Synopsis: James Bond becomes a dangerous liability as his mission becomes entangled with his desire for revenge for the death of the woman he loved.

Description: Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric and Gemma Arterton join Daniel Craig in his second outing as James Bond.

Review: Unfortunately for Daniel Craig Quantum of Solace is everything it’s predecessor was not, it is a classless, fast paced action movie with little discernable narrative, almost no emotional value and an unhealthy over dose of CGI.

It is a crying shame after the quality of Casino Royale that Craig should return to star in a Bond that would have been more at home with Pierce Brosnan in the mid nineties. What this movie lacks the most is the feeling of genuine emotional drive: where he should be fuelled by heartache Bond doesn’t really seem to be driven by anything, without the emotion the whole premise of the film falls down.

What’s worse is if this wasn’t a “Bond” movie, it wouldn’t be a bad action film, if you like that sort of thing there’s plenty of fire power and fast cars, betrayal and beautiful women, it’s no masterpiece or even a particularly impressive rendering of the genre, but it’s fairly entertaining. For a Bond movie however it is hugely disappointing.

For one it’s far, far too long, which is incomprehensible considering it’s shorter than Casino Royale by thirty minutes! The difference is Casino Royale grips you, intrigues you, twists and turns you around in a complex and slightly dark story, Quantum of Solace is as meaningless as its title; little more than a series of scenes with things exploding, Daniel Craig looking gorgeous and more things exploding. I say bring back the days when Goldfinger wasn’t just a word put in to fill the space after “James Bond”.

I was so bored and frustrated by the end of this movie, I genuinely felt as though nothing had happened for nearly two hours, it left no other impression on me. Except, that is, that the visual effects department must have really gone to town on their budget: the CGI is brilliant but in a sort of non stop incessant fashion that just leaves a blinding flash of colour burned onto your retinas for a few minutes. No wonder the story left no impression, it was impossible to see past all the bloody explosions.

All in all you can give Quantum of Solace a miss, it’s barely even worth watching to indulge in a secret Daniel Craig fantasies. Fingers crossed that this years Skyfall will see the series back to its original high calibre.