Way back in the day, like the late 70’s, one thing I looked forward to watching every year was the Bond films on ABC Sunday Night Movie. At that time, ABC always showed 4 films from the catalog of films which at that time was evenly split between the films of Sean Connery and Roger Moore.  One of the films shown every year was guaranteed to be Thunderball which was one of my favorites in any event so I did not mind. Later, when we as a family bought our first VHS player, I was then able to rent the Bond films at my leisure, uncut and without commercials. Also, I was able to see the films that were rarely broadcasted like You Only Live Twice. Seeing that scene where the Japanese commandos assaulted the rocket lair of Blofeld was always a great thrill.

So, needless to say, I have always been a Bond film man. Like many dedicated fans, I had to pick my favorite Bond actor and like most it is Connery. I appreciate the fact that while he could be quite debonair when he wanted to, at heart he was a ruthless killer dedicated to his mission. Never got that impression from Moore’s interpretation of the character. As for other Bond actors, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Brosnan Pierce I though them to be serviceable in their roles but nothing comparable to what made Connery’s films did.

Daniel Craig’s version of the James Bond character has come the closest to what Connery accomplished in making the role so definitive in our pop culture. Craig’s Bond is ruthless and dedicated to his mission. He does not engage in witty banter before taking on his enemies. He simply takes them out much in the way he took out Mr. Slate in a hotel room in Haiti. Not a word uttered by him. Of course, this single-mindness made interrogration a problem as M (Judi Dench) states when the leads keep showing up dead.

This Bond is no mindless assassin, though. As quick in seizing up a situation that calls more than brute force and he is able to dispatch the various minions sent against him.

Quantum of Solace ranks highly for me in the pantheon of Bond films. There is energy in this film that starts from the get go with a frantic car chase along the coast of Italy. There are times when the action is a bit too frenzied with an editor who seems to be cutting scenes at 1 second intervals especially on the roof top chase between Bond and the turncoat British agent. But this Bond never plays it cute in the style of Moore. When something happens, it happens with very little set up and there are no moral qualms. This Bond will take out his own people if they get in the way of mission.

As for the mission, it is never too clear what the mission is in this film. Is it Bond seeking revenge for Vesper’s death in Casino Royale or to stop a plot by the Quantum group engineered by Dominic Greene (Mathieu Alamaric) to corner the water supply in Bolivia?

As for the villain in the piece, Greene is the palest of shadows when compared to such figures as Goldfinger, Blofeld or even the KGB/Spectre functionaries. Perhaps this is in keeping with the more realistic approach to the Bond story where real life operators do not have secret lairs and fantastic doomsday machines. Gadgets are non-existent here save for the touch screen wall/table used by British intelligence to pull in information. After seeing the wonder walls used by CNN to track the election results this year, such technology does not seem too fantastic any more.

Still, this is a superb film in the Bond pantheon and a solid action film in its own right. Bond is definitely back.