REVIEW RELOAD: James Bond takes a 'Quantum of Solace' away from caring about anything but suspenseful mayhem

What could have been another character-based, 007 mission with a fair amount of impressive exploits in "Quantum of Solace" is reduced to nothing more than an needlessly stylistic action-centered movie that stifles its cast.

As in "Casino Royale," James Bond fans find their favorite MI6 agent (Daniel Craig) in a chase sequence early in the film, only this one takes place on a precarious hillside two-lane highway somewhat restricted by traffic. With the tables turned this time around, Bond appears to employ a few evasive driving techniques to thwart his pursuers, though the chase is comprised of so many quick cuts that it is difficult to discern what happens.

"Quantum of Solace" Director Marc Forster apparently realized that a mainstream audience might not enjoy this highfalutin film school car commercial, so he quickly follows up with a more intense chase in which Bond runs down a double agent through a crowded racetrack, on to rooftops and into a construction area in the somber, yet complex Sienna, Italian cityscape. The film's trailer provides the gist of the proper pace utilized in this particular chase.

Thereafter, the action sequences become nothing more than another reason for Bond to highjack some means of conveyance that he will completely destroy in order to create unnecessary moments of suspense characterized by abrupt endings.

Stringing together these high-adrenaline moments is a simple plot in which Bond has sparing information with which to track Mr. White's organization. He stumbles on to a wild lead that lands him in the middle of a Quantum member's bid to topple the Bolivian government to acquire a nearby desert.

In any other film, the happenstance course of events that drive "Quantum of Solace" would be too convenient to accept, but they fit well given that Bond works for M16, which is as much an intelligence agency as it is responsible for training super spies. Plus, the two-hours-or-less film format does not lend itself well to following a lot of dead-end leads before one finally pans out.

Particularly clever about the story is how it integrates the changed relationship between the U.S. and British intelligence agencies in a post-Cold War era in which natural resources, not territorial supremacy, are major nations' modus operandi.

Also worth mentioning is the manner in which the seemingly unassuming members of Quantum meet in venues open to the public as opposed to in a boardroom on an unchartered volcano island. Anonymity, not physical deformities, is the trademark of these highly influential Bond villains.

Craig as Bond is noticeably more cold and reserved in this latest outing, only letting down his guard when the need arrives to be arrogant or charming. Though this is the natural transition of the character after "Casino Royale," Craig is left with very little to say in between continuous action beats when the supporting cast asks him to care about the dead Vesper Lynd or provides the audience with exposition. It makes Craig come off as though he is in "The Transporter" on a grander scaler as opposed to being on a soon-to-be classic 007 mission.

More dialogue for Craig alluding to the hinted revenge his character is said to crave by Judi Dench's M, who trusts her rogue agent for no apparent reason, might have gone a long way to remind moviegoers of the character development he apparently went through judging by the film's end and that this new interpretation of the famed secret agent is more than just a blunt, relentlessly amorous instrument in a tuxedo.

Dench is reduced to an interpreter, providing the only engaging dialogue in the 106-minutes long "Quantum of Solace" that happens to hint at what is going on in 007's mind, Mathieu Amalric's Dominic Greene is perhaps the least memorable villain thus far in the franchise, Olga Kurylenko as Camille Montes is essentially a not-so-exposed Bond girl that is strangely meant to reflect Bond's inner lust for vengeance.

Missing is the smart and witty interplay Bond enjoys with M, his leading lady and other supporting characters in "Casino Royale" that is primarily replaced in this film with nothing more than a few nonchalant three-to-five-word lines.

"Quantum of Solace" simply does not try hard enough in terms of development of its main characters and tries too hard with needlessly suspenseful events to tell a story about James Bond learning not to take his duty as a spy too personally that was already told on the silver screen in 2006.