Bond. James Bond. Although quite possibly the most quoted salutary lines ever, maybe elevendy-billion times, it has approached joke status. This hokiness rating might explain why the most intense Bond ever, Daniel Craig’s Bond, does not say that, not even once. In Quantum of Solace, we have plenty of chase scenes, vicious fight scenes, bloody shirts, dusty suits, plenty of bad guy collateral damage, friends lost, and even the requisite bedroom scene—isn’t he supposed to be mourning Vesper? Certainly that mentality dominates most explanations of why he seems so angry. So how can he hop into bed so casually? Don’t even say it. 

Quite frankly, even in Casino Royale, a budding romantic entanglement with Vesper emerging, Daniel Craig’s Bond was rather mirthless, to me. He looks good in a tux. Check. He has stunningly blue eyes and a jaw line to match. Check. He accepts all the toys and willing females as entitlements. Check. He’s upright and relatively unharmed at the end of the film. Check. Bad guys vanquished. Check. So why is he so without mirth? When he forgets about all these spy benefits, his eyes are soulless. If he is in his single-minded, you’re-a-dead man mode, his eyes are dull, the eyes of a killer. 

I’ve heard comments after the screening about what Bond would or wouldn’t do. Well, a Bond that doesn’t smile, with his eyes, who doesn’t stoop to one-liners or the famous introduction, who treats women as aperitifs instead of dessert—is he even Hollywood’s Bond anymore? He may more closely resemble Ian Fleming’s Bond, but who wants that? My Bond is suave, clean, never sweaty, and happiest around women, good or bad, he doesn’t care.  

My Bond has a certain joie de vivre about him that makes him—my Bond. Brosnan and Connery Bond. Even campy Moore Bond. Daniel Craig doesn’t move in those heady circles. He moves in today’s real world of intelligence gathering, of intrigue amongst rival agents, nevermind the whole countries messing with countries theme…no wonder this film screened for two weeks around the globe before premiering here…they weren’t sure how American auds would take to characterizing our not-so-diplomatic dealings with other governments, not-so-admirable motivations for changing out despots at will for our own ends. To be sure, that wasn’t on any of the wagging tongues afterwards, so those worries were unfounded. 

However, the real elephant in the room barely mentioned, if at all, was the impending Water Wars. In our world. As the oil wars fizzle out, the actual commodity of truest value will be water. In Solace, Daniel Craig’s Bond sees evidence of early skirmishes in this supposedly far off war. He acts stunned for the benefit of the audience along for the discovery. They don’t get it. He even says to M, this isn’t about oil…she seemed to have sort of got it, for the sake of ‘her agent’ that she ‘trusts’. 

Hey, I know real intelligence gathering is harsh, deadly even. Few would survive even one of these chases by guys that never give up. Even his guys chase him. The Americans chase him. Foreign agents chase him. And the bad guys chasing him have to be part of a philanthropic help-the-planet organization? Really? 

On the positive side for the acting crew, Dame Judi Dench’s M gets more screen time than ever before. Olga Kurylenko as Camille is actually treated with respect, a fellow warrior, not a trophy waiting to be awarded to Bond. Jeffrey Wright could have been given a bit more time and lines, as the American straight-shooter Felix Leiter.  

Quantum of Solace sure isn’t about America though…thank our stars, as we don’t come off too well in this sequel (Yes, not actually a Fleming vehicle…the character is based on the Ian Fleming Bond.) So, if there is a third Craig movie, which is certain, really, will it be the third in this series, and go further into the Water Wars? Or will they move on into Fleming novels not already filmed in this franchise spanning five decades of movies and five Bonds.