Quantum of Solace

Directed by: Marc Forster

The Skinny: In the first ever direct Bond sequel, Daniel Craig returns as a royally pissed-off 007 on the hunt for the men behind the death of his Casino Royale love, Vesper Lynd. Quantum picks up exactly 20 minutes after Royale's closing shot, and eventually carries Bond—literally—to all corners of the globe.

The Good: The typical sequel formula is "bigger equals better." Quantum ignores that. Knowing he can't top Casino Royale's massive set pieces, Forster instead focuses on fixing the few small problems with that Bond relaunch—namely, the down time between those set pieces. Casino dragged in parts, but Quantum never stops moving, jumping from action scene to action scene with jaw-dropping intensity (the fucking film opens with a car chase). If you think it skimps on story in the process, it doesn't. Instead of being told that Bond is slowly becoming the "Bond" we know and love, we see it happen before our eyes. Craig cements his reputation as the coolest, most formidable Bond ever, and the movie simply kicks ass.

The Bad: The only real complaint is that, as good as new villain Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) is, the aftermath of his final confrontation with Bond is, not to spoil anything, a bit too ambiguous to be wholly satisfying. We get the movie's point (the shadow organization Bond is chasing is bigger and more shadowy than he could possibly know) and the explosive finale in the desert hotel is awesome, but we left feeling like we needed just a touch more.

Dry Martini: Casino made some stabs at it, but Quantum actually makes great use of Craig's sandpaper-dry sense of humor. There are a few good gags amid all the shooting, and they work well. And his "sit down" with Felix Leiter (a typically great Jeffrey Wright) undoes Leiter's years spent being a dunce to Bond's head of the class.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? Seriously, what else are you going to see this fall? Bond rules the cold months.