The movie does not disappoint. From the first bone-jarring car chase through a quarry to the last backwards look at M, Quantum alternates between trying to catch up with Bond as he flees or pursues the enemyby car, boat, plane and foot, and gazing into his sorrowful eyes, which are haunted by the memory of his recently deceased lover, Vesper. The fact that she was apparently betraying him at the time of her death (at the end of Casino Royale) is beside the point -- the organization that made her betray him is still out there, and they apparently have operatives "everywhere." That is apparently not an empty boast, either, as we are gradually shown people in British government, the CIA, even in Special Branch, who are figuratively sleeping with the enemy, forcing Bond to go on the run from his own people. (Again? Seriously, if Bond has to beat up his own comrades and go solo one more time -- after doing the same thing in License to Kill and Die Another Day -- he might as well go into business for himself.)

On his side are Mathis, the French agent (played by Giancarlo Giannini) that Bond suspected of betrayal in Casino Royale until Vesper was revealed as the traitor. Mathis was handsomely compensated for his false imprisonment and genuine torture, so is reasonably forgiving towards Bond. Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA agent buddy (played by Jeffrey Wright), seems to be a reluctant enemy, but only because of his douchey, mustachioed boss. (Seriously, it's unbelievable, this guys' mustache.) And the film's two Bond girls are, of course, hopelessly in his thrall. One is Bolivian Camille Montes (Maxim cover girl Olga Kurylenko), who seeks revenge on the man who gave her a disfiguring scar on her back, which conveniently does not intrude on her perfect face, breasts or legs. The other is the requisite preposterously named Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), a British field agent who doesn't do much other than serve as a warm body to Bond and, in a direct swipe of the golden girl scene from Goldfinger, a human oil repository to the bad guys.

Speaking of whom, the bad guys are certainly plentiful, and Bond really racks up the body count, but they're not terribly intimidating. Supposed philanthropist Dominic Greene is actually the agent of the mysterious group known as Quantum, which is helping to overthrow the Bolivian government in exchange for a square of supposedly worthless Bolivian desert. Don't get me wrong, he's a creepy guy, and he holds his own in his one fight with Bond, but his only real henchman is a bowl-cut yes-man who actually trips down a flight of stairs at one point. He's hardly an Oddjob -- he's not even a Mr. Diamond-Face, and you can't help but laugh at his anticlimactic death by explosion.

Shortly after that last chain of fireballs (at the world's most explosive hotel) had faded, my new, Bond-loving friends declared it the best Bond film ever. "Casino Royale was good," the music lover said, "but nothing happened!" Remembering back to my recent re-watching, I had to agree with him. When I think of Casino's action scenes, all I can come up with are the initial parkour chase, the brawl in the stairwell, and the Venice gunfight. Quantum of Solace has that many sequences in the first half-hour, and probably a dozen by the end. Paired with a melancholy Daniel Craig and quite possibly the most Judi Dench of any Bond film, I was tempted to agree with my new friends and declare Quantum top Bond.

...I don't know, though -- Goldfinger is still pretty damn good.

Discus this movie in our forums, then see what the Super Gallaga Bros. had to say about the Quantum of Solace trailer in Trailers Without Pity!