has influence among many world leaders and wealthy so-and-sos.

He meets up with a woman named Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who plays a revenge-seeking, butt-kicking and, of course, super-sexy Bond girl. The film is basically a second installment of “Casino Royale” so it may be hard for those who haven’t seen the prior movie to follow along.

Although it was greatly entertaining, “Quantum of Solace” isn’t really much of a Bond movie at all. That being said, there might be some disappointment found in the ranks of the devout Bond enthusiasts.

In his second movie playing the role of Bond, Craig has yet to resemble the Bond we all know and love. He can pull the same stunts, shoot the same guns, look good in a tux and drive the infamous Aston Martin. All that is still cool as ever, but when it’s all said and done, Craig’s portrayal of Bond is more numb than ever.

It was hard to tell if the main character was angry, sad, afraid, deep in thought or thinking about kittens. The directors tried to implement scenes to show Bond’s vulnerability — not being able to sleep, developing a drinking problem — but it just made him seem even more numb. Surprisingly, the line “Bond, James Bond” wasn’t uttered at all in the course of 106 minutes. The movie moved very fast and ended quickly too — almost too quickly.

Even though Bond has never had problems with his trigger finger, it finally gets him into trouble this time around. He ends up looking more like a Boondock Saint than a 00 agent because he seems to kill more out of need than necessity.  

Still, the flick was every bit as entertaining as you’d expect from a Bond movie. Every guy and gal will either want to be James Bond or be with him in the end — as usual.