Bond never brakes in thrilling 22nd ride

By Roger Moore
The Orlando Sentinel

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Brevity is the soul of Bond. That's a truism producers mercifully remembered for Daniel Craig's second outing as 007. "Quantum of Solace" may have the most cryptic title of a Bond film. It may be so action-packed as to give the "This is more Bourne than Bond" critics more ammo.

But it fairly races by, a sexy, sadistic, cruel and crackling thriller that is the shortest Bond film since "Goldfinger," and certainly the most brisk. Craig coolly settles in, Mathieu Amalric reminds us of the old Hitchcock saying, "Good villains make good thrillers," and the maternal love affair between Bond and his boss, M (Judi Dench, in her glory) comes to full flower. The direction, by Marc Forster ("Monster's Ball"), is breathless, with lovely grace notes — he uses silences to end his action beats. And if this incarnation of Bond still doesn't inspire affection, he does command respect, awe, a sense that a real man is risking life and limb for queen and crown.

As in the "Bourne" movies, "Quantum" picks up our story very close on the heels of the climax to "Casino Royale." Bond is hunting down the folks who set up his beloved Vesper, the woman who betrayed him and died. He's not in a rage. But he's not pausing long enough to ask the questions that would quickly unravel the vast conspiracy of industrialists who seem to be behind it all.

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QUANTUM OF SOLACE
½

• Rated PG-13: Violence, sexual content

• Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

• Playing at: Brenden, Galaxy, Marketplace, Merced Mainplace, Modesto Regal, Showplace, Sonora Regal, Turlock Regal
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In one memorable moment, the killing machine that is 007 averts his eyes as a man whose neck he has snapped gasps, sputters and breathes his last. Chilling.

The hunt for the masterminds takes Bond to South America, where industrialist Dominic Greene (Amalric) of Greene Planet is plotting land grabs and luring a former dictator back to Bolivia to put him in charge. "You want your country back. My company can give it to you." Amalric is a pale, iguana-eyed ogre, something reinforced by a shot of a real lizard in the desert where Bond and the former Bolivian agent Camille (Olga Kurylenko of "Hitman") go for clues.

Bond films are all "greatest hits" packages these days, and "Quantum" references "Goldfinger," "Live and Let Die" and "For Your Eyes Only." But it's not the solace of the past that makes the heart race here. It's the realization, with every bit of derring-do, that someday, if he learns how to deliver a pithy one-liner, this blond could become the best Bond ever.